Call for Submissions: Operation Geekling Dinosaur Project

So I had this crazy idea. (And this crazy idea is a cross post from our personal blog, by the way.)

It may have a huge turnout, it may flop. But no matter what happens, I think it would be a really cool way to decorate a room.

In this case, I was thinking about the geekling’s room and how to decorate it. Our “theme” is dinosaurs, but we are renting right now so painting is out of the question. That means the décor is dependent on the wall hangings. Last week our friend @katiedoyle mailed us a painting she did of a dinosaur for us to hang in the geekling’s room. (That’s her artwork pictured!) Inspired by this fantastic piece of original artwork made with love, I started to think… wouldn’t it be cool if ALL of our friends and family each made us some kind of dinosaur art for the wall?

I then had this amazing vision of one entire wall of the room covered in dinosaur artwork, all by different people in our lives. And not just one kind of artwork, but dinosaurs made from all different kinds of mediums, too. Some dinosaurs were painted, some were sketches, some were prints, some were done in colored pencils or crayons, and some were dinosaurs composed of fabric shapes.

The wall was covered in this variety of dinosaur artwork, but the pieces weren’t all the same size or orientation, either. Some of the pieces were landscape, some were portrait, some were large and some were small. They were arranged in a fun way like puzzle pieces on the wall, not in straight and perfect rows. Each piece was in the same simple black frame to tie everything together.

It was beautiful, and that’s when Operation Geekling Dinosaur Project was born. And for it to be successful, I need YOUR help.

How can you get involved and help? Make us a dinosaur for the wall! You don’t have to be an “artist” or even feel like you know how to draw to get involved. All forms of art are appreciated and  beautiful! You can use any medium or style you like and feel most comfortable working with, even if it means you print out a dinosaur and color it with your Crayolas. Pick your favorite dinosaur or do a scene of several dinosaurs; it’s all up to you. The only stipulation is that you work in a size that can easily be framed, since I’ll be tasked with trying to get the same style of frame for all of the artwork. The collection together would form a mural of sorts, except this mural would be made up of individual pieces of awesome from awesome individuals.

I may only have 5 people take this on or we may have none, and that’s ok. I’m still going to try! I’d ideally love to have as many people involved as possible. You don’t have to use any fancy paper or canvas or anything like that; plain paper will do. I’ll be throwing it into a frame anyway! I just think it would be amazing to have a wall full of dinosaurs in all different styles to represent all of the different people in our lives. And if you sign your artwork somewhere we’d have a lasting memory of who made each piece to share with the geekling as he gets older.

As artwork comes in (if anyone decides to participate), I plan to photograph it individually and post it to a special Flickr gallery with credit to the artist so that their part of the project can be shared. I’d like to keep a photo journal throughout the project’s progress, including photos of the finished result, too.

And maybe over the years new pieces can be added; I imagine the geekling and I in a few years spending a rainy day with finger paints or crayons making new dinosaurs to add to the wall. But the core… the heart of the project begins with all of you and builds from there. How special and how meaningful would a wall full of dinosaurs made by people we know be?! And your artwork would forever brighten the room of one special little boy, who will grow up surrounded by your original creations and learn from an early age to appreciate art and the value of handmade.

I’m starting to get sappy here, but if you’re interested in donating a piece of dinosaur artwork in any medium, big or small, to our project, we’d love to have it and frame it and hang it and share it with our geekling and the world. Your contribution would be one piece in a unique collection to make the décor in the geekling’s room grand and special. I will personally draw a little something in return and mail it with a thank you note to every single person who contributes, in addition to posting you and your piece in our Flickr gallery and sharing it on Twitter and here on my craft blog for all to see.

So the Call for Submissions is officially open; let me just say thank you in advance to anyone who participates in our project. I truly appreciate the time and effort put in to make something for someone else. Long live handmade and long live art! <3

love,
Lucas, Lesley, and the geekling (Liam)

• Want to Contribute?
• Email us if you need to snag a mailing address

• Common sizes for framing:
• 24 x 36
• 20 x 30
• 18 x 24
• 11 x 17
• 8.5 x 11
• 8 x 10
• 5 x 7
• 4 x 6

Thank you! <3