Puffins on Coquet Island, on stamps and at Middlesbrough's Dorman Museum .. and in a new collage

My first sight of live puffins was  on a boat trip to Coquet Island in Northumberland from Amble. last July 

Up to 22,000 pairs  were currently on the island, although by the end of July each year they migrate to other climes.  Coquet Island is protected by the RSPB  to ensure that the puffins are relatively undisturbed and able to survive and breed, so our boat, operated by Dave Gray and family was able to get within viewing distance of the numbered nest boxes but not authorised to land.  We also saw Common Terns and the rarer Roseate Terns, of which there are more than 100 pairs on the island.. Expert eyes were able to pick out the latter.  Puffins have featured on postage stamps, including a set of British birds appropriately commemorating the centenary of the RSPB in 1989 and a Post and Go series of bird stamps from Lino Prints by artist Robert Gilmor  also included a puffin.  I'm now working on a new collage, the ship R.M.S.  Mauretania which sailed by the town on Amble, and Coquet island on her last journey and Puffins will feature!  Hoping that with more time at home, this collage will soon be finished! 

As usually happens when one becomes interested in a particular subject, we  also came across a whole room of taxidermy in the Dorman Museum in Middlesbrough, where I was born.

Stamp collage Toucan .. but which one?

Keel-billed Toucan - the National bird of Belize

You may have seen my previous post and will have read that there are 43 species of Toucan, but I have chosen the Keel-billed Toucan to collage using stamps from countries including Great Britain, France, India, and Germany as well as postcards for the tree branch. 

The Resplendent Quetzal - an illusive bird but spotted on Guatemalan stamps and banknotes

Some of the stamps in  my late father's collection are the beautiful Guatemalan Quetzal bird stamps issued between 1881 - 7 .  These came to mind when planning a trip to Central America where we  visited Guatemala and hoped to catch sight of some of these beautiful birds, which are a symbol of the country, also appearing on the flag, and giving their name to the Guatemalan currency.


 The currency is also called the  Quetzal, and the bird appears  in flight on each note, as below.

Sadly we didn't see any real live Quetzals, but brought home some hand made beaded versions for the Christmas tree!

 Birds, including the Quetzal also appear on hand made textiles, produced throughout the country - more about  this to follow!
Historically, the  ancient Mayans used the feathers of the resplendent quetzal as decoration and these can be seen in some of the stone carvings in Mayan sites such as Tikal in Guatemala and Palenque in Mexico. It's always good to have a local guide who can point out these things,  as these ancient sculpted details, like the birds, are often very difficult to spot! On the right of this stone stella, if you look very carefully, you can see the tail feathers of the Qutezal which adorned the headress of Pakal, a Mayan emperor.

Robins and Robinabilia!

Is there such a word as Robinabilia?  That is collecting anything to do with the little red breasted garden bird we know and love and which adorns so many Christmas cards not just here in the UK but  all over the world.

My mother, Marion, had a small collection kept in a simple ring binder, of stamps, cigarette cards, tea cards and postcards, together with Christmas cards and a few random articles about Robins.

Cigarette and cigar packets, tea packets and other packaged food items often contained cards making up sets on various subjects, including birds!  You could buy albums in which to keep these and there was of course an incentive to buy more products to try and complete your set!

  Together with a handful of little ornaments, these form a rather charming little collection. Although I'm certain other collectors of ornamental china birds may have far grander displays, this is for me a  fine example of a small selection of items put together by someone who always loved to watch the birds from her window!
A robin was the subject of my Christmas card design made in 2014 and shown on the Seasonal page of my website, together with other Christmas card designs.  I used a variety of suitably coloured stamps to created the robin in the centre and British and US stamps  to make the borders! Cards are available direct from my studio - you can contact me via e mail : markwickrachel@gmail.com for full details.

Japanese Watercolours - sale of work by Katsumi Harada in Chippenham

When we decided to go to Japan on holiday almost two years ago, I wanted to try and learn a few basic phrases in Japanese, and was very lucky to find an amazing teacher, Junko Lake, who has become a very good friend as well as continuing to teach me!  We've had some wonderful times together, and recently visited the Hokusai Exhibition at the British museum.  I learned that her late father, Katsumi Harada was a very talented artist too. She has many of his beautiful watercolour paintings which I have also seen and admired. Unable to keep all of them, as there are very many, Junko is having a sale of some of these small pictures shortly, on two separate dates.  She hopes that others will appreciate the beauty of his work and that his name will live on in this way!

Here are the details of the forthcoming sales in Chippenham:

Everyone loves Owls

Another Owl print flew out of the Artshop in Beechwood Shopping Centre recently. This Artshape shop was open until Christmas and sales were very successful, helping to raise the profile of Artshape Ltd in Gloucestershire. See http://www.artshape.co.uk/ for futher details of the charity's work. Unfortunately the shop is now closed but may reappear in another area at some stage.

The Owl shown here is made from postage stamps, postcards, postmarks.

It is available as a full size print, approx 14 x 12 " or reduced to size 10 x 8" .

Greetings cards also available A5 or A6. Please e mail for futher details.

markwickrachel@gmail.com