St Andrew's Day 30th November

Today is Saint Andrew's day so here's my version of the flag, which contains British stamps with a Scottish theme, and including reference to places and people as well as being blue to fit in with the colour of the flag itself! Robert Burns, Edinburgh castle, a piper and the Forth Bridge as well as regional issues are included.

This can be made up as a print or canvas print to any size (within reason!). E mail me if you are interested in a quote on markwickfamily@aol.com

Severn Trow Norah stamp collage

We live not far away from the beautiful River Severn and enjoy walking along the banks at various points including Purton, Arlingham and Gloucester.  At one time, the river would have been busy with vessels such as the Severn trows, known as "open moulded" trows, with a hull constructed of planked wooden frame with an open waist and small decks at bow and stern. The two-masted ketch rig allowed easy access to the hold for loading and unloading of cargo.  The overall length of the trow was 56 feet.  
The Severn trows carried various cargoes along the river during the late 19th and early 20th century.

 I came across a scale model of the Severn Trow Norah at Maritime Museum in Greenwich and have just completed a stamp collage based on this.  Built in 1868 at Bridgewater, Norah carried bunker coal from coal ports such as Cardiff, Barry and Newport.  This coal was for domestic users, but also for coastal steamers - vessels such as the SS Robin, also featured in one of my collages, rescued from destruction and now in the Royal London dock.  
When her working days ended, Norah was bought by Captain Leonard Smart in 1932 and he beached her at Weston as a houseboat.  After his death in 1936 she was left there with other wooden hulks until the outbreak of war, when she was stripped of all her metalwork, for the war effort, and then burnt.  

Detail

Severn Trow Norah 

The Stamp Lady of Stroud - that's me!

Torbay Stamp Centre's Tim and Basia Clegg have made a series of videos on Youtube, which you can view via their website www.torbaystampcentre.co.uk.  A wonderful new angle on the hobby of stamp collecting and hoping to promote the hobby to a wider audience.  Click on the Youtube link and you can see the latest videos including The Stamp Lady of Stroud, which was filmed last week in my studio in Stroud where I make my stamp collages.   Unfortunately it was a particularly wet day and our beautiful lane was full of muddy potholes, as you'll see from the film - it's not always like this, but I often suggest people wear their wellies if they walk down here to visit at this time of year!   The Studio is open next week-end Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November from 10-5 but can be visited at other times if you get in touch beforehand.      Pictures, prints and cards, including Christmas cards will be for sale, and a warm welcome!

Open Studio here - see poster

See previous post for further information if needed.

Open studio here on 23rd and 24th November 10 - 5 pm

It's always a pleasure to open my studio to visitors and friends and many of my visitors have become friends too both with me and with each other!! I think the subject of my work which is mainly stamp collages all made of stamps and stamp related materials, including stamp catalogues, envelopes and cards etc is a great topic for conversation and nostalgic recollections. I have been labelled the Stamp Lady of Stroud  but hope that even those who are not stamp collectors, or never have been, will find something of interest!
I've even got a visitor promising to bring along her stamp designs, which will be lovely to see!


So I look forward to Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th November when my studio will be open from 10 - 5.  In case you may need further information my telephone number is 01453 757933 and please park in Bisley Road by the cemetery and walk the short distance along to my studio which will be signposted with yellow and black Open Studio signs.  It's about 200 metres along and old shoes or wellies  definitely advised if  it's wet or has been due to the "country lane" and if coming later in the afternoon you may need a torch as we have no street lights along here.  It's certainly a beautiful place to live and the views when you arrive are fantastic, but please take care to avoid the puddles or jump in them and have fun if you're inclined!

Lest we forget ... take a closer look at the poppies ..

It wasn't until fairly recently that I examined my poppy stamps up close with a magnifying glass and  saw so much more in the design than first meets the eye.  I wonder how many people have missed the fine detail.  So beautiful, but so sad too.

You can still buy these stamps to use on your letters in some post offices, including Stroud.  

Gee's Bend Quilts on Stamps of USA

A while ago a friend who is a quilter mentioned the Gee's Bend quilts to me as she knew I was making some stamp collages based on traditional quilt designs, after reading about the Franklin Roosevelt Postage stamp quilt made in the 1930s by Estella Weaver Nukes as a gift for the "stamp collecting president".

I was looking through a bag of US stamps yesterday, in my search for suitable material for my latest collage, when I found a stamp I had never seen before, and interestingly it features a Gee's Bend quilt! This one won't go in a collage, it will be added to my own collection, along with the other stamps in the set of Gee's Bend quilts issued in the USA in 2006.

    I just love the vibrancy of the colours and designs, so different from the "pretty" quilts which African American slaves traditionally made to order for their owners. Many books and films have been made about the inhabitants of Gee's Bend in Alabama and their quilts, both from the past and present have been widely exhibited.  One of the books features a contemporary quilt incorporating denim pieces, and this gives me further inspiration on colours from which to make future work.  Stamp collecting and collage together seem to be a perfect combination for yet more inspiring projects to complete, and areas to research.