"Art and Wisdom" Series
The wisdom of making stamp mosaic
In this issue of "Arts and Wisdom" Series, the Psychological Services Group has invited Shatin District Senior Clerical Officer Siu Leung-hing, who is a member of Police Philatelic Club, to share the wisdom he has learned from the art of making stamp mosaic.
Mosaic is a kind of art from ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks collaged together small stones, shells or coloured glass pieces into different patterns. There is no specific recipe for making mosaic pictures. You can use any materials and make various sizes in order to suit different purposes of your works. The essence of mosaic art lies in the principle of "break and build". An artist can follow his or her own preference to create a completely unique piece of art of his or her own personal style.
Stamp mosaic, as the name suggests, is to make use of the colours and patterns on stamps to replace the traditional materials (such as watercolour and pastels). As such, a unique piece of stamp mosaic often requires a large quantity of old stamps of various patterns for cut and paste and colour matching. A good piece of stamp mosaic would display an intricate complementary pattern and colours, reflecting the artist's adequate preparation, confidence and perseverance, which are important factors for success. In the process of creating, the artist needs to regularly review the progress and if any problem surfaces, he or she would have to take corrective steps as early as possible. Only with vision upheld, the beauty of the art of mosaic stamp can be possible.
Plan and
follow the steps
When I encounter new challenges at work, which require immediate attention but no relevant past experience can be relied upon, the thinking process behind making mosaic stamp would come up in my mind. I would re-organise the work assigned by my supervisor, collect relevant information, plan carefully and then assess the progress of each step. Finally I would review the results with my colleagues. I discover that by following a plan step by step, I can accomplish the most challenging tasks.
Encouraging
daughter to learn
Each piece of stamp art is like a performance report that reflects the amount of patience and determination required for such artworks. After work, I often share with my daughter my experience in making stamp mosaic, and encourage her to learn to devise a plan to accomplish her personal goals.
Mr
Siu with one of his favourite works, Tiger Mosaic