another cool connecticut resident
Winsted stamp painter makes his mark on the mail
By Jim Moore, Republican-American December 14, 2006
WINSTED, Conn. --Steve Buchanan traded a life of concert halls and classrooms for brushes and bugs, and he's never looked back.
From his meticulously tended home and studio beside a babbling brook on Colebrook Road, Buchanan has illustrated countless books, magazines, newspaper stories, product packages and postage stamps, all part of a flourishing second career.
"I kind of got a late start," Buchanan, 57, said with a laugh. He learned to draw in his 30s while teaching classical piano at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.
Known for his photo-realistic style and exacting eye for detail, Buchanan's art career blossomed in the late 1990s, thanks to a commission from the U.S. Postal Service to paint insects and spiders.
The 20-stamp set remains among the most popular in postal service history. It's number six on the postal service's list of stamps sold but never used, said Terry McCaffery, manager of stamp development for the postal service.
Buchanan is among a select few to be called on repeatedly to paint postage stamps; he has also painted motorcycles, tropical flowers, reptiles and amphibians, carnivorous plants and, most recently, a set of images for the "Pollinators" collection to be released next year when rates change........
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