Self imposed deadlines ..

Managed to complete the German stamp collage flag in time for the world cup final on Sunday 13th July 2014 in which Germany will play Argentina.  I set myself a target for this one and it worked!!  But who will win?  These and many other flag stamp collages are available as prints, canvas prints, cards and some originals are also for sale ..  various sizes,   and you can also commission a flag if you don't see what is already there ..

The flag of Argentina in stamps was made a while ago:

Hearts and flowers - three stamp collages recently commissioned

Several weeks of work on  three stamp collages pieces commissioned by an overseas client have now been completed, and I can now wind down for a fortnight's holiday.
Hearts and flowers and baskets of flowers!

Flowery heart stamp collage by Rachel Markwick

Pink Rose bouquet  Stamp collage by Rachel Markwick

Baskets of Flowers  Stamp Collage by Rachel Markwick

Postcrossing and making new friends all over the world

One of the most enjoyable hobbies I now have is Postcrossing.  www.postcrossing.com.

As a child and into my teens I had several penfriends, in France, Germany, India, Italy, USA and Brazil .. but unfortunately with time all these contacts were lost - not really sure why.   It was just last year that another online contact told me about Postcrossing and I joined up and have now received more than 100 cards from far flung places including Hong Kong, China, Japan,  Singapore ... where next?  I regularly exchange cards and/or letters  now with people in the Philippines, Belarus, USA, Kazakhstan, Germany and Portugal and  today have received some lovely cards from a lady who lives in Grasse, the City of Perfumes.  She made one of my cards - a cat stamp collage, a "Favourite",  and I contacted her to offer to send it to her .. and in exchange for this and a card showing the Eiffel Tower, I received four attractive vintage style poster cards, and also a beautiful scented card, (top left) which when rubbed smells of roses!   Certainly going through a bit of a rose theme at the moment!

The cat card (bottom right) from Germany shows a painting by Rosina Wachtsmeier.

It's easy to join postcrossing.com - just check out the website and follow the very easy instructions.   Have fun!

German flag flying high as German team beat Brazil 7-1

The result of the Germany v Brazil match last night has caused me to get a move on with completing one of my many works in progress, the German flag stamp collage ..

 I always find out interesting facts when making up the flags. Just found a nice woodcut by Gerhard Marcks (1889 - 1981 ) a German who was mainly a sculptor but also produced some very nice  woodcuts and prints, including this one on a stamp issued in 1989. . I also thought Peter Paul Rubens was Belgian, but it turns out that he was born in Siegen, Germany in 1577, so he's going in the black part of my flag too! (top right) J.S.Bach (top left) is there too (top right).A lovely German stamp issued to commemorate the Bauhaus art school appears in the central red part shows a striking image by Laszlo Moholy Nagy .. who was actually Hungarian, but was a professor there, so I've used my artistic licence with this one! Many of the predominantly yellow stamps included here were sent to me in exchange for beer labels from a contact in Germany made through Postcrossing - thanks Uwe!

Out of my comfort zone .. but having a great time!

IMATS (International Make-up Artist Trade Show) took place at Olympia,  London last week-end. I went along with my daughter Hester Markwick who recently graduated in Media Make-up. I was not sure what to expect as it would never have occurred to me to go  to this type of show, but as Hester was giving a demonstration of her wig and make-up skills I wanted to support her.
 It was an exciting day with demonstrations and talks by international artists in the field of fashion, film and television make-up, prosthetics and wig making. The artists and their models were happy to be photographed and filmed throughout the long processes of transformation and it all made for a very colourful event.

Hester applies final touches to the wig and make-up of her model

and here I am with Mark Bowles, Spob O'Brien and David Horne, writers of The Art of Male Make-up , who gave a fascinating talk on the subject!