Artistic license versus accuracy .. and the Mandarin duck stamp of Japan

One of the many problems to be solved when deciding on a subject for a stamp collage picture is how true to the subject I need to be. The current challenge which I have set myself is to make my own version of Japan's Mount Fuji,  one of  the most well known images in the world, and certainly in Japan.   It appears on paintings, stamps, postcards, packaging, advertising materials, clothing,  and is visited and climbed by thousands of visitors every year and photographed by the majority of them too.

I've been doing my research of course. It's a part of the process which I really enjoy , and I spend hours reading, looking at images and searching through the stamp hoard for Japanese stamps which will be incorporated in the picture. (It's not quite that bad - I do have a few pages of stamps ready and waiting now..).  And guess what is on the lid of the Japanese musical box in the picture below ..

When asked the question" How long does it take you to make one of your pictures?" I should probably add many hours into the equation for the research and reading time.
I'm currently enjoying "36 Views of Mount Fjui - On finding myself in Japan", a brilliant book by Cathy N. Davidson, an American teacher who taught at an all women's university there. The title is taken from Katsushika Hokusai's series of 36 woodblock prints of Mount Fuji, and these head each chapter.  It's as if Mount Fuji is visible from almost anywhere you go in Japan and I just wish I could go out there and do my Primary research for this! Some views are from countryside, while others are from the surrounding  lakes.

 Hokusai's "Fuji in Clear Weather" is on the cover of the book, and also features on a stamp issued in 1999 for International Letter writing week.
  I have decided to have a lake in the foreground of my picture - now very much a work in progress - and  have also chosen to use a quantity of iconic stamps to make up a large area of the water.  This is the Japanese 5Y light blue Mandarin duck stamp issued in 1955. Anyone in their 50s who collected stamps as a child, as I did, probably had this little stamp in their own stamp album, and my mother remembers it as one of the first "bundleware" stamps (stamps bought in quantities of 100 or more) purchased when she and my father started to run their stamp approval business before I was born.  She can't remember how many they sold, but there still seem to be a lot of them around .. so I'm making good use of them in another way!

Which brings me to "authenticity".  I  found some information about the Mandarin duck (aix galericulata),  now endangered due to the destruction of its forest habitat.

There are now only about 5000 pairs in Japan.  They prefer densely wooded areas near shallow bodies of water and feed at dawn and dusk. I'm not sure how deep the lake is but  I'm glad I chose to paint a sunset in the background as this is when the ducks would actually be on the water, as opposed to being on the ground or perched in trees during the daytime, so possibly a combination of artistic license and accuracy for at least part of my picture.  Will have to see what will happen with the remainder of the picture.  Watch this space ..

Boar is part of our family!

Researching the history of the Markwick family some years ago revealed that the family crest included the image of a Boar, and this has given rise to a number of jokes over the years, which I won't bore you with.
Needless to say, the subject crops up every now and again and birthday presents can be ... interesting!  Our house now has a stone Boar's head on the front - this was not my idea as I had given it to Geoff for his birthday thinking he would hang it somewhere discretely indoors.

When my friend Jilly Cobbe showed me a preliminary sketch she'd made for  a piece to be exhibited in the "Selected at Newark Park" exhibition , I was enchanted and asked if I could buy it to add to the growing  family collection of Boars. However, this piece was not for sale, but I did  manage to persuade her to have a giclee print made for me, and here it is! Jilly's work can be seen on her website : www.jillycobbe.co.uk

Newark Park, a National Trust property, is a former hunting lodge, and will be hosting the exhibition from 23rd April until 8th June 2014.  Jilly,one of a number of artists taking part, will be exhibiting pictures in various media portraying hunted animals. Other artists will be displaying work in a variety of media throughout the property, including textiles, glass, ceramics, sculpture and paintings.
The exhibition will be part of the SIT (Stroud International Textiles) festival and many other events  are being organised and will be in the SIT brochure which will be available in various outlets in Stroud as well as online. For the Selected at Newark Park exhibition it's also advisable to check opening times on the Newark Park website.

Russian stamp of 1969

Boars of course also feature on stamps from many countries and this could I suppose form a thematic collection for a Markwick family member such as myself!

Hungarian Boar stamp

Mount Fuji - Japan - work in progress .. coming soon!

Having recently completed some Landmark stamp collage pictures, other themes have come to mind and one which I hope to start soon is an image of Mount Fuji.  I have never visited Japan, but having been immersed in researching the country and its landscape, and Mount Fuji in particular, I can't wait to get started.   I have a number of stamps and more are on their way, and I will then get down to the task of arranging them accordingly.   Mount Fuji has featured on many Japanese stamps and is such a beautiful sight.  One of the oldest stamps in my possession, is this one issued in 1926.

I have yet to decide on the view to recreated as from wherever you are, it is just as beautiful! 

Oyez! Oyez!Oyez! at 112.8 decibels!

