Keeping a Diary

I haven't always found the time to keep a daily diary, but almost always when I go on holiday or on a short break, I try and keep a diary or sketch book, or both, as well as taking photographs.  Painting on holiday is sometimes possible too depending on the location and I've also been known to do the odd collage!

Having recently been re-visiting my sketchbooks and note books from my visit to Prague 10 years ago, I came across this collage, which also brought back the memory of our walking tour of the city.

Our guide, a beautiful statuesque Czech girl named Hannah, arrived at our hotel and announced, "Today you will walk for 7 hours!".  And, in spite of the number of aged folks in our party, that is exactly what we did.  It was certainly a wonderful tour of Prague, but in the heat and with cobbled streets to negotiate, very tiring.  When we reached the castle in the afternoon, my mother, then aged 76, asked if she could sit down for a minute, but was told "If you do so, you will miss something", so on we went.  

The following day, we decided to opt out of another guided walk, chosing instead to visit other parts of the city at our own pace and found interesting old antique shops and bookshops, where we purchased some old sheet music for about 5p each. I think it is music for accordion, which may come in handy one day!     These beautiful little sheets look great framed up and I copied the one above to make into a collage incorporating newsprint cut into small sections a la Jiri Kolar! (See previous blog). 

Jiri Kolar - Czech Artist 1914-2002

I made an amazing discovery when I visited Prague in 2002, just after the devastating floods.  The small gallery called The House of the Golden Ring in the centre of Prague houses a wonderful art collection, and it was here that I first saw an amazing collage by the aptly named Jiri Kolar.  The picture which stays in my memory, but which I have never been able to find a photo of, was the silhouette of a beautiful woman, completely collaged with old black and white photographs.  I did a quick sketch - just an outline really, and some time later recreated my own version, using my own children's silhouettes and filling them in with scraps from magazines that they chose themselves!   Since then I have found books about Jiri Kolar, and have now learned that he was also a poet and writer as well as a talented artist.  One of the books about him, Jiri Kolar: Transformations contains images of the many types of collage he created and named. These include Chiasmage, Confrontage, Crumplage, Intercollage, Rollage and Prollage and so on - many variations on a theme.
 Various internet sites have information and images of Kolar's work but museums in Prague are somewhat difficult to navigate and I still can't find an image of my lady's silhouette - will have to return there sometime!

Shortly after my return I started my Fine Art degree at the University of Gloucestershire and during that year I decided to make some work referencing this artist, not very well known here.  I was lucky to find some books in a second hand bookshop near Tate Modern, and online research filled in the gaps!  

In the frame ...

I attended the  monthly Stroud Business Women's Network meeting this morning at the Old Lodge Inn. I've been a member now for a few months and it's a great place to meet others who are in business and keen to promote themselves, their products and services. 
On a rota basis, members get to "Shout about" their business and today Lesley Young gave us an interesting insight into her framing service.  Not only does she frame pictures and  photographs, but also often gets asked to frame personal items such as children's clothing and holiday souvenirs.  Luckily for me, Lesley had just completed framing my "Dispatch" stamp collage featured in my previous blog, and it was on display for all to see.  As always, the framing was perfectly in keeping with the picture and Lesley had given me her expert advice on the way she felt would enhance this particular subject, using the technique of float mounting the stamp collage which is on watercolour paper, and exposing the decaled edge of the paper. A deep spacer had been inserted to raise the glass, showing the picture off to its very best advantage. The frame is tulip wood and tones in very well with the wood effect of the ship, for which I had used  heavily postmarked US stamps portraying the Landing of Columbus.   This picture will be displayed with others in the Walking the Land exhibition called Earth.Water.Wind.Sky opening at the Old Passage Inn, Arlingham on 4th May until the end of May, and possibly beyond.
Lesley can be contacted for advice on framing by e mail on framingbylesley@hotmail.com.     

earth.water.wind.sky exhibition from 4th May 2012

The Old Passage Inn, at Arlingham in Gloucestershire is once again hosting the Walking the Land artists' exhibition, with the theme  earth.water.wind.sky.    Each work incorporates one of these words in the title.
The work will be displayed throughout the restaurant in its beautiful setting on the banks of the River Severn at Arlingham.

I'm exhibiting my stamp collage picture which shows the Dispatch, a sailing ship which once sailed the high seas as far as Newfoundland but is now in the ships graveyard nearby at Purton, just a few miles along the banks of the River Severn from Arlingham.  The title of my piece is "to the lonely sea and the sky", taken from the poem by John Masefiled, whose poem Sea Fever is another of my favourites. 

