Open Studios Stroud - my studio in Bisley Road open on both week-ends 6-7 and 13-14 MAY

With a working studio comes a lot of mess and general untidiness and I always feel I have to sort it all out in readiness to open to the public on the Open Studios week-ends! And this is about as good as it gets!  Those in charge always say "People like to see it how it is"! but they wouldn't get through the door if I left it exactly as it usually is!  I've been busy hanging framed original stamp collages, prints and  canvas prints. Full details of access to my studio appear in the Open Studios brochure www.sva.org.uk  on page 31  and mine  is listed as venue no 21. The Lawn, 132 Bisley road, Stroud, GL5 1HL .  Please park in the main part of Bisley road as we are on a narrow lane with no additional parking places. It's short, picturesque walk along and only takes a few minutes! Black and yellow signs point the way!

Saint Martin of Tours - 326-397 AD

In Oxford last week-end and I noticed a small statue of St Martin of Tours I had not previously seen.  It is located next to the Carfax tower, which is the only remaining part of the old St Martin's church demolished many years ago to make way for street alterations in the city centre.

Some time ago I was working on  a series of stamp collages featuring Saints and St Martin was one of the small number I completed. Having researched his life I discovered that his father was a high ranking officer in the Roman army and encouraged his son to enlist at the age of 15, the terms being that he would stay in the army for a minimum of 25 years. Although Martin was not happy to be in the army, he was said by the biographer Sulpicius to have been a model soldier. Martin encountered a beggar outside the gates of Amiens and cut his cloak in half to give to him.  Soon after this, he had a dream in which he was called to give up life in the Roman army to become a soldier of Christ.  Happily he was allowed to leave the army and subsequently became Bishop of Tours in 371.  He is the patron saint of beggars, outcasts, horsemen, soldiers, tailors and innkeepers.

Statue of St Martin next to the Carfax tower in Oxford city centre

Mixed media collage with stamps, showing St Martin cutting his cloak in half to give to a beggar outside the walls of Amiens

This image is also as a card and high quality print on paper. 

Other Saints in the series currently include St Francis of Assisi,

St Nicholas of Myra and St Joan of Arc.