Stamp Collage inspired by Chocolate!

You never know when inspiration will strike, and if it doesn't try eating chocolate!

At a service station in Italy, near the town of Sansepolcro, birthplace of Piero della Francesca, a beautifully packaged  chocolate bar was calling out to be purchased along with the Cappucinos!  The design on the wrapper featured a mosaic in turquoise, gold, white and black. The chocolate itself was most unusual and very enjoyable and I kept the wrapper for my holiday journal, as I am in the habit of doing when travelling.  The effect stayed in my mind and I eventually created a stamp collage based on this image, using stamps for most of the design, but also incorporating the gold foil which contained the original chocolate bar.

I've produced cards and prints of this stamp collage, and have now also had the original framed in preparation for my next exhibition.  This will be at Pegasus Arts, Thrupp, Gloucestershire starting on Tuesday 30th October until 20th November. Pegasus is open every day except Sunday from 9 - 5.

Unicorns

The Unicorn stamp collage recently finished has been a work in progress for some time!
My version of this mythical beast was inspired by a suggestion from a customer who had bought work from me some years ago, and who is an "authority on Unicorns"  having written a children's book about one, and told me that they have characteristics of many animals combined, including the horse, and the goat, with cloven hooves and a lion's tail.

The beautiful tapestry series in the Musee de Cluny in Paris, la Dame a la licorne (the lady and the unicorn) has a mille fleurs background (a thousand flowers), suggesting the unicorn is in a green forest, and I have tried to recreate this setting using stamps which are predominantly green and including flora and fauna.    The original picture will be included in my forthcoming exhibition at Pegasus Arts, Thrupp, Stroud,  Gloucestershire in November. Prints and cards are also available.    

Sunflowers Stamp Collage

In August 2000 the Post Office issued another  stamp in the Millennium series showing a beautiful Sunflower.  This was to  commemmorate the opening of  Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall.

Vincent Van Gogh painted several versions of his famous "Sunflowers" including "Fourteen Sunflowers in a Vase" and "Vase with fourteen Sunflowers".    My latest Stamp Collage is a tribute to Van Gogh, using some of these stamps and a combination of other stamps depicting sunflowers, and stamps in various shades of yellow cut to resemble his arrangement.

This and other new work will be exhibited at Pegasus Arts, Griffin Mill, Thrupp, Gloucestershire from 30th October until 20th November.  There will also be a Private View, date to be confirmed.

Rome wasn't built in a day ..

Having visited the Colosseum earlier this year,  I've now created my own version of this great building, complete with a huge crowd of visitors from all over the world. The Colosseum itslef is constructed using mainly Italian stamps, and you can spot Julius Caesar and Augustus the gret behind the arches.  As the saying goes, "Rome wasn't built in a day" and this stamp collage took me several weeks to complete but that's not long compared to the real Colosseum which took more than 8 years to build.

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