pushing the envelope

The 6th May 2015 sees the 175th anniversary of the fist ever postage stamp - The Penny Black - to mark the occasion, Hereford College of Arts, House of Illustration and The Hay Literary Festival are hosting a touring exhibition for which I have been kindly asked to contribute by decorating an envelope. What a great brief!

After much thought and eventually arriving at a simple concept, this is my working process to realise what I had in my head. I painted maybe 100 penny stamps using a mixture of acrylic and Dr. Martin's water colour inks. Cut out the individual (borderless) stamps drew round them in light pencil onto the envelope and painted in the white perforated borders making sure the space and the stamp were numbered. Once the borders were completed, I simply glued on the corresponding stamp to the space.