My Stamp collage prints are in this beautiful holiday cottage in Wiltshire

The owner of this beautiful  4 bedroomed holiday cottage in  Garsdon near Malmesbury, Wiltshire chose several of my stamp collage pictures to decorate the dining room and bedrooms and  it's always great to see how pictures look on someone else's walls!

A large canvas print of The Carp stamp collage looks great against the sage green wall of the dining room, and two framed giclee  prints of garden scenes  all made from stamps decorate the twin bedroom, with the grey frames chosen here toning well with the overall colour scheme, and very much in a cottage style.

Carp - stamp collage 

Secret Garden  Giclee print stamp collage

The property is a spacious 4 bedroom cottage on two floors, with a large garden in a quiet lane surrounded by fields and open countryside, with lovely views. It  is ideal for families of up to 8, with dogs  also welcome.  To see  more photos of the entire property, see www.sykescottages.co.uk  property reference 12186.

And for more information and pictures of my stamp collages including those shown here, www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk .
Pictures are available in various formats including canvas prints and giclee prints, framed and unframed.  Some original work is also available to purchase.

Renaming a ship .. "The Blue Lady" could be renamed " La Semeuse Bleue"

La Semeuse - Stamp Collage by Rachel Markwick 

A few years ago I made a stamp collage ship using the iconic French stamp called "La Semeuse" or in English, "The Sower".  I used them to make the sails and my original vessel duly sailed off to a new home in Bologna, Italy.  Limited edition Prints are also available! 

  Subsequently, with a dearth of Blue "La Semeuse" stamps in my stock, a new ship emerged and was named "The Blue Lady". 

The Blue Lady - Stamp Collage by Rachel Markwick 

 She also found a new home in West Virginia, USA.  I have prints available, a framed version of which is currently on show in the National Waterways Museum, in Gloucester Docks.  She still goes by the name of The Blue Lady, but new owners of ships often rename them, so who knows, perhaps she could become "La Semeuse Bleue".


See more ships on my website
www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk

Unframed Prints available

Voyages of Discovery, my exhibition of Stamp Collages at the National Waterways Museum continues on until September, and there has already  been a lot of interest in the ships which are the subjects of most of the pictures.on show.

Staff and visitors at the exhibition in the National Waterways Museum May 2019

  You can read the ships' stories on previous blog posts, and information is also available in the museum display.  During the summer months the museum is open every day from 10 - 5.
Pictures can  be supplied as unframed prints, and in various sizes. Print quality is excellent and colour is guaranteed fast for 70 years + although I may not be around by then to check on it!! Take a look at my website www.rachelmarkwick.co.uk  to see all the pictures.   

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. 

Every picture tells a story

Spent yesterday morning hanging the exhibition of my work at Pegasus Art Shop, London Road, Thrupp, Gloucestershire, and it's looking good!  The exhibition runs until 20th November 2012,  9 - 5 Monday to Saturday.
Pegasus Art Shop is a great place to dispay work as they have plenty of wall space leading along to studios and the shop, so I've been able to create a pleasing show with areas of work in themes including ships, flags, gardens and Gaudi inspired pieces, as well as some individual subjects.

Until recently I've been reluctant to part with my original work, maybe for sentimental reasons, but I've recently  made the decision that it's time to offer what people want to buy and that is original stamp collages - and I can  always keep a print for myself! The quality of the printing is such that you can often hardly tell the difference, but with the stamp collages the texture of the stamps is also very appealing, and there's nothing quite like owning original art.  The majority of the pictures in the exhibition, Stamping Ground, are framed originals, but I've also included some canvas prints and a few framed prints too.

Every picture tells a story and there are so many stories within the stamp collages themselves too.
All the flags, for instance, are made up of the stamps of each individual country and within those stamps are the history, folklore, natural history and characters who make up that country.

Named ships of which there are some originals and some prints have their own histories and are made up of interesting details.  Hope to have a good audience for my work at Pegasus in the next few weeks! Please get in touch if you need more information on any of the work included.

The Colosseum, Original framed Stamp Collage by Rachel Markwick, features in the current exhibition at Pegasus Art Shop, Thrupp










markwickrachel@gmail.com

Setting out my stall .. at the Glamorous Garden Party

I was invited to have a stall at a recent fundraising event for Breakthrough Breast Cancer http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/  in the beautiful garden of Laurence and Jackie Llewelyn Bowen.  The weather was kind to us and guests turned out in vast numbers  to support the charity, with other stalls sellling jewellery, soaps, kitchen wares etc and of course a raffle with great prizes.  On my stall are stamp collage cards, prints and framed originals - card stocks happily depleted by the end of the evening! My daughter Heidi helped on  the stall and we both enjoyed looking around the wonderful garden and  sampling the delicious canapes!