Father’s Day From the Faded Past-A Peek-a-Boo Project

                              

                                       

Recently I was going through some items I had been given from my family’s homestead which was sold in July of 2020, and discovered a treasure trough of some of my father’s items. I have some of the many letter my father wrote to my momma when he was in WWII stationed in Germany. I mentioned them. I wrote about them in a  blog titled "My Dad Was a Romantic" in June of 2021.

To my amazement,  I had been given one of dad’s high school report cards, he excelled at Physical Education, Bookkeeping and US History. There were Honor Roll Acknowledgments. There was an invitation to my parents wedding. Postcards from Germany, an Army Patch, a photograph of his sweetheart,  registration cards to the army, some German money or Deutsche Mark-1922, Netherlands Guilder-1943, and even one of his metal dog tags. As many of us know memories fade and so do homesteads and lands of our youth.  These are the inspirations for this artwork.

Supplies: (3) GSLC Reliquary Arch Top, Printed Images of Vintage Photographs, Postcards, and Letters,Pencil, Thin Scrap Cardboard, Scissors, Rust Paste, Acrylic Paints in Brown and Yellow Tones, PaintBrush, Embossing Dabber, Allure Ammo Camo Embossing Powder, Heating Tool, Metallique Flame and Golden Iridescent Copper Paint, UHU GlueStick, Clear Flower Film, Matte Gel Medium, Fiskars Fern Punch, Liquid Pearl Drops, Chrome Marker 

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Print Images of Vintage Photographs, Postcards, and Letters.
   
3. Use a Pencil to Trace Pattern onto Thin Cardboard of Top Portion of GSLC Reliquary Arch Top.
   
4. Cut Out Patterns with Scissors.
   
5. Paint Top Portion of GSLC Reliquary Arch Top with Rust Paste and Acrylic Paints in Brown and Yellow Tones.
   
6. Add Depth and Interest Using Embossing Dabber Randomly an Sprinkle With Allure Ammo Camo Embossing Powders.
   
7. Cure With a Heating Tool.
8. Paint Bottom Portion of GSLC Reliquary Arch with Metallique Flame and Golden Iridescent Copper Paint. Also Edges of Cut-Out Pattern.
   
9. Cut Print Images of Vintage Photographs, Postcards, and Letters and Glue to Bottom Portion.
   

   
10. Use Matter Gel Medium to Attach Clear Flower Bits.
    

    
11. I Was Dissatisfied With how the Images of Men had Faded so I Wanted to Rescue Project so Added Additional Images, Covered with Clear Packing Tape. 
    
12. I Made Fern Fronds Using Fishers Paper Punch and Printed Images and Scraps of Pictorial Papers.
    
13. Glued these Additions on Using UHU GlueStick.
14. Glue Frames Together using UHU GlueStick and Hold Securely With Metal Clamps.
    
15. To Add a Bit More Depth I added Red Liquid Pearl Dots and Chrome Marker Dots.
    
    
    
    
    
    

Final Thoughts:

This project much like the relationship I had with my da went down some expected pathways. In the end it is one I am content with but not one of my favorites. Such is the art process and human interactions. 

The men featured in these three pieces are my da-Brady Harold Lowe, and my momma’s dad-Ralph Foust. Photos featured in the layout are my dad’s father Zaney Lowe, my da, and my aunt Irene. There are also glimpses of the treasure trough of items I mentioned earlier.

The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910 originally in Washington State and not until 1972 was it officially declared a holiday by President Woodrow Wilson. Sonora Smart Dodd is usually credited for originating Father’s Day in 1909, in a widely publicized  even held in Spokane, Washington. But there was another woman, Grace Golden Clayton, that was instrumental in the cause also. She proposed a service to be held in July of 1908, to remember the hundreds of men who had perished in the worst mining accident in the U.S. history. This observance was not promoted and did not become an annually held event.