Postage Stamps + Map = Art

Eurostamps, mixed media on canvas, 10”x10”

A few years ago I received this cool piece of French Canadian folk art.  In the mid-20^th Century a group of Franciscan nuns were fundraising by making little images out of old postage stamps. Since then, I have wanted to make some of my own postage stamp art.  Considering my love of maps, and the huge bag of stamps I acquired earlier this year, something like this piece was inevitable.   

This Must Be Belgium

This Must Be Belgium, mixed media on canvas, 10”x10”

This year I worked on a scanning project where I scanned and digitized hundreds of slides.  They were mainly travel photos from the 1970’s through 1980’s.  The slides belonged to a friend’s grandparents.  Earlier in their retirement they traveled all over the world, often with tour groups.  As I was scanning Europe circa 1973, I kept thinking about that silly old movie If it’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.  It was one of those movies that was repeated on TV often when I was growing up.  As I have been working on travel themed mixed media art this year, I knew I wanted to reference the movie in a piece.   Here it is.  I even made prints of some of those old slides for this one.

As for the movie, many of the great character actors from the original cast are now gone.  Suzanne Pleshette, Norman Fell and Peggy Cass to name just a few.  One actor who is still with us is Ian McShane.  He played the handsome, young tour guide back in 1969.  How I would love to see a remake with Mr. McShane reprising his role.  Today he is better known for playing the foul-mouthed Al Swearengen on the series Deadwood.  Imagine a character like Swearengen leading a bus tour around Europe.  That’s a movie I want to see!