No.8 Cover - received on 2010/10/05 from Latvia

Thanks to Juris for the nice cover and the postcard! The cover was posted from Riga, Latvia on 28 Sep 2010, and the cover arrived at Singapore on 5 Oct 2010.

The Se-tenant stamps were jointly issued by Latvia-Kazakhstan on 19 April 2006. The theme on adornments, female ornaments from the 19th century: silver bracelet with rings (Shynzhyr bilezik, the one on the right) from Kazakhstan and silver brooch for a kerchief (Sakta, the one on the left) from Latvia.

The third stamp on the cover was issued to commemorate Latvian painter Jēkabs Kazaks (1895 - 1920). Jēkabs Kazaks was born on February 18, 1895 in Riga. He studied at the Riga City Art School between 1913 and 1915 and the Penza Art School during World War I (1915-1917). Kazaks style contained elements of Impressionism, West European Old Masters, modern French painters and early 20th century Latvian Modernism. He used his influences and interests to create a personal style characterised by expressiveness, simplicity, synthesis and distortion of forms. Several of his major works portray the everyday life of refugees, he also painted portraits and self-portraits. [1] The artwork shown in this stamp is "Refugees" (ca 1917. Oil on canvas. 71 x 69 cm). [2]

The cover from Latvia

The postcard in the envelope

The postcard inside the envelope is with a definitive stamp "Coats of Arms of Regions and Towns of Latvia - Kurzeme" which was first issued on 9 Sep 2006. The postmark is the First Day Postmark for stamp set "Wealth of Latvian forests (mushrooms, berries)" which was issued on 10 Sep 2010. The two labels at the left bottom corner are also from the mushrooms stamp issue.Sources:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C4%93kabs_Kazaks
[2] http://www.gallery.lv/classic/En/Kazaks/Default.htm