Collage Fun

I have been having fun playing around with this collage today...turned out that I must have been thinking about Girlosophy!!
There is something very therapeutic about ripping up bits of paper and making these disparate images into a personal story. I love magazines but do not buy the scandal mags mainly House and Garden and Inside Out Magazine...I love flowers and interesting gardens and all types of interior design mags too.
So if you want to get inspired and give your creative spirit a real jump start why not give Collage a go. 
First get yourself a nice piece of plain paper (doesn't matter what colour or size) some old magazines, a Glue Stick (these are great as they are not a wet glue, they dry fast and do not buckle your paper). Gather a pile of old Magazines and start by thumbing through the mags until you find things that attract you, stick to colours or shapes or a type of image you like..like flowers or birds or just shapes of different colours if you want to. This can keep the confusion to a minimum to start with as there are so many nice things that will jump out at you and you will have to stop yourself unless you want the house to be covered in bits of paper from one room to the next. Keep some old shoe boxes to put different things in like trees in one and animals in another etc as this helps next time you want to do more of this addictive paper fun.
Just start STICKING...do not get stuck in the trap of not gluing down from the get go or you will never make up your mind as to what you like, try not to THINK...just LOOK, LIKE, RIP or cut ( I like to rip as it is more hands on and leaves a nice rough edge) and then STICK. Keep going until you have covered your paper up with exciting bits and there is no paper left...overlap things and then let it sit for a while....go off  have a coffee.......when you come back you will then be able to discern the areas that need some more embellishment. For this I like to use a mix of wax crayons, fine black permanent markers and a white, gold or silver paint pens. If you let your artwork dry overnight you can sand lightly some of the shiny areas from the glossy pictures with fine sandpaper, then you can use watercolour paint to embellish these sanded areas..this can look fantastic and I will do some and put up a pic next time...so go on get those old mags out and start rippin and a stickin..and most of all have FUN!!

"Enhanced Light and Magic"  Mixed media collage by Jacqui Douglas

Crop of  "Enhanced Light and Magic"

Crop of "Enhanced Light and Magic"