Sorry, no postcards sent from Guatemala

I found a post office while I was in Antigua,  Guatemala, but there were no stamps for sale, and  no way to send postcards, due to a long dispute between the Government and the Postal Service. I had heard about this from a friend in Guatemala, but wanted to double check that nothing had changed, which sadly, it hadn't. There are private couriers and methods of sending mail, but I'm not sure how reliable these are. There was  only one member of staff in this reasonably sized Post Office, and I was the only customer.  I was told the only place to  buy stamps is Guatemala City but we weren't able to go there this time.
I do have some  beautiful old Guatemalan stamps from a collection which was my dad's and these seem  even more precious now that we've visited this wonderful country!  More about the stamps  and locations  we visited coming soo

This  Guatemalan postbox  hasn't been used for a while!

Robins and Robinabilia!

Is there such a word as Robinabilia?  That is collecting anything to do with the little red breasted garden bird we know and love and which adorns so many Christmas cards not just here in the UK but  all over the world.

My mother, Marion, had a small collection kept in a simple ring binder, of stamps, cigarette cards, tea cards and postcards, together with Christmas cards and a few random articles about Robins.

Cigarette and cigar packets, tea packets and other packaged food items often contained cards making up sets on various subjects, including birds!  You could buy albums in which to keep these and there was of course an incentive to buy more products to try and complete your set!

  Together with a handful of little ornaments, these form a rather charming little collection. Although I'm certain other collectors of ornamental china birds may have far grander displays, this is for me a  fine example of a small selection of items put together by someone who always loved to watch the birds from her window!
A robin was the subject of my Christmas card design made in 2014 and shown on the Seasonal page of my website, together with other Christmas card designs.  I used a variety of suitably coloured stamps to created the robin in the centre and British and US stamps  to make the borders! Cards are available direct from my studio - you can contact me via e mail : markwickrachel@gmail.com for full details.

Familiar faces and artwork on Mexican Banknotes

I was excited to collect my Mexican currency and to find familiar faces on the 500 Peso notes! I'm always interested to know who's on my money but often the faces and places portrayed on foreign notes in particular are unfamiliar, as with the other values of this currency which will require further research.

Artists Frida Kahlo and her husband Diego Rivera are shown here together with  their famous artworks.

 Diego Rivera's painting  of a nude with Cala Lilies is a subject which he painted  many times. 

The painting shown below is The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego and Senor Xolotl, painted in 1949 by Frida Kahlo. and appears on the reverse of the note .  The picture contains elements from ancient Mexican mythology, including day and night, the sun and moon and the earth goddess cihuacoatl.  One of Frida's favourite pets was a dog which also represents Senor  Xolotl, a Itzcuintli dog,  a being who guards the underworld.  She was very maternal towards her husband Diego  and said she wanted to hold him in her arms like a new-born baby, as in this painting. 

I'm not Carping ... but it would be good to see the Guildhall, Gloucester packed like a tin of Sardines!

Carping is an ancient expression meaning to complain about something .. and I'm not!  In fact, I'm very happy to say that you can see my Carp, looking quite beautiful in a silvery frame in the exhibition, Stamping Ground 2, at Gloucester Guildhall, Eastgate Street, until 30th October. (Next to TSB in case you miss the tiny entrance to this tardis like building). The print on show is a limited edition, and has proved very popular. My husband Geoff says it's his personal favourite!  Take a look for yourself!  Alongside the Carp, in an identical frame, is a can of sardines, inspired by a trip to a Portuguese post office.

People regularly ask where I get my inspiration so the blog posts are an ideal way to tell the stories.  See my blog posts of  10th and 15th January  for the story of the Sardines, with several pictures. You can access the posts by going to my website www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk and click on the blog at the left hand side. You can sign up to receive the blogs if you'd like to!

Severn Trows, working vessels on the River Severn

I was in Worcester yesterday and came across this little plaque showing a Severn Trow, by  the bridge across the River Severn.

