Animals by Eileen Schaer

The Artist

Eileen Schaer is a self-taught contemporary visual artist and painter whose artistic career spans for nearly 50 years. Her magical paintings depict Eileen’s unique imagination of dreamlike worlds and intriguing characters. At first glance her paintings would appear childlike but it is precisely this quality of innocence and spontaneity that her admirers and collectors like so much.

She has worked and exhibited consistently all her adult life and has work in many private and public collections. She has been represented in numerous mixed thematic exhibitions in academic, commercial and public galleries in diverse locations such as India, Switzerland, London and Liverpool.

Eileen hails from Liverpool where she was born, raised and educated. After meeting her husband, the late artist and teacher David Fletcher, they lived in London for a number of years before eventually deciding to move to the Isle of Man in 1975.

Continuing their life on the Isle of Man, David moved onto becoming a Course Leader for the Arts Foundation Course at the IOM College for many years. Together with their two children, they lived next door to the Laxey Woollen Mills surrounded with the distinctive sound of a rookery nearby which these birds have often been featured in Eileen’s work. Being an aesthete couple, Eileen and David became very active and a positive presence within the Manx contemporary art scene by inspiring, exhibiting and promoting the work of generations of young Manx students and graduates. 

The Stamps

The stamps showcases Eileen’s artistic skills and love of animals. The animals are set in an imaginary setting either alone or in human company. She hopes her paintings are uplifting and bring joy so that they can take life out of its mediocrity which she thinks is essential during these dark times.

Eileen has worked in a variety of media over the years: from meticulous tiny gouache paintings to large scale oil paintings, painted sculpture and lino-cut prints. Our stamp images represent paintings in acrylic on board, with the imagery extending over the risen frame of each piece

• The first stamp (73p) is the painting of the ‘Lady Dreaming of a Tiger’. It features a weightless lady in a trance-like state, gently settled on a passive but strong tiger. The setting is indicated by a tropical plant to the right seemingly conjoined to an exotic blue bird, while a much smaller bird in flight is included to the left of the lady. A transcendental and peaceful scene of animal and human accord.

• The second stamp (£1.38) is titled ‘Birdsong’. In this gentle and humorous image three disparate animals are held in reverie by the song of the bird that has settled on the nose of the elephant. All the animals present are calmly sharing the moment, happily entranced, sending a very positive message of joy and the simple pleasure of fellowship.

• The third stamp (£1.54) is ‘Moonlight’. With its yellow moon and dream-like cool blue light the image features seagulls resting and night is clearly evoked. The lady rowing the boat is accompanied by her steadfast canine companion in a very unlikely if dependable-looking brick-patterned and riveted boat. The narrative content is reminiscent of the famous story of The Owl and The Pussycat, an imaginative voyage of dreamlike discovery and friendship.

• The fourth stamp (£1.75) is ‘Lady With Birds’. A cluster of birds is pictured magnetically gravitating towards the calm presence of the lady and the sense of accord and trust between the various species and the lady, who stands as a modern day St Francis, is palpable.

• The fifth stamp (£1.91) is titled as ‘Just Friends’. The beguiling and reassuring presence of ‘the king of jungle’ creates a deceptively simple image in which the title defines the extent of the relationship between the lion and the lady and implies a human love and respect for the most powerful and usually most dangerous of nature’s animals.

• The sixth and therefore final stamp, completing the set (£2.12) is called ‘Lady Kneeling’. There is an air of care and parenting in this painting of a lady interlocked with an elephant in a fond and caring embrace. Eileen’s ‘Lady’ character is most likely herself as human witness in all these tiny poetic moments and these calm and meditative images speak of an ideal world of a harmonious animal kingdom in which we play an equal part, a delightful aspiration indeed. The stout little robin-like bird is taking all the weight in a humorous and possibly even Christian religious reference.