"I Resolve in the New Year"

 What better way to start 2026! Make it a good resolution. Happy New Year to you and yours!

12-days-of-xmas: 12 Drummers (not all Drumming!)

"C'mon Ringo, put down that newspaper!"

12 Days Of Christmas

Sorry, cant seem to find the time or energy to do this one so one from the archives. Collaged CD artwork for Two Headed Emperor's festive EP "Selling Christmas" on the Falling A label.

NINE ladies dancing.

 

Theme: The 12 Days of Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope you’re having a great day.

A busy time of course, but if you want to create something in a quiet moment then here’s the theme for the week ahead. Collages featuring any aspect of The 12 Days of Christmas song.

Also, an excuse, of course to include a link to the brilliant 1955 Oscar-nominated short film all about it, “On the Twelfth Day”.

Directed by Wendy Toye with designs by Ronald Searle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaMw6Hhw--A

***** Have a Kewl Yule! *****

KEYBOARDS and a holiday wish in the coming year ...

 So...here it is! Our 2025 holiday card (currently at the printer as I type this)! Our greeting reads:

The fundamental things apply

as time goes by.

Best Wishes for all the happiness

you can find

in the coming year.

Love,

Angie & Ted

A caption, inside left bottom, reads:

Piano in collage is a studio 58-key piano, with wood and plasticine keys, likely manufactured by Kohler & Campbell, 1927. It is the piano from the movie Casablanca on which Sam plays "As Time Goes By."

keyboards: Sitting on my Piano the Other Day!

QWERTY Keyboard.

 With Xmas fast approaching I rushed this one…

A factory where they make colourful keyboards.

Keyboards...............................Tickling the Ivories

Theme: Keyboards

Collages with a keyboard to appear somewhere, be it musical, typewriter or computer etc…

Could be a favourite piano player ripping it up, a prog-rock synth wizard or a data inputter.

Er, maybe not that last one. :D

Jack & The Beanstalk

Fairy Tales /Folk Tales............................Hick Dickory Dock/Puppet Lady

Two for the price of one!

You have to kiss a lot of frogs…

 I know I have a picture of little red riding hood somewhere…but I couldn’t find it…

Luckily I have a lot of frogs.

Fairy Tales / Folk Tales.................................Kats In The Kremlin

An obscure Russian folk tale about the gang of cats that take over the Kremlin. They hire an architect mouse to re-design the whole thing and all goes horribly wrong when the cats eat the mouse before the job is completed!

KRAMPUS -- (hopefully) a FOLK TALE

From the archives (2017). I was invited to submit a work of art for a Krampus show at a local gallery.

I am of Eastern European descent and the legend of Krampus makes all children behave so they are not terrorized by the demon-like creature at Christmastime! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSKfdaCIuBM
 

Theme: Fairy Tales & Folk Tales

’Tis the season when favourite childhood stories take centre stage in theatre shows and in TV/Movies.

Collages inspired by anything from the lands of “Once Upon A Time…”

Rhyme Time.........................Synthetic Cow

Rhyme Time...

When her husband goes to sleep, miraculous images begin to creep...
                         And soon her mind is keen to tread a dream-filled path to collage instead!
      All the very best to my Kollage Kit friends for a very Happy Holiday and Wonderful New Year.
 

 

Rhymes..........................Targets

An Olde Country Rime.

Rhymes............................He Showed Me A Pure Rat Of Wiverer

Rhymes ..................I Never Expected That!

From the archives .

Herbert Stang’s Secrets

 

Theme: Rhyme-Time

After the jokes and the sleight-of-hand tricks,

Some verse inspired collage and limerick mix,

Be they fresh from your pen or from poets you quote

I’m calling it quits now. I’ll get my coat!

jokes-tricks: Ray Presto!

JOKES and TRICK PHOTOGRAPHY

My take on the cult classic "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman". Low budget visual effects such as rear projection and forced perspective were used in the movie to make the actress appear giant. Much easier and BIGGER and better to do in collage form!

Jokes and Tricks ........................Trixie Leigh - Half Woman/Half Table

Trickery of the light…

 

Theme: Jokes & Tricks

Collages inspired by practical jokes, conjuring tricks or similar japery.

