Last year, my friend and extraordinarily talented artist, Caryn Drexl, brought the Februllage challenge to my attention.
I didn't manage to start the 2024 project on time. Then things were hectic with sittings.
This year, I have two sittings booked from 7-23 February with just two nights at home between them on 11-12 February, so it may be foolhardy for me even to consider doing this (let alone to participate in the 100 Days Project, which is due to start on 23 February, though I'm also considering participating in that).
But I thought I would at least try.
From their Instagram: Februllage is a collaboration between Edinburgh Collage Collective and the Scandinavian Collage Museum. This initiative invites collage artists to make a 'collage a day' throughout February using our OFFICIAL WORD PROMPT CALENDAR – 2025.
I'm a day late finishing and sharing my collage for day one, which has the theme 'trees'. Although I haven't yet slept, so it's unofficially still the same day I started it.
I used a wood engraving of a Queensland bottle tree from the Nouveau dictionnaire encyclopédique universel illustré created under the direction of Jules Trousset and a circular tailpiece by an unknown artist from Histoire de l'ornementation des manuscrits to create my collage.
I gave the tailpiece a blue tint to help it stand out from the trees.
I looked for the indigenous name for the Brachychiton rupestris. While there's indication that any tree of the genus Brachychiton is a Kurrajong, the Brachychiton populneus, in particular, is most commonly known by that name.
Ultimately, though, I chose to go with the title 'bottle top' for the collage as when I overlaid the circular tailpiece onto the trunk of the tree (ironically, partially obscuring the most distinctive part of the tree), it reminded me of the ornate design you often see on the top of a wine bottle cap, or imprinted into the cork or the foil covering the cork (if you're old school or buying fancy wine).
I'll post these publicly on my Patreon, here on my blog and on social media on the same day, presuming I don't manage to edit and share them before the day's theme they correspond to ("today's" attempt would indicate I won't). But I'll continue to share as much other work as I can early access for patrons alongside the project (or instead, if I can't keep up the momentum with Februllage).
I'm hoping I may be able to create some of the collages more traditionally, especially while I'm sitting Frank, where I'll be close to home and access to the magazines I've kept to create collages, and with a large dining table at my disposal at which to assemble them.
My new home is 'overstuffed', my technological tools occupy my desk, and I only have a hospital-style over-bed table to work on (it's also my dinner table).
Perhaps you'll consider joining me in creating collages using the Februllage prompts. I'd love to see them!