About This Stamp
A day at the beach is one of summer’s greatest pleasures — and now four new stamps from the U.S. Postal Service let you send a little seaside charm through the mail. Issued in booklets of 20, these stamps celebrate the simple joys of a coastal escape.
For millions of Americans, the beach is the ultimate escape — where the biggest decision of the day might be whether to take a dip or just let the waves wash over your feet. Sandcastle engineers sculpt their masterpieces, beachcombers hunt for sea glass, and bird-watchers enjoy front-row seats to a show of swooping seagulls. Cyclists glide along the boardwalk, the salt air rushing past as they take in the view. No matter how you spend your time by the shore, the memories last long after you’ve shaken the sand from your shoes.
Art director Derry Noyes says these stamps were inspired by her annual summertime trips to beaches in New England. “These little snapshots are reminiscent of those experiences,” she says, “a break from busy lives and demands throughout the year.”
Noyes says she was drawn to the vitality and “fresh, bold, spontaneity” that Gregory Manchess brings to the oil on board art. “He captures the essence of the subject, even at a very small scale,” she says. “Greg has managed to make these scenes instantly recognizable with just the right amount of visual information.”
Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps with original art by Gregory Manchess.
The A Day at the Beach stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps in a booklet of 20. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Stamp Artist
Gregory Manchess
Painter Gregory Manchess has worked as a freelance illustrator for more than 40 years on advertising campaigns, magazines, and book covers. His work has appeared on covers and in feature stories for National Geographic magazine, TIME magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and Smithsonian Magazine.
Noting his passion for history, the National Geographic Society sent Manchess on an expedition to record the exploits of explorer David Thomson. The Society also chose his work to illustrate the traveling exhibition, Real Pirates: The Untold Story of The Whydah, from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship. His large portrait of Abraham Lincoln and seven other paintings of moments from Lincoln’s life are exhibited at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.
The artist has illustrated children’s books, including Nanuk: Lord of the Ice and Cheyenne Medicine Hat, written by Brian Heinz, and To Capture the Wind by author Sheila MacGill-Callahan.
Manchess is included in Walt Reed’s edition of The Illustrator in America, 1860–2000. Widely awarded within the industry, he exhibits frequently at the Society of Illustrators in New York. The Society presented him with its highest honor, the coveted Hamilton King Award.
Today, Manchess divides his time between New York and Kentucky, his native state. He lectures frequently at universities and colleges nationwide, gives painting workshops at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, and teaches at the Illustration Master Class in Amherst, MA.
His figure and portrait work has led to numerous commissions for stamps by the U.S. Postal Service, including Oregon Statehood (2009); Mark Twain (2011); The 1963 March On Washington (2013); five paintings for Enjoy the Great Outdoors (2020); 10 for Snowy Beauty (2022); four for Snow Globes (2023); and four for A Day at the Beach (2026).