The plaque reads, "Up to the mid-nineteenth century, this River was the main commercial artery of the West Midlands linking to the sea at Bristol. The Severn Trow was one of the vessels used, typified by its open gold, flat bottom and D shaped stern. "

The  Severn Trows  plied their trade on the river many years ago, but are no longer in use. You can see the remains of some of these little vessels, including the Alma and Jonadab  at the ships' graveyard at Purton, Gloucestershire, where many other types of vessels were hulked to shore up the banks of the river.   I came across a scale model of the Severn Trow  Norah,  in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich  and made a stamp collage depicting her in full sail  in her heyday. She was built in 1968 and sadly beached one hundred years later.   A  framed print is currently on show in the exhibition, Stamping Ground 2 in Gloucester Guildhall, Eastgate Street until 31st October .

Severn Trow, Norah, Stamp Collage by Rachel Markwick 

Johanna Lucretia, Stamp Collage . Now on show at Gloucester Guildhall until 30th October 2018

The Tall ships festival last year provided me with much inspiration for stamp collages, but I took a long time before embarking on my voyage of discovery and creating several new pictures!

The Johanna Lucretia is  just one of these but unlike others seen in the dock area during the festival,  I've portrayed her out on the high seas where she is often to be found. She was built in Belgium in 1945 and if you look  closely you will notice that I've used some old Belgian stamps to recreate her hull.

 For several of my latest ship collages, I've enjoyed using a new technique which is to sew the rigging using thread and scrim. She's technically known as a Topsail Schooner, and is 29 metres in length. In 1989 she was refitted in Gloucester by the firm T.Nielsen &  Co and used for training and chartered trips. She was found abandoned again in Gloucester Docks in 2008 and her current owners had to carry out another major restoration.

You can see the original Stamp Collage of the Johanna Lucretia in the exhibition, Stamping Ground 2, at Gloucester Guildhall until  30th October 2018 in the upstairs exhibition hall. Limited edition prints are also available and you can see a framed example of one of these at the joint exhibition called "Between Seeing and Dreaming", at The Old Passage Inn, Arlingham which will be on until the end of this year.   Gloucester Guildhall Box Office also have cards on sale  of many of the pictures in the exhibition and additional flags too! 

Cosmati Blue - Stamp Collage fun and fabric design, inspired by Roman Cosmati floors

Cosmati red - a commission

Having enjoyed  completing a commission  on a theme of circles, inspired by the Cosmati floors of Rome,I made another piece along similar lines, but in different colours and a slightly different format.
The recipient of the original piece was very pleased with the choice of colours  used to make the first collage, as they were among her favourites. My  preferred colours  are blues, greens and turquoise shades so I've had great fun making a piece which I eventually hope to have printed in cotton fabric. I've found a wonderful fabric printing site, wovenmonkey.com where you can have your own designs printed on various types of cotton fabric, to the size that works best for your own design.   You can see this design below at Gloucester Guildhall from 2nd to 30th October as it is part of my  new Stamping Ground 2 exhibition. 

Cosmati Blue

Fat Margaret Tower - Tallinn's Maritime Museum - an Estonian treasure

We visited  Estonia's Maritime Museum in 2017 but it is now closed for renovations until 2019. Fat Margaret, as the Medieval artillery Tower is know is the widest tower  in the city with walls up to 5 metres thick. It was completed in 1531. Some of the city's towers  can be climbed, and you can walk along certain stretches of the ramparts  and even have a coffee and cake at high altitude at the Neitsitorn Museum cafe, accessed via a very steep staircase. Beware the high cost, although the leaflet  does justifies it by saying that the tower has "breath-taking views of the Old Town, which is true!

