Melanie Mowinski - Collage Your Life: Techniques, Prompts, and Inspiration for Creative Self-Expression and Visual Storytelling

ciara phelan

Perhaps you have piles of childrens drawings and paintings, or birthday cards from your youth. Maybe they live in file folders or in a box. Possibly you have random scraps of things all over your house that you have always wanted to put together somehow. Maybe you want to use items (such as ticket stubs) to document significant occasions. Or as a chronicle of a momentous time in your life, or even just the days events.

Let the ephemera you collect and love guide you to create. Doing so just might lead you to your own visual style. You might discover you like bold imagery on a muted background, or three dimensions paired with flat stylized shapes. You may like to include feathers or found objects in compositions, or decide that you only want to use the color green. Whatever it is, it is YOU .

I have categorized folders of papers from various periods of my life containing old letters, my childhood artwork, newspaper clippings, and more. And then there are the piles of magazine cutouts, file folder boxes of various categories, and boxes of groovy magazines and papers for random exploration. When I want to create a collage, looking through my complete collection of papers is overwhelming. Sometimes I choose a few pieces of paper from each of these collections at random as a starting point. Other times I begin with a prompt and search my collections for a specified amount of time. The point is just to start.

What you make doesnt matter.

All that matters is that you make something.

Maybe you are new to collage- and art-making and the thought of making something scares you. You are in the right place. Go where the fear takes you. And make something.

Maybe you are a seasoned collage- and art-making person but are looking for inspiration or a new direction. You are in the right place. Go where the open door leads you. And make something.

If you can make something and not care about it or be attached to it, even better. (Yes, this is hard!) Commit to making and being okay with bad art. When you show up consistently, put your judge in silent mode, and make something, the faucet of inspiration is more likely to turn on. Connections will become easier, and you will take more and more risks. Sometimes you will make something you like. Sometimes you wont. Like any kind of practice, you have to cultivate it to make it grow while also finding your peace with uncertainty and those compositions you dont like.

This book will guide you! We begin with a chapter that will help you develop a set of skills over time. This leads us into a chapter that will teach you techniques for turning the items you collect into collage form.

ben lewis giles

We will also explore the challenges of maintaining an art practice, as well as tips and tricks for overcoming those challenges. My goal is to encourage you along your creative path by offering suggestions for how to find ideas wherever you are in the world, in your life, and in your making journey.

Throughout the book there are sample collages, examples from outside artists, and promptsbut remember all of those are simply ideas. Use this book to help you discover what you love to make.