The White Heather - Stamp Collage Original and Prints on show

Currently on show at The Old Passage Arlingham is the exhibition "Between Seeing and Dreaming", featuring work by  artists working in a variety of media including painting, photography, jewellery, sculpture, ceramics and not forgetting my own stamp collages, of which The White Heather is one. At the Old Passage I've included a framed print, and the original can shortly be seen in my new exhibition, Stamping Ground 2, at Gloucester Guildhall from 2nd October,  until 30th October. in the exhibition hall.

The White Heather is a Cornish Lugger built in 1926, originally operating out of Mevagissy and fishing from Falmouth before being laid up on the River Fal for many years.  From 1988 she was running sailing trips from Fowey in Cornwall.  I was pleased to go on board this beautiful old lugger, one of only a dozen still surviving, when she was in Gloucester Docks in 2017 for the bi-annual Tall Ships Festival. We heard that she has sailed to Morocco and Brazil before returning to Britain via the Caribbean, but is now undergoing refitting in the docks.
In this picture I've used stamps, envelopes, thread for the rigging and even words from an old stamp album.

Food and Other Delights - an exhibition at The Old Passage Inn, Arlingham

Another delightful exhibition is currently on at The Old Passage Inn, Arlingham, on the banks of the River Severn, featuring work by artists who are part of the Walking the Land group.  Click on the link for The Old Passage Inn, to read about the restaurant and follow the link for Food and Other Delights to see some of the work currently on display www.theoldpassage.com

Strawberry Heart, a collage I made using US Stamps showing  fruit including strawberries has already sold, but limited edition prints are also available  - framed or unframed -   Please get in touch for further details..

Severn Trow Norah stamp collage

We live not far away from the beautiful River Severn and enjoy walking along the banks at various points including Purton, Arlingham and Gloucester.  At one time, the river would have been busy with vessels such as the Severn trows, known as "open moulded" trows, with a hull constructed of planked wooden frame with an open waist and small decks at bow and stern. The two-masted ketch rig allowed easy access to the hold for loading and unloading of cargo.  The overall length of the trow was 56 feet.  
The Severn trows carried various cargoes along the river during the late 19th and early 20th century.

 I came across a scale model of the Severn Trow Norah at Maritime Museum in Greenwich and have just completed a stamp collage based on this.  Built in 1868 at Bridgewater, Norah carried bunker coal from coal ports such as Cardiff, Barry and Newport.  This coal was for domestic users, but also for coastal steamers - vessels such as the SS Robin, also featured in one of my collages, rescued from destruction and now in the Royal London dock.  
When her working days ended, Norah was bought by Captain Leonard Smart in 1932 and he beached her at Weston as a houseboat.  After his death in 1936 she was left there with other wooden hulks until the outbreak of war, when she was stripped of all her metalwork, for the war effort, and then burnt.  

Detail

Severn Trow Norah 

Can you tell what it is yet?

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I've been invited to take part in an exhibition next month at The Old Passage Inn at Arlingham, a delightful fish restaurant on the banks of the River Severn.  It's a joint exhibition which will feature artwork of various kinds including photography, water colours, oils and acrylics, drawings, 3D pieces collage and more.  These are the main ingredients of my piece, which is almost completed.  It's a stamp collage and all the above stamps are included in the picture.  Stamp collages are such fun to do!   In the words of Rolf Harris, "Can you tell what it is yet"? Probably not, but you could have a guess : the clue is in the location!   Watch this space to see the finished article shortly.

 

Earth.water.wind.sky at The Old Passage, Arlingham

The Old Passage Inn at Arlingham is currently hosting an exhibition of art, photography, and 3D work by more than 20 artists and photographers.  http://www.theoldpassage.com/ gives details of the restaurant's location, menus, and accommodation, as well as the art events that take place there. By clicking on the Art events link you can view the exhibition in  a blurb book beautifully composed by photographer Kel Portman, and the images can be easily enlarged to view in detail. Works are in alphabetical order by artist. Some work has already been sold and the quality is very high but most reasonably priced. It's well worth a visit and artists are kindly donating a percentage of their sales to SARA, run by volunteers providing a rescue service on the River Severn, details of which also appear on the website of the Old Passage Inn.

In the frame ...

I attended the  monthly Stroud Business Women's Network meeting this morning at the Old Lodge Inn. I've been a member now for a few months and it's a great place to meet others who are in business and keen to promote themselves, their products and services. 
On a rota basis, members get to "Shout about" their business and today Lesley Young gave us an interesting insight into her framing service.  Not only does she frame pictures and  photographs, but also often gets asked to frame personal items such as children's clothing and holiday souvenirs.  Luckily for me, Lesley had just completed framing my "Dispatch" stamp collage featured in my previous blog, and it was on display for all to see.  As always, the framing was perfectly in keeping with the picture and Lesley had given me her expert advice on the way she felt would enhance this particular subject, using the technique of float mounting the stamp collage which is on watercolour paper, and exposing the decaled edge of the paper. A deep spacer had been inserted to raise the glass, showing the picture off to its very best advantage. The frame is tulip wood and tones in very well with the wood effect of the ship, for which I had used  heavily postmarked US stamps portraying the Landing of Columbus.   This picture will be displayed with others in the Walking the Land exhibition called Earth.Water.Wind.Sky opening at the Old Passage Inn, Arlingham on 4th May until the end of May, and possibly beyond.
Lesley can be contacted for advice on framing by e mail on framingbylesley@hotmail.com.     

to the lonely sea and the sky - The Dispatch

Finally completed my stamp collage of the Dispatch, a two masted schooner which has ended her days on the banks of the River Severn, at Purton Ships' Graveyard. Built in Scotland in 1888, this beautiful old ship had a long history of voyages as far as Newfoundland for cod fishing, before being beached in 1961. Not much remains now as the ship has been burnt, vandalised and pilfered over the years but is now protected by the association formed to conserve the remains of the ships at Purton.

This framed picture will be exhibited at The Old Passage Inn at Arlingham in May 2012 as part of the Walking the Land Exhibition. Prints and cards will also be available from my studio which is detailed in the Site 12 Open Studios brochure Route 04 and will also shortly be on line.

" to the lonely sea and the sky" seemed an appropriate title for this tall ship, the quotation taken from John Masefield's poem, Sea Fever.

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by".