I didn't really think anything would come of it, when I got in touch with Gloucester's Town Crier, Alan Myatt, in a last ditch effort to get some publicity for my exhibition Stamping Ground at The Guildhall in Gloucester.
However, I was really pleased when he agreed to help me out  when he will be in Gloucester City Centre.  And not only that, but he also got in touch with the Gloucester Review, sending them some photographs and information about me too!  There is a feature on Alan on page 4, in which we can read that he holds the world record for being the loudest town crier and has also acted as toastmaster at a banquet held in the presence of HM the Queen, and lead the Royal car in a procession during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations    in Hitchin Herts, where he also town crier.  So I'm most honoured that he will be mentioning my exhibition alongside other events in Gloucester during the coming week!  The article about Stamping Ground is featured on P20. Sorry to say though, that we share the news this week in the Gloucester Review with the headline "Outrage over badger cull crash court case" on the front page which has made national news.
I really like this Free Community newspaper, available in many outlets in Gloucester and will look out for other editions whenever I'm over there.

!  I really like this Free community newspaper and will make a point of looking out for it whenever I'm in Gloucester - lots of interesting articles to read.

Lace Making in Malmesbury .. and Michigan lace on US Stamps

I called in to the Athelstan museum in the centre of Malmesbury yesterday and found Jeanette Williams, sitting with her lacemaker's pillow,  hard at work.

 Jeanette is an authority on this skilled craft and was happy to show me around the exhibits which tell the story of the town's importance in the industry and its later demise. This was due to the development of the local silk mills, where young girls could earn a better living, and later still the mechanisation of the industry.

Story of Lady Suffolk's Lacemaking school 

She is passionate about lace and her enthusiasm comes over in the many stories of the exhibits in the museum.

Samples of Malmesbury Lace

A lace school was established in the early 1900s in Malmesbury, by Lady Suffolk, an American, in  an effort to revive the craft. A better price could be got for lace by exporting to the USA and other countries than was possible locally, but the school also failed to thrive in an increasingly industrialised society, where machine produced lace could be made so much faster and cheaper. At one time, lace had been worth more than gold! And the size of a lace collar in the times of Charles I were an indication of the status and wealth of the wearer to be able to afford such luxury!

Malmesbury lace was very fine and made using bobbins without beads, due to their heavier weight, as some laces are made.

Jeanette is a collector of lace and I wondered if she had seen the US stamps from the Folk Art series depicting Lace.This set of 4 x  22c stamps issued in 1987 depict contemporary lace made in Michigan, USA.
Next time I'm in Malmesbury I will take her a set to add to her  collection of Lacemaking memorabilia.
Jeanette is usually in the museum on Mondays and is happy to tell visitors about lace and lacemaking.
www.athelstanmuseum.org.uk  also  has  information about the museum and the story of lace.

The Guildhall, Gloucester - Stamping Ground - Rachel Markwick's Stamp Collage Exhibition NOW ON

The exhibition, Stamping Ground,  is NOW ON at The Guildhall, 23 Eastgate Street, Gloucester until 29th March .

The Guildhall is right in the centre of Gloucester and is really easy to find, but I met quite a few people yesterday who previously never been there or even knew anything about it!  I think there may be some confusion with Shire Hall, at the other end of the city, which is a very imposing looking building with pillars and steps leading up to it, whereas the Guildhall frontage is quite narrow and  is sandwiched between the  Cheltenham and Gloucester Building Society and Dorothy Perkins in Eastgate Street, and right opposite the Eastgate Shopping Centre and Marks and Spencer. You can easily miss it if you're not actually searching for it or looking up to see the banner! And it's a pity to just pass it by as you never know just what may be going on inside!   And it's like a tardis - so much bigger inside than it looks from the street.
I had to wait more than 2 years to get the gallery space for my exhibition, which just shows how popular it is for artists wanting to exhibit their work  here, but unfortunately, unless you advertise it widely yourself, it could go unnoticed as there is no street advertising of the art exhibitions, which is a real shame. The Guildhall do have a brochure and some of the art exhibitions are listed in this bi-monthly guide, but I was rather unlucky as for some reason mine got missed out of the February/March edition !! So I'm hoping that my own posters, showing my stamp collage of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, will get noticed elsewhere around the city and inside the Guildhall building itself, although not outside!

Just one of my pictures on show in The Gallery 2nd Floor of The Guildhall

  And hoping for some press coverage too, as well as the lovely article in March's Cotswold Life (p18).

 Inside the Guildhall is a cinema which shows all the latest films as well as some lesser known and older films. There is a lovely cafe/bar which also offers vegetarian and vegan food. It's a great venue for theatre, comedy, music events, workshops and hosts meetings for many associations, including U3A.  They have a wide range of activities going on, and an elderly gentleman I was talking to recently about it, said he remembered going there to Saturday night dances.  He was surprised to learn that you can still go dancing there too! Passers-by just need to know about it!