Cheltenham Open Studios - including venue No 49 at All Saints Church, All Saints Road

Rose window by Edward Burne-Jones

It's not often I get to exhibit my work in such as beautiful location as this! As part of the Artshape team, where I assist with classes on a regular basis, I was asked to take part in Cheltenham Open Studios for the first time this year. All Saints Church is a very welcoming place and we met some lovely people this morning!
It's always a pleasure to steward a mixed exhibition and see other artists' work but the added bonus today was to see the permanent works of art which belong to this church, and the beautiful stained glass windows, including one by Burne-Jones.  The exhibition includes work by tutors, volunteers, and students of Artshape and provides the opportunity to see their work in a very spacious setting. The exhibition is open every day from 10.00 until 16.00 and runs until Sunday 16th June. (There is a service on Sunday morning but the exhibition will be there until the afternoon.)

A wall of stamps ...

A friend of mine recently commented about the increasing amount of stamp themed soft furnishings and decorative items on the market.  I think this is a really good thing as it is raising the profile of stamp collecting generally and the interest in stamps, and how beautiful they can be.  They always make a great talking point.k
I came across a website called www.purlfrost.com which features bespoke wallpapers which have stamps themed to include Ships, Flowers, Cycling and Sport.  I'd love to have one of these designs on one of my own walls.

Or if that's a little too much, perhaps a cushion or curtains made from fabric printed with a postage stamp design.

Alternatively, you could just hang one of my many stamp collage originals or prints on your wall. Ships are always a popular subject so take a look at my Ships section to see the various designs which I've created.   These are available as prints, both on paper and as a canvas print, sized as required.    

 The S S Robin  stamp collage 

Saint Martin of Tours - 326-397 AD

In Oxford last week-end and I noticed a small statue of St Martin of Tours I had not previously seen.  It is located next to the Carfax tower, which is the only remaining part of the old St Martin's church demolished many years ago to make way for street alterations in the city centre.

Some time ago I was working on  a series of stamp collages featuring Saints and St Martin was one of the small number I completed. Having researched his life I discovered that his father was a high ranking officer in the Roman army and encouraged his son to enlist at the age of 15, the terms being that he would stay in the army for a minimum of 25 years. Although Martin was not happy to be in the army, he was said by the biographer Sulpicius to have been a model soldier. Martin encountered a beggar outside the gates of Amiens and cut his cloak in half to give to him.  Soon after this, he had a dream in which he was called to give up life in the Roman army to become a soldier of Christ.  Happily he was allowed to leave the army and subsequently became Bishop of Tours in 371.  He is the patron saint of beggars, outcasts, horsemen, soldiers, tailors and innkeepers.

Statue of St Martin next to the Carfax tower in Oxford city centre

Mixed media collage with stamps, showing St Martin cutting his cloak in half to give to a beggar outside the walls of Amiens

This image is also as a card and high quality print on paper. 

Other Saints in the series currently include St Francis of Assisi,

St Nicholas of Myra and St Joan of Arc. 

Coronation Postage stamps issued in 1953

When making my stamp collages I try to include stamps relevant to the theme and the Union Jack commemmorating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and her Coronation in 1953 includes both the red two and a half  penny (D) and  blue four penny (d) stamps issued the day after the event. I'm often asked if any of the stamps are very valuable and haven't to my knowledge every included anything very rare. The souvenir pull-out supplement in yesterday's Daily Telegraph carried an article about the stamps. It states that "415,034,000 of the 2 and a half D stamp " were issued!  Also, during the month of the Coronation a special postmark was used  with the crown and the words, Long Live the Queen - this was only used at some of the larger post offices in the UK.
My collage includes the 4d blue and the  red 2.5 D which, has been postmarked with these words!

 

Here comes the sun ... and it's great to get outside and paint!

I love making my stamp collages but I also love painting with oils and have a particular fondness for using oil bars, compressed oil paint in stick for. It's good to have a change and I have had quite a long break from painting so I've decided to concentrate on my other art interest for a while - especially while the sun is shining and I can get outside and look at the wonderful view we have from our home in Stroud .  Immediately in front of us is an area called The Heavens, which certainly lives up to its name.  The Horns valley is  below  and there are some wonderful walks through woodland and across streams.  On the horizon is Rodborough Common and Minchinhampton common where cattle wander freely in the Summer months. The skies are spectacular and I'm hoping for some good sunsets to paint soon! It would be great to paint outside every day, but I have a feeling I may need to get a large umbrella sometime!

The Error World and Charing Cross Collectors market in the 1970s

I've just read Simon Garfield's book, "The Error World" (an affair with stamps), and discover that I'm a rather strange breed - a woman who collects stamps, and not really someone Simon Garfield would like to meet! I'm also not sure he would approve of my use of the ones I don't put in my collection, by making them into stamp collages.   It may be that I did meet him though,  as he writes that in his teens he was taken to a Saturday market underneath the arches of Charing Cross station in London where my parents regularly had a stall selling stamps. As a student,  I sometimes helped on the stall and that's where I met my husband to be, who  had a stall with his brother selling Militaria. Their collection had outgrown their home so some of it had to go. During quiet times, we'd chat and drink bad coffee from polystyrene cups, or play cards.
The market had it's funny side as there were some people there with very strange collecting habits. One elderly gentleman would turn up at our table each week and just ask, "Blocks of Four?", which as a teenager  I found rather odd. Another collected stamps with barbed wire on - I now know why but  at the time didn't understand this at all!  The "Knife men" were amusing but slightly scary with their edged weapons carefully laid out on their table and we did wonder who was buying them and why, not really understanding the appeal of this particular interest. Often on a table next to ours were three very old people who travelled from Brighton on the train with suitcases full of knitted items, including fingerless gloves which were bought by Paula Yates.  Occasionally a fight would break out , or someone would try and pinch something from a stall and there would be a lot of shouting, men  running after the thief,  and once my dad pinned a man up against a wall. He was usually a very gentle man!   A memorable visitor was a man bent double who made his way around using a mirror to see where he was going, or indeed where he'd been!

Well, apart from Simon's short reference to the market, I then read about his entry for the Blue Peter stamp competition and T Shemza! Or rather "T missing" Shemza, the 6 year old winner of the design for the 3d Christmas stamp of 1966. I've got one myself still  proudly labelled  by my 9 year old hand. I can still remember the excitement at finding it! I never had any wish or reason to sell my own British stamp collection, and probably never will. I wouldn't describe myself in any way as a serious collector and had the standard gap in my collecting years, probably from around the time of the market days when things more interesting than stamp collecting were going on in my life. One day I went on a buying trip to Camden Passage and bought a gas mask to give to my new friend on the Militaria stall. Beat that for a token of affection!

The Amazing Crystalline Ceramics of Wendy Fontaine - Stroud Open Studios

This morning I visited Wendy Fontaine whose work is displayed to wonderful effect in her beautiful home near Stroud, and which will be open again this week-end as part of the Open Studios festival.  See the Brochure which you can download from www.sitefestival.org.uk  - page 10 Venue No.4 of Route 02:Golden valley.

Wendy works in her garden studio to produce bowls, bottles and ornamental items which are painstakingly decorated with crystalline glazes in a variety of attractive shades. All are unique. The glaze is created using a particular recipe and the pieces are then fired through a long process of repeatedly raising (up to 1255 degrees C), and lowering and changing temperatures over different periods of time, during which time the crystals are shaped.   I couldn't resist buying a small bowl for myself in gorgeous shades of malachite with crystals randomly formed within the glaze.

Detail of crystalline glaze