Canadian Flag

Just repainted my studio wall in readiness for Site 11 Open Studios festival which is in June 2011. My studio will be open on the two week-ends 11th, 12th and 18th,
19th June and looking forward to welcoming new and returning visitors!
Hope the paint is dry, but coudn't resist just trying out one of my Stamp Collage canvas print flags to see how it looks on the white stone background. The Maple leaf features in the centre of the Canadian flag and all the stamps which go to make up the collage are Canadian, the earliest being some with Queen Victoria's head on, and quite a few featuring the maple leaf itself.

Union Jack/Union Flag - Penny Red

And here's my latest Union Flag. This time it has a Penny Red in the centre and also features the Two Pence Blue. Lots of interesting stamps to discover, a bit like a "stamp search" .. Can you find .. Sir Winston Churchill, The Post Office Tower, Concorde, the QE2, Mr Punch, a Victorian Postman, a London bus, the Mini, Robert Burns and the Queen? I don't actually know how many stamps I've used here, but it was fun to make!

Easter Bunny

Happy Easter to anyone who has managed to find their way to this latest post.

The Easter Bunny is a collage made mainly from postage stamps, marbled paper, and paper offcuts on a painted background.

Hope you like him or it could be her!

Available as a greetings card (A5) with envelope.

Danish Flag stamp collage

I'm adding to my series of national flags and have recently completed the Danish flag. I understand that one day this could become a real "collector's item"!. The reason I say this is that I have heard that in Denmark, it is no longer necessary to purchase a stamp in order to post a letter. It can all be done using your mobile phone, obtaining a code and writing it on the corner of your envelope! While this is probably a great idea for busy people who haven't got time to go to the Post office to buy a stamp, it does seem rather a shame and takes away the colour, character and variety from the postal system, and it's a definite disappointment to any stamp collector receiving mail with a code rather than an interesting stamp!

I've reproduced this Danish flag image as a Greetings card, left blank inside for your own message. The flag image is 12 x 10cms mounted on white card, 20 x 15 overall, and comes with C5 envelope. Price is £3.00 including p & p, within UK - for
2 or more cards up to 5, please add £1. For European orders, please add 50p per card, or obtain quotation for large quantities. The flag can also be reproduced as a lovely artist's quality canvas print, approximate size A3, although this may vary slightly.

I'll be adding details shortly of other National flag cards. Please subscribe to my blog if you'd like to see the latest creations, or get in touch by e mail.

I'll be exhibiting my flags and other stamp collages at the Stroud Open Studios festival in June - see Stroud Festival link www.rachelmarkwick.com for full details, contact details etc.

Love Heart Stamp Collage

I found a little bundle of stamps amongst my stock of materials and stamps waiting to be sorted out, added to my collection or made into collages. These are Love greetings stamps issued in the USA in 1982, with the word LOVE made out of flowers - so pretty! The original collage has been reproduced as a card, which was very popular for Valentine's day. Card is blank inside for your own personal greeting and is £3.00 including p&p. I've also had canvas prints made which look great! They're 23 x 30 cms x 3cms and are £45 including p&p within UK. A lovely way to send your love to someone special!

The second in the series of Normandy fishing vessels

This stamp collage is based on a painting by the French artist Eugene Grandin, whose work I discovered in the Musee des Terre-Neuveas et de la peche in Fecamp. Examples of his work are also in the tiny Chapel of Notre Dame de Saulut (our Lady of Salvation). The vessel depicted in my stamp collage is St Anthony of Padua trawler. I love the deep red sails of these fishing vessesls and an abundance of British definitive stamps provided me with plenty of material! I'm hoping to make more of these to add to the series.

Stamp Collage - Work in Progress

I've been busy in the studio today, working on another stamp collage, a fishing boat inspired by a visit to the Musee des Terre-Neuvas et de la Peche which is a fantastic little museum in Fecamp. It has a wonderful collection of items related to sea fishing, including some beautiful paintings.



I've used my sketches and photo reference material and drawn out my image onto watercolour paper. I tend to paint the background, sky etc prior to arranging the stamps to form the image, in this case the fishing boat. Stamps which feature coastlines, fish, birds etc may also be incorporated into this seascape, but I haven't yet finalised the design. I have a large stock of stamps and over a period of time have endeavoured to sort them into some sort of order so I can find what I'm looking for fairly easily. Many are kept in stock books, arranged by country, and many of the more common British stamps are in packets according to colour, so I can use them a bit like choosing a paint colour from a palette.

The tiny Chapel of Notre-Dame de Salut on the cliff top overlooking Fecamp was another amazing discovery containing more than 40 "ex-voto" (votive offerings) and the beautiful stained glass window.
I spent a while sketching and photographing some of the marine paintings, many of which were by an artist called Eugene Grandin.
I'm hoping to make a series of collages based on the theme of these rather primitive pictures, and have completed one featuring a red sailed fishing vessel typical of the area in the early part of the last century.

I'll update the blog when I've completed the latest picture. It can be quite time consuming cutting the stamps to size and piecing them together. One of my favourite bits is locating that special feature, such as the people who may be on deck or finding a stamp with a postmark which happens to fit in with any pattern - postmarks are often really useful to use on the rigging or for creating waves in the sea.