Cathie Bleck, an illustrator and printmaker based in Cleveland, Ohio, and a charter subscriber to DART, created a new postal card for the United States Postal Service, which was introduced at the end of March. Following is the announcement from the USPS:

From the ancient sequoias to the majestic oaks, trees evoke a sense of beauty and wonder, making them a favorite subject for artists and writers. The Tree Stamped Card captures what we love about these magnificent living things in a stylized rendering of a tree born from the artist's imagination.

This stamped card depicts a fanciful tree, illustrated in greens and browns, sitting among tall grasses. Using a method similar to woodblock printing, artist Cathie Bleck drew inspiration for the art from drawings made in her garden.

To create the artwork, Bleck worked in scratchboard coated in white clay, applying a layer of India ink that she then carved away with razor-sharp tools. Left with a black-and-white outline, Bleck later added color digitally to bring the tree to life.

“I have always had a deep reverence for trees since I grew up on my grandfather’s tree nursery,” says Bleck, who used drawings made in her garden as reference. “Each branch seemed to possess a special light celebrating life.” Bleck worked with art director Ethel Kessler, who designed the stamp card.

The Tree Stamped Card is a Forever® stamped card. Its postage will always be equal to the value of the stamped postcard rate in effect at the time of use, even if the rate increases after purchase. The single cards sell for 38¢ each, or 4¢ more than face value. The Tree forever postal card is available as a single card, a paid reply postal card (two unsevered cards, one for message and one for reply), and in an uncut sheet of 40 postal cards.

Save the date, April 17, 7pm: The CCA Illustration Lecture Series presents Cathie Bleck. Timken Lecture Hall, California College of Arts, San Francisco Campus. Directions. Information.

Cathie Bleck is an internationally respected artist best known for her distinctive works in scratchboard and kaolin clay board. Her stylized forms are cut meticulously through inks and handmade pigments, revealing the white of the kaolin clay beneath.

Bleck has been exhibited in over 60 exhibitions internationally and archived and displayed in the collections of The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Butler Institute of American Art, The New Britain Museum of American Art, The Norman Rockwell Museum, and The Library of Congress as well as a recent exhibition at Aron Packer Gallery in Chicago, Yves La Roche Gallery in Montreal, and Bonfoey Gallery in Cleveland.  

In recognition of her work, Bleck received a 2005 Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators. Bleck created her designs for the U.S. Postal Service — Pineapple Stamped Card (2007) and Deer Stamped Card (2013) — using a technique similar to woodblock printing. Her work has often been selected for American Illustration.