Cinderella Art Stamps From Amphora/ The Muse of the Wood

"THE MUSE OF THE WOOD"

Empire of Amphora

2001

by Eric Whollem

edition of 100, plus ten artist's proofs each

Copyright by the artist.

A Set of Four Stamps

A Neohistorical View of the Sacred King of Nemi in

Light of the Vantage of the Micronation of Amphora

This stamp set, entitled The Muse of the Wood, takes a cameo

of my portrait of "The King of the Wood," painted with earth

paints in 1974, and imaginatively recreates a courtship scene

involving his muse. The king with his triangular hat appears in

my earth painting as seen on my post of  December 21, 2009.

The sacred king legendarily was the guardian of the Golden

Bough, the magical mistletoe of the oak tree.

He was required to fight by the sword for his kingly right.

Sir Douglas Frazier, the father of modern anthropological

science, wrote about the sacred kings in his book, The

Golden Bough.

TECHNIQUE OF THIS STAMP'S DESIGN

This stamp was created "hands on," using a cut paper collage

approach. At the time of this stamp's creation I had no computer.

But I had an antique 1980's word processor which supplied the

typeface of the design.

The stamp started as an ink drawing which was reproduced in

black and white on colored paper stock. These impressions were

cut out and reassembled with glue on a colored sheets imprinted

with the word processor typeface.

The result is a graphic design that is reminiscent to a degree of

serigraphic print making. During the 1970's I worked in the

silk screen medium, having produced a number of hand-pulled

prints.

I have also dabbled in etching and aquatint in my college days

at U.C.Berkeley in the late sixties.

These limited edition stamps are signed and numbered on the

backs in pencil, like an art print. The perforations are executed

by hand with a die cutter. The gum on the back was applied

manually with a brush.

*

Artist stamps, artistamps, cinderella stamps, fantasy stamps, faux postage, mail art, micronation stamps by

Eric Whollem.

*