"Yesterday History" - Collage for my Mom's 80th Birthday

I finished my Mom's collage in time for her birthday party last Saturday. This is the final version after working on it for a few weeks or so. I used a flat 14" x 18" canvas panel, torn scrapbook paper, small scraps of material, lace, beaded trim and acrylic paints of her favorite color: blue and contrasted with browns and tans of her old photographs.

I titled it "Yesterday History" and wrote the poem of the same title because it's about mom, as a child and about her family of her childhood - "her beginning."

The top left corner has pictures of her Dad, Mom, and sister surrounded by the "fanning light" because they are no longer here with her, they're "unbound souls, safely home." Their picture is sewn between scraps of material and lace with beaded trim (from my poem: their "threaded voices" all around her can still be heard in her memories/heart). The picture of her mom and her have a paper flower and antique flower button above them (from my poem: "flower faces" still kiss her in her memories/heart). I placed a paper anchor near my poem to represent several things: her family going through & surviving storms, her promise & hope of seeing them and being with them again someday -- all secure, fixed memories hold her.

In the other three-fourths of the collage, I stamped a clock representing "time" and that she is still here in this life of time, space, and matter. I put the picture of her brother (who is 91 years old this month and still alive here with her) and her down at the bottom in this area. I included some of her favorite things in this part too: Petunias, flowers/seeds, crochet pattern, her favorite Psalm from the Bible, one of her favorite hymns Amazing Grace, and her favorite brownie recipe card.


The little "My Beginning" house shaped book is from one of her photographs of the side door/porch of the house she lived in as a child. It was just the right shape of a house so it worked for the pattern and background for her house shaped book. I enlarged the photograph and printed out 14 to 20 or so, cut them to shape a house, then glued on different photos from the collage.

I stood her collage on a small eisel and placed it on the table by her cake, balloons and other presents. It's larger than my scanner so I don't have any scans of it on my computer. These are photographs Daisy took with her camera. I'm using these until mom can bring her collage back over to me so I can scan it to my computer in portions.

Mom loves to talk about her family and childhood, the difficult and joyful times so I wanted it to remind her of that time being together with them. I also wanted it to remind her that they are always with her in her memories and heart AND that she has the promise and comfort of knowing someday they will all be together again. My mom has been through a lot in her life and I love her so much. I hope this portrays to her just how beautiful and wonderful a person she is, how dear her family is to her, and how loved and dear she is to me.

My oldest daughter, Daisy, took some photos and my brother took lots of photos but we don't have any of his yet. Orangeblossom's (my youngest daughter) cake she made for Grandma: