Ayres Rock - Uluru - Stamp collage using Australian stamps

Ayres Rock - stamp collage by Rachel Markwick



Earlier this month I posted about making this collage, inspired by finding an aboriginal artwork in a charity shop. It's now finished, and  I'm getting  some high quality giclee prints made actual size of the original, which is A3.                                                                                                                             

I've used mainly Australian stamps to create this collage of Ayres Rock, also know as Uluru, the world's largest Monolith.  The very last stamp to be included was one depicting kangaroos. There are in fact several different kangaroo stamps in the collage, along with wombats, lizards and Australian flora.  Aboriginal artworks on stamps also feature on the rock itself.

Enjoying a good rummage ..

 Stamps for new projects are sometimes  easy to find, having already been sorted  into countries, subjects, colours or just "may be useful for a certain idea not yet started ".  But more often than not, I find myself rummaging around in boxes and bags for likely materials for new projects, or in the latest case to find ordinary definitives in pastel shades to complete a large picture of the Shard abandoned last year  due other projects of  more immediate interest to me, and I might add, the fiddly nature of the task I'd set myself!

  There's something quite therapeutic about sorting through heaps of stamps, and I often find little treasures which make me smile, such as this delightful Isle of Man stamp showing Postman Pat and his Black and White cat.  And I have  a black and white cat of my own, who  also appreciates a good box of stamps.

   

I went walkabout (in Charity shops) and got inspiration from Aboriginal art ...

I recently picked up an original Aboriginal painting on canvas for a few pounds in a Charity shop.
The artist is Minnie Ngwarray Morton one of the artists of Ampilatwatja in the Northern Territory of Australia.  Interesting to read that artists from this area  mainly depict medicinal plants and herbs arranged in attractive patterns. This piece  has a  terracotta coloured background, and  limited palette of blues, yellows and greens.  I've never been to Australia, but have "explored" by means of stamps, and loved creating an  Australian flag collage some years ago using stamps showing the wonderful and  varied landscapes of this vast country.  When I think of a famous Australian landmark, Ayers rock, or Uluru,  springs immediately to  mind. It's the largest monolith in the world, and appears on a stamp issued in 1993, shown below with a few others I'm hoping to incorporate in a stamp collage version of Ayers Rock I'm now working on.
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 I'm  gathering together mainly Australian stamps in appropriate colour tones, as well as also searching and researching  Australian plants on stamps  to include in the picture's foreground, along with a few trees and maybe some wildlife. I also found a series of stamps showing Aboriginal rock paintings art, issued in 1984, some of which may also find there way onto the rock. 

I must keep at it and not be tempted to go walkabout again for a while!                                           

The Grayhound - new arrival in Gloucester Waterways Museum exhibition on Floor 2 - and new cards

The Grayhound - Stamp collage by Rachel Markwick

 I have added a framed limited edition  stamp collage print of the Grayhound  to the other pictures of ships currently in my exhibition in the Waterways Museum,  Llanthony Warehouse in Gloucester docks. Also available in the museum is a selection of my cards mainly featuring ships and flags.
Cards are priced at £2.50 each or £10 for  5 . These are also on Floor 2 but need to be purchased  in the shop on the Ground floor .  The exhibition continues on until October, but will update on  closing date, as it may be extended.

Here are some of the latest additions to my range of cards:

The Atyla, The Grayhound, The White Heather and La Malouine  in Gloucester Docks