How did this all get started?
Well, since 2020 was such a "great" year, I decided to get myself back into the artist mindset and really take some time for myself creating. It started out with me going back to basics - coloring. I bought an adult coloring book and went to town, but when that started to fizzle a bit for me, I remembered I had saved all these stamps that my mother had from her grandmother.
The stamps came from my great-grandmother - which my mom kept after she passed. I snatched them up from my mom and always thought to myself, "I'm going to do something with these someday." That day finally came and this is the result.
So why EKD? My great grandmother's name is Effie Kelly, and I'm Kelly Drumm - ta-da! EKD!
My great-grandmother was a very interesting woman whom I can't go without mentioning. She was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, England, on February 14th, 1897. She passed on September 9th, 2001. Yup - if you did your math right, she lived to be 104! She came to the States when she was around 8 years old. Married at 19 - her maiden name of Bentley changed to Kelly, and she had two children. Great grandma Effie was always very poised and sweet, but she was also not afraid to share her opinions and thoughts when the situation called for it. She always thought about all her grandkids, 5 of them, which included my mom, and 10 great-grandkids that including me. She remembered all of us, her memory never seemed to waver.
Photo: Isle of Man
She was also very organized and sentimental - at least I like to think so. I picked up the habit from her to always date things: pictures, cards, items, if I could. To always remember when and where I got these things. And for some reason, she kept all these stamps, which my mom and I wondered who did she know that sent her a letter with a stamp from France or Denmark. Some of the stamps I recognized from a postcard that my mom had sent her when we took a family vacation to Jamaica.
All her saved stamps are now being reused in these pieces I'm making. This is just some....she had A LOT of stamps. I think she would find the whole idea of what I'm doing with them interesting...but unusual at the same time. She'd probably think, "Who would want to wear a stamp?" but would be happy that I was being creative with them.
And I'm happy being able to take something from her and share it with others.
