Not all the animals made it into the Ark .. the stamp collage version that is!!

Noah's Ark  is now finished, I think, because  we artists tend to wonder if indeed we have actually finished ..I had thought it was finished a few days ago, until someone pointed out that I had included two King Charles's Spaniels!
 This brings me to  a dilemma I often face and that is "authenticity or artist's licence?"
 I have to say that probably the latter should win every time with my particular type of work.  But the dogs really did have to go as I agree that they are just "too modern" for the ark.  They have been replaced by a pair of Golden Palm cats .. found on a stamp issued in Sri Lanka. I hope they are suitable candidates!

The animals went in two by two .. or seven by seven in some cases

Noah's Ark - my latest stamp collage - is still a work in progress and proving quite challenging in so many ways.   Faced with a pile of elephants ( stamps, that is), I 'm still  unsure whether to take two African elephants or two Indian (or Asian) elephants.  You can tell the difference by the size of their ears and the African elephants' ears are the largest!

  But having found an ancient and very large and heavy Bible, published in 1848,  I discover that it would be perfectly OK to take four elephants, two of each type! Not sure that I will though, as it depends on how much space I have on my paper!!
This version of the bible story says that Noah was to take 2 of every species of clean animals, which includes Horses, sheep, Dogs and cats,  but 7 of every species of unclean animals which includes Badgers, weasels and Rats!

I love the Bible's engraving showing the size and supposed design of the ark itself,  and  the list of animals that are to be loaded on board!

 Interesting reading regarding the many species per genus .. for example there is only one type of Giraffe - so simply 2 to be included, but two types of Hyena - spotted and striped, so 4 of these! And a total of 10 bears of five different species!

Luckily I found the missing Polar bear!
Clean and unclean animals are listed separately and include 19 different species of Squirrell (two ls) so 38 altogether!  If you want to read more, I suggest you find a very old bible ..
My own interpretation will of course be just that!!

The Bible referred to here is The Catholic Family Bible with notes and illustrations by the Rev. Geo, Leo Haydock - Dublin, London and Edinburgh - A. Fullarton and Co, 1848

Where's my polar bear? Creating Noah's Ark in stamps ..

One of the most irritating things that happens when I'm making my stamp collages is losing the stamps! I have to be careful not to wear woolly jumpers which attract stamps getting caught in them, and then walking away I find a trail of stamps all over the house ..   And once I start sticking them in place, it's even worse as I usually get the glue on my fingers too and then I pick up even more little bits of stamps without intending to.

I'm in the middle of making a new piece, Noah's ark,  using stamps in various shades of brown to construct the ark itself, and I've sorted out a lovely collection of animals but there must be two of each species to be authentic .. and  I just KNOW I had two polar bears .. but where is the other one? 


You guessed!