Adventskalender is a yearly tradition

Daily Composition with a random Prompt

Welcome to my season 2024 Adventskalender, I explore different collaging techniques to combine different textures and colors with small pictures taken by me over the Christmas season over the years.

In the making

From the Idea to the Product

I always liked the idea of an Adventskalender - a special calendar that kids get in anticipation of a Holiday. This calendar has 24 “doors” - one for each day of Advent. Every day one is supposed to discover something new.

Creative Idea

My Take on Adventskalender

Lately the options of an Adventskalender are usually limited to something consumeristic - you get to use something new on each day. I wanted to put a different spin on the idea - what if I produced something unique each day?

Technique and Technology

The Process

I printed 24 photos that I took over the years in the Advent and Christmas season and created colorful sheets of paper to cut to the pieces and assemble. Then I looked for random words in a vocabulary to act as a prompt for me.

Gathering Inspiration

I chose the photos that awaken the memories and reflect my feelings about the season.

Creating The Book

I used a free advertisement magazine as a base and covered the original content with acrylic paint to create unique surfaces for the collages.

Creating Scrapbooking Material

All colorful elements used in the collages are created by me using gouache and acrylic paints.

Creating the sheets

Each sheet is loosely inspired by a prompt and the subsequently chosen photo. I added the cutout collage materials and sometimes additional brushstrokes to finalise the image.

24+

Colorful pages

Created from the repurposed ad magazine and handmade scrapbooking materials

Photos

Taken by me over the years ended up on the pages of the calendar

Sheets of paper

hand-painted and cut down for the forms that I put on the final work

Hours

I spend trying to figure out how to bind the pages together in a book

30-45

Minutes

I needed every day to finish a collage and document the process

Attempts

To print the pictures in the size matching the sheet size

Practicing something every day makes me feel a special connection and is almost ritualistic.

A Note on Perspective

After 24 days spent on this project I got the feeling no consumerist Adventskalender would ever give me - working on a goal day after day and having a finished product to be a reward for my work. This practice of doing things step by step over a period of time has a grounding and reassuring effect on me.

Thanks for your attention!

I hope you got inspired by my Adventskalender.

Adventskalender 2024