Barquentine Estonia

The Nekmanngrund  - lightship

Maritime Museums always hold a great fascination for me with my love of making collages with ships as a subject,  and this one has more than 100 model ships,  with interesting stories to tell, no doubt,  if only I could have understood the language. Picked up a few leaflets and took many photographs of the models to keep for future research into subjects for stamp collages. A year later, and I still haven't made any ships based on any of these, but it's never too late.  The Don Fernando e Gloria, seen in Lisbon's Maritime museum the year before, has now been portrayed in a collage, and will be on show at my latest exhibition in The Guildhall, Gloucester, from 2nd - 30th October 2018.

The website www.fatmargarettower.com does provide some more information in English and other languages.  There are ships to visit in connection with the museum, but for us, time did not permit this time round!

Lucy Stone - 1818-1893 - an American Suffragist,Abolitionist and Orator - and on an American stamp

Listening to Radio 4 Woman's Hour today, 26th September,  I heard for the first time, the story of Lucy Stone. (You can "Listen again" online.)   Her name immediately brought  to mind  a 50c Magenta stamp with the name Lucy Stone on it, with a portrait of a strong and determined looking woman.
  I had seen this stamp many times in the boxes of  American stamps that I have and which I trawl through to find suitable stamps for  collages.I often get sidetracked by picking out random stamps and looking them up to find out more, but had not done this in the case of Lucy Stone, but Woman's Hour did this for me today!   A campaigner for the rights of women, abolition of slavery and equality for those of other races and religions, she was also the first woman from Massachusetts to gain a college degree. It's interesting to note that this stamp is from the series, Prominent Americans, issued between 1965-8 and that she's the only woman included in the series.!!  Famous men in the series include several Presidents, Architect  Frank Lloyd Wright, Historian Francis Parkman and Henry Ford.  One of the questions asked of USA citizens interviewed recently in  2018,  the 200th anniversary of her birth,  was "What would she think of today's America", and replies varied. She would have been pleased to have seen the first Black president, but would  be dismayed at the inequalities that still exist.

People on stamps take up new roles in my Stamp Collage pictures

Fisherman near Naples

Car worker in Turin

I always like to make connections between my work as a Stamp Collage artist and the content of the stamps I'm using in my pictures. (The less than perfect specimen on the right, which would not appeal to a serious collector, would be a prime candidate for future work  as I prefer not to use stamps in top condition.)   I  use stamps with people on to form crews and passengers on ships, and  for "peopling" a landscape or crowd. Some stamps spring easily to mind, including this series of 17 stamps issued in Italy in 1950  known as Italia al lavoro  or Italy at Work.   Each one shows a person at work in the region known for  their particular trade, such as these shown here.
There is a  rather ancient looking automobile to the right of the I Lira design( above right), as Turin is the home of the Fiat motor company,  and in the background is a view of the mountains of  Piemonte. Having recently visited Naples and gazed daily on the wonderful view of Mount Vesuvius across the bay,  it was only today that I noticed in the 20 Lira  stamp shown above left, that in the background is Mount Vesuvius itself.  Surprisingly this Neapolitan  fisherman has not actually appeared on any of my ships, and I think this may be because he looks far too laid back,  leaning against  the ropes of his boat, whereas my "crews" have all been hard at work on various tasks.  I have used him as one of the characters peering out from between the pillars of the Leaning tower of Pisa though,  and he may well reappear in future in another role!

Detail from Leaning Tower of Pisa - see Landmarks on www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk

Tor read and see photos relating to the making of the Leaning Tower of Pisa collage please see my blog post of 10th March 2013.  Please note that the original of this was sold during my last exhibition at Gloucester Guildhall that year, but full size prints are available.

Italian fountains - also on stamps, and appearing in special commissions!

Although we had plenty of maps, it seems as though we got lost on a daily basis in Naples, but  it had its compensations!  On a circuitous route to the docks to catch a ferry, we came across this beautiful fountain, the Immacolatella,otherwise known as the Fountain of the Giant,  and I recognised it  as being on an Italian stamp I'd incorporated into a stamp collage commission last year.
The recipient was being taken on a surprise trip to Naples for a significant birthday, and I included it in the flag of Uganda as the brief was to include significant places and interests in the flag!
The fountain,  designed by Michaelangelo Naccherino and Pietro Bernini in the 17th century and now  stands near the Castel d'Ovo on the coast.  The Fountain of the Giant in Naples  is in a beautiful location, but is suffering from neglect and could certainly do with some TLC and more publicity.

