Collages can be created in many ways.
Sometimes, I fill the entire surface with magazine pieces that are put together to create an interesting composition.
In other cases, however, I prefer to leave the collage open and simple, so that I can paint or draw more freely on the background.
To combine collage with drawing or painting is a great way of making mixed media images.
My inspiration often comes from working on a theme. In photography, drawing, painting, and making collages it’s a great way to keep getting ideas and expressing yourself.
You might know that my personal challenge at this moment is making a daily collage for a year. I didn’t start on January 1 but at a moment when the idea came to me. And I am not too rigid that it really has to be each day because, as we all know, life sometimes comes in between.
At the start, I just made collages. Yet, to make 365 collages without any underlying thought doesn’t keep being interesting. After a couple of months, I developed a subtheme dedicated to one month. Like art journaling, printing pictures, or making stencils.
Stencils are a marvellous addition to your Gelli printing. The possibilities are endless. You can use them as a background or repeat shapes such as silhouettes or letters.
Of course, you can combine a Gelli plate and stencils, yet stencils can also be used on paper, walls or textiles.
Especially if you have several stencils, you can use them repeatedly and still have a different result every time. So stencils are a great addition to your creativity toolbox.
In my personal challenge, an assignment to make a collage daily for 365 days, I am focusing on one aspect a month. More or less. It’s not written in stone, of course.
The month before, I primarily worked on art journaling, using illustrations and text. February 2023 was dedicated to transferring pictures to the Gelli prints.
I used several methods. The main difference was either Gelli printing or using the copy machine on tissue paper.
My personal challenge, an assignment to make a collage daily for 365 days, is almost halfway.
This month I focused on the combination of text and image. As I describe in another article, you can make text in many ways.
In some cases, very few tools are needed, whereas, in others, a bit more effort is required.
Either way, just as making images unleashes a lot of creativity, so does making texts. 🙂