Intuitive Collage Tutorial
This summer I fell completely in love with intuitive collage. In my previous posts here and here I talked about it a little bit, but I thought I would share a little tutorial.
Intuitive collage is one of the most accessible art forms I’ve ever played with. The process is simple and it’s easy to get lost in the magic of creating. And the resulting collage is like an oracle card where the meaning changes depending on when you view it.
Supplies
Paper, card stock, or art journal (I find 5x8 or a little smaller works best. My journal I’ve been showing images from is 7x7.)
Magazines (or old books, catalogs, or junk mail)
Glue or glue stick
scissors
Creating Your Intuitive Collage
Look through your magazines and without thinking too much rip or cut out 3-5 images. These should be anything that interests you, that you feel like working with or even strongly dislike. It doesn’t matter why you are choosing these images. The important thing is you are drawn to them in some way.
Feel free to cut or tear around your images as precisely (or not) as you feel like it. If you have a lot of patience and your images are objects rather than scenes, feel free to cut them out of their background. However, if that is going to be boring or frustrating for you, skip it.
Arrange your images on the paper or journal page. Experiment with using one as a background, or simply grouping them in interesting ways. Don’t try to think too hard about creating a story or worry about why you are placing them where you are. Try to follow your intuition. There is no right or wrong way to do this.
When you hit on an arrangement you like, glue them down. And voilá! You’re done.
If you’d like, you can go a little deeper and see what message you get from your collage. Try the following journal prompts to get an answer from your intuitive collage:
Who are you?
What message do you have for me?
What is the most important thing I should know?
As you get comfortable with this process, you can try adding text - either cut from magazines, or hand-written - or adding embellishments with paints and markers.
Happy collaging!