 This  framed original picture will be for sale at the Old Passage  and prints  and cards will also be available at my own studio during the Open Studios week-ends on 12/13/19/20 May from 10.30 to 18.00.

The exhibition opens on Friday 4th May and will be on show until 31st May.  Opening hours for the Old Passage Inn are from 11.00 - 16.30 and 18.30 -21.30 daily except Sundays when it closes at 15.00 and is closed all day on  Mondays.





Also check out the Walking the Land website http://www.walkingtheland.org.uk/

All you need is Love ... Love, Love, Love

Beatles Union Jack

This is such a big year for celebrations, anniversaries and international events, and it's also 50 years since the Beatles played for the first time. I loved making this Union Jack on a Beatles theme incorporating three LOVE greetings stamps stickers and six Beatles album cover stamps issued in 2007. You can spot (clockwise from top left) Abbey Road, Let it Be, Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, With the Beatles and Revolver. Of course there are also numerous other British stamps making up this stamp collage Union Jack.

Giclee prints, prints on watercolour paper and greetings cards available to order. Please ask for further details.

Stamps blow away in the wind!

One of the down-sides to stamp collage is that I can't work outside! Having spent an hour "filing" my stamps this morning I ventured out into the sunshine, wishing that I could do some of my stamp collage work outside, but it's just not possible. I tried it once and found that all the stamps were blowing all over the garden - such a frustrating experience! Unlike an artist painting "en plein air" I'm just not able to put stamp to paper out in the open, having to make full use of my wonderful studio space, which at least has a great view over the are in Stroud known appropriately as "The Heavens".

Taking my coffee into the garden I find that the yellow tree peony is coming into bloom, and the scented viburnum is covered in blossom. Parrot tulips of various varieties in their planters are a perfect picture, and the sunflower seeds are emerging. Lavender and euphorbia love our hillside garden and don't seem to need much maintenance, just the occasional bit of clipping. Walking round my own garden has inspired me to create another another stamp collaged garden , so now I'm back to filing my flowers, foliage and architectural and landscaping stamps ready to create another garden picture.

With Stroud Open Studios Site 12 festival coming soon, I've also been busy framing, making cards and getting prints ready for sale in my studio which will be open on the two week-ends of 12-13 and 19-20 May or at other times by appointment.

to the lonely sea and the sky - The Dispatch

Finally completed my stamp collage of the Dispatch, a two masted schooner which has ended her days on the banks of the River Severn, at Purton Ships' Graveyard. Built in Scotland in 1888, this beautiful old ship had a long history of voyages as far as Newfoundland for cod fishing, before being beached in 1961. Not much remains now as the ship has been burnt, vandalised and pilfered over the years but is now protected by the association formed to conserve the remains of the ships at Purton.

This framed picture will be exhibited at The Old Passage Inn at Arlingham in May 2012 as part of the Walking the Land Exhibition. Prints and cards will also be available from my studio which is detailed in the Site 12 Open Studios brochure Route 04 and will also shortly be on line.

" to the lonely sea and the sky" seemed an appropriate title for this tall ship, the quotation taken from John Masefield's poem, Sea Fever.

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by".

Tea with the Queen?

This Diamond Jubilee Union Flag canvas print looks at home next to a typically English blue and white china tea service! Tea anyone?

Canvas print flags 40 x 30 Cms available at £70 each - a great Diamond Jubilee souvenir with a difference. It features stamps issued during the Queen's reign and has that touch of nostalgia too! email: markwickrachel@gmail.com

The Dispatch - Purton Ships' Graveyard

Sketch

Name Plate

My first visit to Purton was over three years ago when I went there with my daughter, currently in her final year of a Photography Degree. She had been told about the Purton Hulks and thought it would be an interesting place to go and take some photographs. We've returned there together and separately several times since then and I've also taken photos and made sketches of some of the remains of the ships and boats that are on the banks of the Severn.

The Dispatch fired my imagination, and having made a sketch recently I then managed to follow this up with some research on how this ship originally looked.

I'm currently working on a stamp collage of the Dispatch in full sail and will post this shortly. In the meantime more details about this magnificent Schooner built in 1888 can be found on the website http://www.friendsofpurton.org.uk/ which also has information about the other vessels in the Ships' graveyard.