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! 

The Mayflower - stamp collage

Finally completed my stamp collage of The Mayflower, which can now be viewed in the Ships section.
As always, I've had such fun putting it together and managed to find some Pilgrims to place on board ship, taken from a stamp issued by Great Britain in 1970, depicting the voyage of The Mayflower in 1620. It was part of a set of Anniversaries and the value of the stamp was 1/6. How postal costs have increased since then - 1/6 is the equivalent to 7.5p!  It cost just 5d (about 2p) to send a letter by 2nd class post in 1970.
I've used some more of my USA 2c Landing of Columbus stamps issued in 1893 to construct the ship, and the sails are a mixture of appropriately coloured stamps. Seabirds fly overhead keeping an eye on the fish that swim below!