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 

The British Postal Heritage Museum - podcasts to listen to online or download

I've recently discovered this amazing resource for stamp enthusiasts but I must add that it's for everyone who has an interest in the subjects which appear on British stamps and that could be almost everyone! The subjects are so numerous and include history, the monarchy, art and architecture, sculpture, nature, the post office itself and all aspects of design.  I was given an ipod for Christmas and have managed to download a small selection of podcasts to start with and can then listen to them wherever I want.  But you can actually download them from the website's link at www.postalheritage.org.uk/podcasts - scroll down the list and click on the stamp next to the one you want to hear and listen at you screen!
So far, I've listened to Brian Webb and Peyton Skipwith talking about Design - Artists and the GPO. Two brilliant speakers covering a subject which artists will find fascinating and including references to such famous British artists sculptors as Eric Gill, Edward Bawden and Eric Ravillious. Some very amusing stories are related with regard to how some of the details on our stamp designs came about and intersting facts about our architectural heritage. It would be wonderful to be able to attend these talks and see the refernced work on display but I had my stamp album handy to check into some of the details they mentioned in their talk.
Another one I can recommend is Ronald Maddox talking about his work as an artist and his commissions for stamp designs relating to architecture on British stamps.  Douglas Muir on Bertram Mackennal and Matthew Glencross on Grandpa England, the Queen's childhood name for her Grandfather, George V. It's not just about stamps, it's also a very entertaining talk about the life and times of George V and very informative!
A recent talk was by Chris West, who has written  First Class, a History of Britain in 36 Postage stamps and  talks all about it here.  Well worth listening to.

The S S Robin - the last British Coaster - my latest stamp collage

The S S Robin is the last of the British Coasters which plied their trade around the coasts of Britain. Built in 1890 in London, she was sold in 1910 to Spanish owners and renamed Maria. She was under Spanish ownership until 1974. In 1966 she had a refit and her structure was modified. She was discovered by the Marine Trust in 1972 but in 2002 she was purchased by David and Nishani Kampfner, who founded the S S Robin Trust and have been carrying out major restoration on her. She was towed to her original home in East London in 2001 to much celebration and work is nearing completion for her to be opened as an education centre and gallery in the Royal Docks, London Borough of Newham.   We visited London's Docklands last year and were able to see from a distance this amazing old vessel and my latest stamp collage is my version of her. I've used mainly British stamps in the construction of the ship, from the Victorian era through to more recent times.  The original is not yet framed but cards and prints are now available direct from me - you can visit my studio today, Sunday 12th May from 11 - 6pm and same time next week-end 18th and 19th May, or by appointment, during the Stroud Open Studios festival.

This is as tidy as it gets! Open Studios in Stroud this week-end and next. See Brochure.

Tomorrow is the first day of the first Open Studios week-end in Stroud and my studio will be open to the public.  The organisers of the event always say that people like to see us as we are and not to tidy up too much, but I don't think they realise just how untidy I can be, and it would be a job to get through the door some days.  So here it is ... pictures on the walls, cards on display and prints to browse through and the kettle and coffee at the ready! Since last year, I've made quite a lot of new work including more flags, famous buildings, ships and boats and gardens, all made from stamps. I've also made a quiz for children to do. As always, looking forward to meeting new visitors as well as old friends and answering questions about my love of making stamp collages!  Hope to see you if you're in Stroud either this week-end of next, and if not, and you'd like to come over, just get in touch! Details on my contacts link page.

Art in the Stroud Valleys

There's so much going on in and around Stroud in May and over the next two week-ends many artists will be opening their studios to the public in the annual Open Studios festival.  You will see yellow and black signs all over Stroud, Bisley, Naislworth and Painswick and routes in between.  The Subscription Rooms in the middle of Stroud has a Taster exhibition where one piece of work by each artist in the Open Studios Brochure can be viewed and you can then make your choice of studios to visit. All work is displayed in the order it appears in the brochure, according to the Route it is on.  The images in the brochure are not all the same as the ones in the Taster and you can pick up a brochure from the exhibition.
Taster is open during Sub Rooms opening hours 10-5 Monday to Saturday and also on Sundays until 19th May.  Artists' studios are open on 11-12-18-19th May from 11 - 6 pm or by arrangement with the individual artists - all details in brochure.

Site Festival 2013 Open Studios May 2013

This year there will be a Taster exhibition in Stroud Subscription Rooms, in George Street in the centre of town. All the artists taking part in the Open Studios week-ends of  11/12 and 18/19 May will be displaying a piece of work in the Taster exhibition. Visitors can then plan a route around studios they'd like to visit.  The Taster exhibition is on from 4th - 19th May and will be open on Saturday 4th 6-9 pm and Sunday 5th 2 - 4pm.  Monday to Saturday  opening hours are then 10-5pm with two special Sunday openings of 12th and 19th from 11-4pm.
The piece I am displaying is one of a series of  original garden stamp collages.  Cards and prints will also be available in my studio.  Paintings, collages, photographs and 3D work will be displayed in the order they appear in the Yellow Site 2013 Open Studios brochure. Copies of the brochure and the programme for the festival will also be available from the Subscription rooms.