Hand-made Calendar

On the last day of May, here is a page from my calendar made from recycled paintings. The top left is the Irish painting “Meeting on the Turret Stairs” by Frederick William Burton, on the right is my photo of Bunratty Castle. Since both are printed on vellum and slightly overlap, there is a play of shadows with each other, as well as a glow from some of the former painting’s color. On the bottom, the days of the week are printed over one of my Hill of Tara photos.

This handmade calendar comes from daily paintings I enjoyed creating but decided not to keep as finished works. Selecting seven same-size 12” x 18” paintings on Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper, I folded each in half with a bone folder, punched six holes with an awl, and bound the pages together with waxed floss (haven’t tried it with other watercolor papers and although I had book binder thread on hand, I used floss instead.) For some months I repainted sections, some I totally obliterated the original, some I used as a subtle background, and some I left as-is.

Here are some previous months:





I like re-using paintings that just didn’t work for one reason or another. Adding your own photographs or collage or fabric swatches opens up loads of mixed-media possibilities, too.

Tell me about your calendar-making experiences.