Today, January 6th, would be my dad’s 74th birthday. He died suddenly and unexpectedly just over a month ago, and I wish so much that he was here to celebrate his birthday. Instead, I will make art in his honor … and I’d like to invite you to do the same! When I wrote my book, ‘Collage’, a few years ago, I asked my dad if I could use this hilarious picture of him {mustache} and his brother, my Uncle Bill {cowboy}, as the starting image for a challenge I’d be giving all thirty artists in the book. As usual, he said yes! So, today, on his 74th birthday, I’d like to give you the same project I gave all of those amazing collage artists from around the world:
Create a new collage from photograph, circa 1958. Use some, or all, of this image of a little cowboy and his accordion-playing brother. Print it out several times, or use this as the base on which to work. The exciting thing about collage – while the starting image is the same for each of you, every single result will be completely different.
Right click on the photo to save it to your desktop, and then do what you will! Hashtag your final pieces with #DanCummingCollage and I’ll share them on Instagram over the next month or so. Have fun! ps. Here are a few examples from the book. The first one below is mine … because I can never resist a good art challenge:
Happy Birthday, Dad ♥ xo
Love you Danielle!
Sorry for your loss. I love this challenge and the pieces shown in the examples. I am a bit crushed for time today but I hope to do this in the next day or two. Hugs.
oh, i didn’t mean to do it today… just any day if you feel like making a collage : )
Thanks for the inspiration, Danielle! Today I have the privilege of showing work alongside my 84-yr-old father in a group show on the Sunshine Coast. It’s not lost on me how precious this time and experience with him is. Happy Birthday to your dad and cheers to you for all the creative ways you honour his memory. xo
I am sooo happy you are doing this!!! Also that there’s time – no hard deadline, cause I really want to do it!!! Really love the way you’re honouring your dad.
A lovely idea, Danielle! Thank you for including all of us in honoring your dad.
Oh, I so love this idea. A beautiful way to honor you dad. Challenge accepted! Thank you for sharing your dad. Hugs.
Love you, and love this way of honoring your dad. ❤️
Danielle, I am so sorry for your loss. What a great way to honor and remember your dad. When I bought this book late 2017 it really fired me up and I convinced a group of friends to do a similar thing, so most of 2018 one of us would submit an image and the rest of us would do a collage using the image as part of the collage. We have had some really interesting collages come out of it. Thank you for doing the book and now for sharing the image as a start for the rest of us to play with. You were/are inspirational. Thank you.
wow! thank you for telling me about that, mary… that made my day (and it was a rough day)
What a wonderful way to honour the memory of someone so special to you. I don’t think I have made a collage since tearing magazine pages during art class when I was bout 10 or 12.
There is no time like the present to turn your hands at something new and how can I pass this up?
Hugs,
Anna
i’m so sorry for your loss. i lost my mom a few years ago. we were super close. i’ve been honoring her memory by creating several mixed media collage pieces using old photos of her. we are so lucky that we have this way of expression. it helps, doesn’t it? much love, annie
I can’t wair to do this project to honor your dad. I lost my mom 2 years ago and while it gets a bit easier, the hole and the ache never goes away. She was only 76. I feel your pain and will look forward to sharing this with you. ❤️ Peace and blessings.
thanks lauri – and i’m so sorry about your mom. that ache… so real.
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