BMA142 Queen's Birthday Stamp Assignment, 30 May

This week's assignment was to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's birthday with a stamp design.

My intention was to create a piece of art which embodies my ambivalence and dread surrounding the monarchy and being a subject of that system.

First, art process.  A piece of United Kingdom flag clip art was run through an art filter in Corel Painter and inserted as a backdrop into the stamp template provided by tutor David Woolley.  A series of images of QEII were then collaged together to create a grim, yet resplendent, Queen waving to the people.  Next, a robotic prosthetic was created to replace the Queen's gloved hand by making a series of nuts, bolts and discs in Photoshop.  The Queen's face was roughly painted over and run through the craquelure filter in Photoshop.  The jacket and tiara layer was run through a glowing edge filter and the prosthetic was selectively "burnt" to blend the parts together.  The "Gesture BRK" font in Photoshop was used to create the "LONG MAY SHE REIGN" because it resembles writing in medieval manuscripts (A History of Illuminated Manuscripts by Christopher De Hamel).  See also
British Library collection of royal manuscripts

Second, thought process.  I've been a subject of Queen Elizabeth II's since I took out New Zealand citizenship in 2013.  This does not override the many years of being an American, a citizen of a country that mounted a revolution to sever ties with the monarchy, among other things.   We're all about going your own way, being a rugged individual and letting the people choose their worthless celebrity sponges based on their latest movies or public stupidity rather than having them forced on you by tradition.  I don't see the point, quite frankly, in being ruled by a woman who will probably never leave the United Kingdom again and whose relatives come out this way because we pay them to.  Her own country, England, has been under Austerity for the last 5 years but I haven't heard if the Bedroom Tax has been levied against her family home or what, if anything, she has done to get the country through these hard economic times.

Still, what a lovely woman.  The sense of duty and dignity which she brings to her role.  The hats.  Her face on all the money.  She's on track to meet and exceed Queen Victoria's reign; she's been around Forever.  Girl Power!  How could I not love that?  And what will happen when she dies and King Charles III ascends to the throne?  I don't think I want to see his face on the money, be subjected to the barrage of bad tv movies about Diana, or hear his thoughts, no matter how well-reasoned or thoughtful they may be, on how the world should be run.  So, let's keep her around, indefinitely.  My stamp celebrates her Granite Jubilee, 90 years on the throne.  And thanks to the robo-prosthetics and plasti-cized exterior, she should be around for many more decades to come.