A series of stamps was issued in 1973 depicting fountains including these three in Naples, Rome and Palermo.

Fontana della Immacolatella, or Fountain of the Giant, in Naples

The White Heather - Stamp Collage Original and Prints on show

Currently on show at The Old Passage Arlingham is the exhibition "Between Seeing and Dreaming", featuring work by  artists working in a variety of media including painting, photography, jewellery, sculpture, ceramics and not forgetting my own stamp collages, of which The White Heather is one. At the Old Passage I've included a framed print, and the original can shortly be seen in my new exhibition, Stamping Ground 2, at Gloucester Guildhall from 2nd October,  until 30th October. in the exhibition hall.

The White Heather is a Cornish Lugger built in 1926, originally operating out of Mevagissy and fishing from Falmouth before being laid up on the River Fal for many years.  From 1988 she was running sailing trips from Fowey in Cornwall.  I was pleased to go on board this beautiful old lugger, one of only a dozen still surviving, when she was in Gloucester Docks in 2017 for the bi-annual Tall Ships Festival. We heard that she has sailed to Morocco and Brazil before returning to Britain via the Caribbean, but is now undergoing refitting in the docks.
In this picture I've used stamps, envelopes, thread for the rigging and even words from an old stamp album.

The Frigate Dom Fernando II E Gloria - Stamp collage inspired by a visit to Lisbon Maritime Museum

I went through a rather unproductive phase, in terms of actually making new work over the latter part 2017. But Spring has brought with it new energy, and ideas stored up over some years are now emerging in the form of new collages, including this one of the Frigate Dom Fernando II e Gloria. 

In November 2014, we made our first visit to Lisbon, and my love of ships as a subject for pictures  took us to the Maritime Museum in the Belem area, home also to the Monument of the Discoveries mentioned in a previous blog of  October 2016.The  museum houses a vast collection of  paintings and models of ships including this one of the Dom Fernando II e Gloria.

The museum also owns several paintings  including one by Roger Chapelet showing her in full sail, which has been useful in the making of my own stamp collage picture, featured here.
Stamps and  envelopes have been incorporated in this collage with the sky painted in watercolour and the rigging ink and pencil. As always, finding a crew was an interesting  challenge!This fully rigged  ship  built of teak in India in 1843 was the last frigate of the navy.  On her maiden voyage from Goa to Lisbon in 1845 she was armed with 18 guns.  She was used for transporting cargo, troops, passengers and "deportees to Angola and Mozambique". She was also used as a Naval artillery school and school of seamanship from 1865 until 1937.  She was partially destroyed by a fire in 1963 when she was the HQ of a children's home. In 1990 rebuilding commenced, to be  completed in 1998, and she can now be visited near Aveiro.  I hope to be able to do this one day!

 I discovered that the Dom Fernando II e Gloria  also features on Portuguese stamps issued in 1997.

John Piper - Liverpool Metropolitan cathedral, art and stamps - Inspiring!

A few years ago I  enjoyed the exhibition "John Piper in the 1930s - Abstraction on the Beach" at Dulwich Picture Gallery, so I  was pleased to find another exhibition of his work this year at Tate Liverpool, featuring collages, and other mixed media artworks. This was one of the highlights of our recent stay in this wonderful city, and a film about Piper's and  Rutyens' designs  for  stained glass for the Catholic cathedral, prompted us to revisit this awe inspiring  building!

In my own work using stamps in collages I have become familiar with subjects of stamps and noted that one of John Piper's paintings from 1940 also appeared  on a British stamp issued in 1968,

the church of St Mary Le  Port, Bristol  badly bombed in WW2.

The Metropolitan Cathedral was also the subject of a stamp as part of the British Cathedrals series of 1969, with a value of 1/6d.  Pre-Decimal Currency. 

