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.
Although many people don’t consider themselves creative (which I don’t understand and even disagree with), inspiration and creativity are important to us.
Both the word inspiration and the word creativity are used in 2 ways. Physical versus mental.
Inspiration literally means inhalation on the one hand, expressiveness or divine force on the other. The latter is attributed by some to a higher power and by others called the flow or being in the zone.
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. 🙂
I gave myself a challenge, an assignment to make a collage daily. For half the month I was ill (Covid, grrr). I did make collages some days, but on other days I had to skip.
Inspired by a friend who followed a course in art journaling, I too put some first steps on that path.
The main difference with the November collages is the text and the date stamp I added.
It’s great to see the art journal pages of others to get inspired. Look at my Instagram account and click the hashtag #artjournal or #artjournaling. (In the first comment of my posts).
I gave myself a challenge, an assignment to make a collage daily. Gelli printing made me really enthusiastic, so in November I was totally committed to making Gelli prints.
So much so, that I made a separate article about the process and the discoveries of my experiments that you can read here:
What is Gelli Printing and What Makes it so Amazingly Easy?
It’s great to see the Gelli prints of others to get inspired. Have a look at my Instagram account and click the hashtag #gelliplate or #gelliprint. (In the first comment of my posts).
Even if you give yourself the assignment to make a collage for 365 days, it can be difficult to keep up. Especially when you travel.
On the other hand, it is very satisfying to find ways to do so.
In October we were still on the road for 2 weeks. Making a daily collage from paper and glue was out of the question, which I solved by making photo collages in Canva or using the Hipstamatic app.
In addition, I made assemblages from materials I encountered along the way.