Stamping Ground - exhibition of Stamp Collages from 3rd to 29th March at The Guildhall, Gloucester

Feeling a bit like I've built the Leaning tower myself this week.  Preparing for an exhibition single handed is quite a large task and I seem to be thinking about it 24/7.

I have of course had some help from my family with some of the computer based jobs such as producing the labels which I have made to look like stamps with perforated edges, and my husband will be helping me to hang all the pictures in the Guildhall on Saturday - should be fun!

I've been very busy too trying to get some publicity for the event around the Gloucester area - as unfortunately there is no street advertising of the art exhibitions at the Guildhall immediately outside the venue, due to council restrictions, which I don't quite understand ..
I had hoped that the event would have been included in the February - March (bi-monthly) Guildhall brochure, but for some reason this has not happened. However, it is featured in their online events listings for March.

Sir William Herschel, Uranus, and the Museum of Astronomy in Bath

It was by sheer coincidence that on the day I purchased a telescope from a shop in Bath,  I also found the Herschel  museum of Astronomy just a short walk away. The Georgian town house at 19 New King Street was the  home of Sir William Herschel and  his sister Caroline. It's open almost every day of the year -  www.herschelmuseum.org.uk .  This charming little museum on  three floors  has been preserved more or less as it was in the Herschels' time and houses a collection of objects connected with their research and work on the construction of a huge wooden telescope, with which William would eventually discover the planet Uranus from the back garden.  Like the late Sir Patrick Moore, a patron of the museum, Herschel was  a talented musician. Indeed, it was as a musician that he first came from Hannover in Germany to live and work in Bath. A number of musical instruments are also on show in the music room of the house.

This 1970 stamp commemorated 150 years of the RAS of which Sir William Herschel was  president.
He is shown on the left, his son John on the right, and in the centre is Francis Baily (Baily's beads).





Herschel's telescope was  featured on the right of the 26p value of the Astronomy set issued in 1990.

Caroline Herschel followed her brother to England to run the house in Bath and assisted him in his research, eventually  becoming a talented astronomer herself. She was responsible for the discovery of  nine comets and won a  gold medal from the RAS for her work.

She is also featured on  postage stamps,  including this one from Guyana, commemorating the 750th anniversary of Hannover, where the Herschels were born.

 Astronomy is a popular theme for stamp collectors.
The name for collecting astronomy themed stamps is Astrophilately!

If you want to find out  about Uranus, I can recommend "14 Fun Facts About Uranus" by Jeannie Meekins, from the 15 minute book series about the planets, for age 8 + (which I am!).

I'm  hoping the weather will improve and we can try out the telescope and make some discoveries of our own!

Cotswold Life March : 5-Minute Interview : Rachel MarKwick

The March edition of Cotswold Life out today has my story on P.18  Please note that my website is www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk  - Markwick has a K in the middle and it's often left out as has happened here .. otherwise everything else is great!  

Art History through stamps .. via Postcrossing.

Postcrossing card received from Audra in  Lithuania

A card from a Postcrossing friend in Lithuania arrived today and the great thing about it is that she included information about the stamps.
On the left are "national whistles made of clay" - I  would not  have worked this out for myself!  On the right is the sacred icon  from Siluva, the place where Mary  is said to have appeared in 1608, and where a church was subsequently built, and has become a place of  annual pilgrimage. Stamp issued in 2008.
The image itself was painted at the beginning of the 17th Century in the iconic style of the "old Byzantine Hodegetria" . The figures of Mary and Jesus are covered by a casing made from a collection of votive offerings by the goldsmith Lawrence Hoffman of Koenigsberg. It was restored in 2002-3.

The 40ct stamp in the centre has lead me to the discovery of yet another great artist I'd never heard of until now -. Mikalojus Konstantinas  Ciurlionis (1875-1911), the most  famous artist  in Lithuania.There is a museum in Kaunas dedicated to his work. Educated in both music and the visual arts,  he was prolific in both fields and in his short lifetime he wrote  almost 400 musical compositions. From 1904-6 he attended the Warsaw School of Fine Arts.  He felt he was a synesthete: perceiving colours and music simultaneously. Many of his paintings have the names of musical pieces. as shown here in a set of stamps from 2005 depicting  Sonata of the sea 1908 : Allegro, Andante, Finale.

As my friend said, "Stamps talk a lot, don't they?"  She is so right!!  Thanks Audra - I've really enjoyed finding out more about the work of this wonderful artist!!

Sonata of the Sea by Mikalojus  Konstantinas Ciurlionis

Beautiful People exhibition by Mark Amis in Stroud

I first met Mark when he was a new arrival to Stroud and took part in the annual Open Studios festival, as he will be doing again this year.  His Beautiful People exhibition is currently on at Stroud Subscription Rooms until Saturday 15th February and is well worth visiting.
His large portraits are beautifully painted and include well know personalities such as Jensen Button. Mark is pictured here between two portraits. On the right is his mother enjoying a candyfloss on a great day out at the seaside! I think she would have been very proud of Mark's portrait of her!

detail of eagle by Mark Amis 

One of my personal favourite is this eagle - one of a pair of paintings of this magnificent bird!

Squirrels on Banknotes (or how easy it is to spend time surfing the net ..)

I've written a few items recently about my new found interest in Postcrossing: writing, receiving and sometimes establishing regular postal links with others all over the world. It's certainly a good way of broadening your knowledge of geography and history, and at the same time making new friends, and finding strange and beautiful postcards popping through your letter box  and leading you to interesting discoveries.

One of my new Postcard exchanging friends, Maria, in Belarus sends me the most beautiful cards showing the wonders of nature. She collects cards and stamps on this theme and I try to send her British stamps  and cards to add to her collection.

Postcards and stamps of Belarus

Watching   Fake or Fortune on  BBC1 on Sunday, the crew were investigating a painting signed by the famous artist Marc Chagall tryint to establish whether it was in fact a fake - which sadly it proved to be with disastrous results.  Research lead them to Vitebsk and Minsk, now in  Belarus.  Vitebsk is where Chagall was born and Minsk is where my friend lives! It certainly has some stunning architecture and beautiful countryside, and a rich artistic heritage.  I had to e mail Maria to tell her what I'd seen of her homeland and she in turn told me about her own favourite artist, who I must admit I had never heard of.  His name is Napoleon Orda .. and yes, you may have guessed, his work appears on banknotes of Belarus.

Birth bi-centenery of Napoleon Orda 1807-1883

Looking him up, and in turn trying to find the banknotes which carry his designs, I came across the squirrel banknote .. got to be one of my favourite banknotes of all time. So that's how you go on a voyage of discovery on the internet!