Back CAT-alogue ..Cat Collages Take 2

Last Summer I spent time outside sketching cats.  Not real cats, although around here there is plenty of opportunity! No, these were ornamental cats, from a rather large collection which my mum had amassed over many years.

 The idea was partly to photograph and sketch them and then maybe part with them as they have rather taken over the house.. but that hasn't happened yet, although a few have been rehomed!  The next stage was to make some collages based on the sketches, but although I enjoyed making them, I wasn't quite happy with all the results, so they were in a folder for a while. Now, I have been looking at them again and also inviting criticism from family and friends. I made alterations,changed backgrounds and generally fiddled around until I was happier. Now I have a Cat category on my website www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk  where you can see some of them .. more will be added shortly. Some are entirely stamp collage, others are mixed media, using Japanese crayons, and inks.

Sardines .. Hungry? (and Hungary!)

Committing ideas to a blog post is a good way of keeping myself on track with a project. I've finally completed my stamp collage tin of sardines, using a variety of "ingredients" in the form of stamps from the Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, Australia .. and Hungary .. and a little help from the inside of a box of chocolates and a foil coffee bag!  The background is old pages from a Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue.  

Tulips from Amsterdam .. and some Tulip stamps from everywhere but Amsterdam

Tulips are some of my favourite Spring flowers so I was thrilled to find a Tulip Museum on a recent trip to Amsterdam!  We were there in September but it was nice to see a variety of tulips in bloom at the entrance and several displays inside in the amazing tulip vases which set them off so well.
The Museum, located on Prinsengracht is open daily from 10 - 6 pm but it's probably best to check their website amsterdamtulipmuseum.com for up to date details if you intend to visit!
The history of the tulip, told via displays and a short film, is a surprising one. They first grew in the wild in the Himalayas, and in Turkey they were prized by the Sultans in Istanbul, who cultivated them for vast displays, and many are  depicted on Iznik tiles and ceramics.. Imported into Holland by wealthy merchants in the 17th century they became a status symbol and 1637 saw the height of Tulipomania when the price of a single bulb could be more than the price of a house! All fascinating to discover and there are of course many books and novels based on this, including The Black Tulip by Alexander Dumas. I've used the tulip as a subject for some of my simpler stamp collages! Others can be seen on the Flowers page of my website www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk

Of course, the Tulip Museum has a shop where you can buy very reasonably priced bulbs in the greatest number of varieties  I have ever come across!!  I couldn't leave empty handed and purchased a few bags including Rem's favourite - a variety reminiscent of those that were so popular at the time of Tulipmania and is "a look-alike of the so-called Rembrandt or broken tulip" " a work of art"!
Going Baroque is described as "soft pink and vivid white supported by blue-lavender", a double tulip.  And in late Spring I can look forward to seeing Estella Rijnveld in all her glory - heavily fringed and feathered red and creamy-yellow flowers with subtle touches of green, as favoured by the old Dutch flower painters, such as  Rachel(Ruysch!  What I also liked so much about this Museum/Shop is that the staff were very knowledgeable and asked exactly where the purchasers lived and then marked the bags with the exact recommended planting time - so hopefully success is guaranteed!

In a recently received parcel of stamps I found several tulip stamps to add to my little collection - interesting none of them were issued in The Netherlands!

Starting a new stamp collage.. and looking for ingredients to make sardines ..

Work is in progress now on some new stamp collages.  My current obsession seems to be with Sardines,  so I've made a rough sketch  of a can of sardines and will be basing my collage on this.

The background is already prepared using some pages from a very old small Stanley Gibbons catalogue,  which have a pleasing aged appearance. I made a similar design with the subject being a Carp and people commented that it looked like newspaper for fish and chips .. I try to keep some link to the stamps and associated paraphernalia so used the catalogue instead of newspaper ..but I'm currently hunting for the ingredients for my collage and the 80c Netherlands stamp is what I need to complete the sardines ..it looks a bit like fish scales ..  I know I have a quantity of these somewhere .. but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack!

Packed like sardines .. from the Post Office??

I went in  the Post Office on Camoes square in Lisbon, Portugal, to buy a few stamps for my postcards. The lady behind the counter asked me if I would like to buy a can of sardines instead and get the same amount of stamps included in the price.At least that's what I thought she said!   It sounded like a good deal so I purchased the little can only to find that it actually contained six stamps but not sardines after all! I really need to learn Portuguese next time I go!!

 These stamps were issued in November 2016, celebrating the  Fish canning industry in Portugal and they show the different processes as well as the various types of fish, including Sardines, Eel and Tuna, which you can find attractively packaged in colourful cans in food stores and souvenir shops everywhere in Lisbon!I spotted this display shown below on the left, and another shop in the city centre has been selling canned eel exclusively since 1942.  I was offered a sample to taste, which I did, somewhat reluctantly, but have to say that it was quite delicious!

I used just one of my stamps from the Limited edition stamp can (above)   .. and now I wish I hadn't as the intact tin will surely be a future collector's item! But it's certainly a talking point!  And I came back from my holiday with several brightly coloured tins of real sardines as well!!

I've since made a colourful collage  incorporating the lid of the opened can as well as the lid from a real can of Sardines, alongside other bits and pieces collected while in Lisbon.