John Piper used all sorts of materials in his work, including matchbox labels, paper doilies, string, wallpaper, but as far as I know, never postage stamps.  Visiting Liverpool and having seen this latest exhibition, some of the small craft moored in the Albert Dock also seemed  reminiscent of vessels featured in some of his work.  My own ship themed collages completed since seeing this exhibition, now also incorporate a few new materials, such as cotton and scrim for the rigging and additional painted elements.Matchbox labels? Not yet, but see my Ships page of www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk for latest collages. Thank you John Piper for the inspiration!

Monet and Architecture - Inspirational exhibition at the National Gallery in London until end July

The current exhibition was a wonderful reminder  of past experiences of seeing Monet's paintings and the locations which feature in his work, as well as discovering work I had never  seen before. Most of all, I enjoyed  comparing five versions of Rouen cathedral.   From  the upstairs room in a clothes shop opposite the cathedral, Monet painted more than 30 canvases over a period of two years, 1892-3,.setting  up his easel, screened off from the daily business of the shop. Although photography was, surprisingly, permitted at the NG, I did not take any photos while there, but include some of the images taken from a catalogue of a previous exhibition.   On a family holiday in 2010 we visited the cathedral in Rouen and also an exhibition of impressionist paintings at the Musee des Beaux Art.

Stamp issued in 1957 

Other memories  re-emerged on seeing Monet's paintings of the Normandy
coast in the NG.  Shown below right,  is  a fisherman's cottage on the clifftop near Varengeville, whose church we also visited in 2006.   In the churchyard is a wonderful mosaic dove on the grave of Georges Braque, whose friend Raoul Ubac  designed some of the stained glass windows in the church,  The area has associations with many artists.

Rouen Cathedral and one of the many paintings by Monet 

Monet's atmospheric paintings of Venice and London in  the mist and fog  also feature in the exhibition., together with  exotic gardens of  Italy and the South of France, but all in relation to architectural elements.  Most enjoyable!

Send a postcard - brighten someone's day!

As a stamp collector and traveller,  I appreciate very much receiving postcards,  but it doesn't happen so much these days and when it does, it's a real treat.  Internet, social media, whatsapp,  have provided instant ways to communicate, from almost everywhere that has wi-fi.  I do this too,  but I always try to find a few interesting postcards to send, provided I can locate a post office. On a 10 day trip around the Baltic capital cities of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia I was lucky  to find cards, stamps and post offices!

In Vilnius, I purchased two rather lovely woollen jumpers at bargain prices but soon realised they would be too heavy and bulky to included in our luggage, so had to find a Post office in order to send them home. It had interesting Commemorative stamps on sale, but sadly I wasn't able to put these on my parcel, having to make do with a rather boring label and customs declaration!  The jumpers arrived  home long before we did though! The postcards were sent a few day later, from a  post box near the main bus depot, but  took much longer to arrive at their various destinations.

The historic post office in Tallinn, opposite the Cathedral, was a beautiful building, and also had a wonderful selection of postcards and a wide range of beautiful Estonian stamps, and  this proved to be a very efficient postal service!

How long does it take?

How long does it take you to make a picture? That's a question artists are often asked.  A good answer is, "A lifetime of experimenting", or in the case of this particular piece, almost a year!

Not that I've been physically working on it for all that time, but I went with a good friend to the wonderful Tall Ships festival last May, and La Malouine was moored by the Warehouses in Gloucester docks.d We climbed aboard and were given a tour by one of the crew.

We asked what the name meant and were told that the ship came from St Malo in France.  Using photos taken at the time, and having sorted out suitable stamps I got started a few months later, but have only recently completed the picture .. the brickwork of the warehouses and the windows were a challenge but very absorbing.

For the first time, I've used cotton dipped in acrylic paint to sew in the rigging and am quite pleased with the effect!   And I saw several  beautiful ships that day ... so watch this space!