Collage Using Bits and Pieces

On the Street Where You Live – Collage, 4×4″

This is one new collage that I created using mostly bits and pieces from my treasured collection.

I love images that are based loosely on a grid. This would be an example. I think when I was working on this one, I just kept stacking pieces until the composition was pleasing to me. So in some places the buildup of papers might be thicker than others, because I would see an area that didn’t harmonize for one reason or another, and I would cut out a piece to fit over that.

When I’m working piece by piece on a single collage composition in this way, things can sometimes get frustrating. This method of working is a little more tedious than the more fluid and spontaneous approach that I usually like to use.

One fun way to accomplish this is to create a matrix and “find” the imagery with a view finder. If you want to  free yourself up creatively, you could devote a morning or an afternoon to this process. If you’re a painter, they could even be studies for paintings.

If you haven’t already seen these steps, they begin in this post. There are two more posts right after that one that continue the discussion. I hope you will be inspired to take off in your own direction with some of these ideas.