Transports of Delight

 It could happen….

transports-of-delight: King of the Road

TRANSPORTS of DELIGHT ... Kate's Fantasy

So this collage came about in a weird way. I had a photo of Douglas Fairbanks and his leading lady from "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924) on my worktable. Ron then chose this theme and I was delighted to be able to feature this scene! But how? 

I started by finding a suitable background (beautiful blue sky in this beach scene) for the part of the photo that just featured the flying carpet and clouds (I removed the buildings that were originally in the photo). 

Then I felt I needed a spectator and I found a great image of Katharine Hepburn glancing skyward! But, unbeknownst to be, a mere 9 years later Kate would star with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in the film "Morning Glory" (1933).

Transports Of Delight..............................Delightful Transport

transports-of-delight: Charabang Comestibles Co.

From the Archives.

Theme: Transports of Delight.

Collages featuring trains & boats & planes & automobiles etc...

Invent a new one, perhaps. All aboard!

Two Pages From Sketchbook......................Yellow Bus/ Be A Television Dog

yellow: Eliminate : Lemonade

From Duck Soup (1933)

Attorney: That kind of testimony we can eliminate.

Chico: Atsa fine, I'll have a nice cold glassa lemonade.

Hello, Yellow!

So, I had two pieces in this collage sitting on my work table. (The yellow colored pencil AND Mickey Mouse! left over from the previous Trivia challenge.)

BTW did you know that when Mickey Mouse was introduced waaay back in the day his shoes and gloves were both yellow?? Now he has WHITE gloves. There you go, I got that trivia out there.)

Yellow...............................The National Yellow Magazine

The eagle eyed may have spotted this on here before - rather briefly. But, havig scanned it I realised the "Y" of the yellow had fallen off between the work table and the scanner!? I looked for it but it wasn't to be found ( I expect it will turn up in the bathroom - that's where a lot of snippings tend to end up!) So I deleted and hurriedly cut out another "Y" and afixed thusly. Ah the trials and tribs of the collagist!

YELLOW

 

Gleaned all the yellow things from my collage pile….not as many as you would think. 

Theme: Yellow

Collages featuring the colour yellow somewhere or everywhere if you like!

TRIVIA QUESTION #007

Ah ha, after I learned the answer to this question I realized I might have stumbled upon a double meaning! But I Googled it and AI claims Fleming chose the name of his character for its lack of romance or excitement, and there is no indication he was aware of or intended the later slang use of "bird" for a woman.

Trivia Question #007: Who did Ian Fleming name his spy character James Bond after?

Answer: An American ornithologist of the same name. Fleming found the name in his copy of the book Birds of the West Indies and decided it was perfect -- "brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine".

 

Trivia..............................The Victorian Trivia Train

TRIVIAL PURSUIT ATC's -- try to guess which PHOBIA fits the image I created for it

 Okay, here are the PHOBIAS:

Aichmophobia: Fear of needles and pointed objects

Anthrophobia: Fear of flowers

Triskaphobia a/k/a Triophobia: Fear of the number 3

Radiophobia: Fear of ionizing radiation including x-rays

Philematophobia: Fear of kissing

pop trivia: How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?

Lita Roza (1926-2008) was an English singer best known for her 1953 recording “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?”, which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles chart. She was the first British woman to have a No. 1 hit in the UK chart.

However, she hated the song.

When Lita died in August 2008, her obituary in the Liverpool Daily Post recorded her thoughts on the doggie in the window. ”It was rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!" After recording it, she never performed it again.

But, she loved dogs and after her death records show Lita left around £300,000 to 11 charities including Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, the Blue Cross, and the Cinnamon Trust.

Day to day trivia of life

 Inspired by a very cut up book off Michael.

I love how accidental collages appear.

trivia: Anyway, here's another one!

Since collage entered art history In 1912, maybe only a few dozen artists used it.

An estimated 6.9 billion analog collages have likely been created worldwide since then.

(A bit of “info” from ChatGPT. :D)

Theme: Trivia

To start off a new month of themes,

Collages featuring all things trivial:

Triviality in reality or fiction.

Trivial facts in general, or perhaps something trivial that has happened to you.

- Ron

STARS ... "When you wish upon a star...

 ...makes no difference who you are,

anything your heart desires will come to you."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_dl4ANDlZ4

Star Signs ...........................................Star Catchers

Too big for the scanner hence the rather wonky photo.

Star Signs.............................Star Studded Line Up

star-signs: Gemini Dog Stars in Space