Home-Bound Collage

Are you stuck at home and spinning your wheels? How about trying something new--make a collage with at home materials.

Do you have some some watercolors? Watercolor paper, magazines and a glue stick?

Canson coldpress watercolor pad is a good, inexpensive paper. Pelikan opaque watercolors are very versatile. Rubber duckies inspire some good splashing!

For me, the fun in making a collage starts with making a free form painting using favorite colors. This is abstract and fast, so that unexpected treasures are created. If you have a kid at home, they can help you with this.

Free watercolor application, splashing in color

After this, look for a couple of images that speak to you and might go with your underpainting. I like to find images in American Art Review magazine, but any magazine that appeals to you will have imagery that, well, appeals to you.

Underpainting and a selection of images that I will use in the collage. I'm going to use the snowy scene on the left and the loose city scene above.

I've selected two images. Check out how the colors relate to my underpainting. This is the fun part. Be sure to use colors that really appeal to you.

I've fallen into a method of using one image horizontally and the other vertically.

I like using strips from the images. Generally, I start in the upper left-hand corner and work down and right. It can be really interesting to see how the underpainting and over-images interact. Before gluing, check out how the pieces work together. Move around the strips and let serendipity happen. Interesting relationships emerge. You can break out from just using strips to have squares, cut outs and any kind of shape you wish. You are going to do what pleases you--that is the whole idea! Enjoy!!