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Stamp collecting of a different sort .. Japanese style

Before a trip, I try and do my homework! We went to Japan in January  last year, and somewhere I had read that there is a great hobby in Japan called "Stamp Collecting"!  It's not your usual type of stamp collecting, or philately, but collecting ink stamp impressions  found in places including museums, castles, temples and shrines and even railway stations!  It was suggested that one should take a little notebook with suitable paper to absorb the ink - handmade paper, surprisingly isn't to be recommended as it may not be smooth enough so won't give an clear, even  print! If you're about to go to Japan and want to do this, it may well be worth experimenting beforehand with  paper and an ink pad to be well prepared. Some of the ink pads are obviously well used so results are not always perfect!

However, all good stationery departments have lovely notebooks suitable for this purpose.  One of our favourite shops was  LOFT, a department store we came across in Tokyo, Kyoto, Matsumoto and Kanazawa!!   The first ink stamp point  I found  was in Ueno station where we went on our first evening to validate our Japanese rail passes.
(Ueno station, Tokyo - above)

Some are located in obvious places such as the entrance to a garden, as in the case of this one from the Koyosumi gardens, Tokyo, (right).

 Most have Japanese kanji but some in larger tourist areas also have English script such as the one shown below  left from Nara.

It's a lovely free souvenir!  I wonder if collectors exchange ink stamps in the same way as they do postage stamps?? 

Postcrossing : a wonderful way to communicate and make new friends!

I often mention  Postcrossing.com  as it's become a real interest of mine,  and if you haven't already heard of it you may like to investigate by following the links to give it a try - completely free to join - all you need is to choose a postcard to send and buy a stamp!

I first discovered Postcrossing through research I was carrying out online while making a stamp collage and wanting to find out about a certain stamp I was including. I came across a site which gave me all the information I needed, but also mentioned Postcrossing as a way of communicating with all sorts of people in practically every country in the world! It's really nice to receive mail of this sort - not just the brown envelopes, or junk mail variety!  Some people become penfriends and regularly exchange letters, cards and also become friends on facebook!!  Hello! You know who you are!!It's been quite amazing to discover that so many have similar interests and my Postcrossing friends are based in Russia, Finland, Estonia,Canada, Poland,  the Netherlands,  Kazakhstan, Ukraine, France, Japan, USA  ...and as well as stamps we have exchanged Tea Bags, sewing patterns, sugar packets, magazines,  serviettes and endless stories!! If you speak any foreign languages and want to practise, some people will definitely appreciate your attempts!   Families the world over are more or less the same, with the same concerns, happy and sad times and it's great to share stories, and at the same time learn about our different cultures, celebrations and lifestyles. You may also find that many share your interests too!  I love it!

Fireworks .. a reminder of a Japanese collage artist, Kiyoshi Yamashita

Watching the wonderful firework display last night (on TV) from Hull, the 2017 City of Culture, I was immediately reminded of a very happy afternoon spent last January in Furuimachinami (Old town) Museum in Takayama, Japan, where I discovered collage artist, Kiyoshi Yamashita.

 This was one of those "purely by chance" moments ..  family had decided on a couple of hours' rest at the wonderful Tanabe Ryokan, a traditional Japanese style hotel where we were staying for two nights, but I was determined to make the most of our time in Takayama and ventured out into the snowy streets,finding the little museum nearby.With  my limited Japanese I couldn't really understand much from the labels but the pictures spoke for themselves! No photos allowed in the museum, but I'm now enjoying revisiting Yamashita's pictures in the exhibition catalogue.

Born in 1922 in Tokyo,  he suffered a serious illness at the age of 3 leaving him with brain damage. His mother eventually sent him to a special school in Chiba. He started making pictures using torn paper and his talent was recognised by a mental health expert who arranged for his work to be exhibited in Osaka. He ran away from the institution in 1940, aged 18,  avoiding recruitment into the Japanese Army,and wandering around the country clothed only a vest, but making collage pictures known in Japan as Chigiri-e using scraps of paper, food wrappers, stamps and even bank notes ..and was given food and hospitality in exchange for his work. His life story was the subject of a film called The Naked General for this reason.
Kiyoshi Yamashita became well known in Japan,through many exhibitions,  the first being at the famous Daimaru department store in Tokyo in 1956 and this show toured 130 towns in Japan.but I wonder how many others have heard of him? As a collage artist myself I'm always interested to see this type of work and who knows if I may have gained some inspiration for new work, even if it has not yet emerged!

The pavements of Portugal on stamps

You can't help but look down at where you are walking in Lisbon as the pavements are both beautiful but at the same time often quite lethal, especially when it's been raining or you're walking down one of the many very steep hills!  But you have to love and admire these magnificent works of art from the simple house or shop numbers, to the intricate designs on the public squares and avenues which are a famous feature of this charming capital city!

The pavements are made up of literally millions of cubes of black and white stone, occasionally using other colours, to form the patterns,   Simple geometric designs are used in some places,  such as the ones shown here below in the Largo Trinidade Coelho with its Kiosk of San Roque dating back to the late 19th century, a popular place to sit and enjoy a coffee or a beer!(The bronze statue is of a lottery ticket vendor). More intricate patterns and designs have been used  in Camoes Square in the Bairro Alto area of Lisbon, where there are fine examples of ancient sailing ships, known as Caravels,

This celebrates the city's maritime heritage of  voyages of discovery to distant lands by navigators such as Vasco da Gama and Magellan.

In July 2016 a set of stamps and a souvenir sheet  was issued depicting these famous pavements, known as Calcada Portuguesa, which are now used not only in Portugal but in other countries such as Brazil and Spain!   They originated in Portugal though, introduced in the 19th century by Eusebio Candido Pinheiro Furtado, a connoisseur of Roman mosaic art.  The work of laying these pavements at that time was mainly carried out by prisoners who laid the pavements of the Praca Dom Pedro IV (Rossio square).