Readers of my blog might remember that I posted recently about a puppy my family adopted a few weeks ago. In my collage, the puppy is featured floating in the clouds. That's the way he looked when my daughter and granddaughter first saw him at the adoption center. That's the face that persuaded them to take him home.
Here is the first picture my daughter ever took of the puppy (as was shown in my previous blog). The dog weighed 25 pounds when adopted. This week my daughter weighed him and he tipped the scale at 36. That's 11 pounds in a month!!!
Here is a picture of him taken 4 days ago. He is definitely a swimmer.
My collages usually reflect what is going on in my life, and right now the puppy is one of the things that takes up a lot of time. The first months of life are important and my daughter wants to make sure he is trained properly. She has taken him to training classes and we are all instructed (by her) in what to do in order to correct some unwanted behaviors.
So far, he's been very good. Here is a picture of him on August 1. We find it's really important to tire him out:)) That's my daughter's job. I can't keep up!
Except that, this week it will be my job. My daughter is taking my granddaughter to Europe to sign up for a late summer/winter semester at a university there (semester abroad). I'm not sure how much I'll be on Hive this week. Looks like I'll be busy!
Here is a picture of the dog after he has been tuckered out. My daughter takes him for runs and for long walks at the beach.
The week ahead, I think, was inspiration for today's collage. It's summertime and I hope to have fun with the dog outside. He does love to run. Unfortunately, he also likes to eat. I'll have to work hard keeping bark, twigs, grass, and dirt out of his mouth. He does not have a very discriminating appetite.
That's where the idea of a playground came from--all the time we will be outside playing.
The theme behind the collage is peaceful coexistence. We could use a little of that, in politics and in our lives. All the animals get along and play together in the collage. There is a really old dog, in the playhouse, and a puppy on the swing. There's a fox and a duck in the corner. A dog and bird on the seesaw. Even the bumble bee looks peaceful. Not the kind of bee that would sting anyone.
All these animal pictures were either snapped by me, or were borrowed from LIL, the LMAC image gallery.
The contributors from LIL were:
The Puppy on the Swing
The German Shepherd Guarding the Crosswalk
The Fox on the Hill
The other pictures (including the flower cart) are from my personal album, although I did contribute some of these to LIL in the past.
One picture was borrowed from Pixabay: The playground.
Here is a process GIF that shows some of the steps I took to make the collage. The last challenge was getting the bee to move (after getting the dog's head and lights to change).
LIL and LMAC
I've been making collages for the LMAC community almost since the collage contest started. At first it was quite an informal contest. Just a few people tried their hand at making a collage. It was less a contest than an exercise. I remember 
I didn't know what I was doing then, but I loved the idea of expressing myself through a visual medium. It was new to me, and no matter how crude my collage, 
Making collages has given me, in a sense, a new pair of eyes. I guess every experience we try does that. Today I am happy when I see a new participant in the community. I know some of those participants will become addicted, as I have become.
Our contest is on summer hiatus right now, and will be on hiatus until fall. However, we are still accepting and curating collages that people make for the fun of it. Join us. Try your hand. We welcome all sincere efforts. Just make sure your collage is original, and that you use only elements from our White List.
More precise guidance may be found in this blog by
I hope you found my collage to be amusing. It's not art, but it is fun. Thank you for reading my blog. Hive on!
