New Book, Collage Your Life

Have you tried collage art? It's an incredibly freeing process because there are no rights or wrongs. After all, simple cutting and gluing are at its core. But if you would like to take your collaging prowess to the next level and beyond, Collage Your Life, a new book by art teacher and collage artist Melanie Mowinski, provides a wealth of ideas, techniques, and inspiring prompts. 

 

 

 

In addition to the author's work, collages created by dozens of guest artists serve as colorful examples. 

 

The colorful 224 page paperback (also available as an e-book) is composed of four thorough chapters:

Chaper 1 - Build Your Materials - delves into tools and supplies, and also the building blocks of design and composition.

 

 Courtesy of Kaci Smith

 

Chapter 2 - Develop Your Techniques - teaches basic collage methods as well as instructions for mixing other mediums into your collage.

Mars Vilaubi © Storey Publishing, LLC

 

Chapter 3 is the bulk of the book - 55 Prompts to Jump-Start Your Practice. Melanie suggests setting parameters such as a thirty minute time limit, working with just three papers from your stash, and tearing rather than cutting because these things will force your creativity. Each prompt includes instructions to get you started, a sample collage, and text that points out its features and explains the placement of the elements.

 © Karen Lynch, Leaf and Petal Design

Lastly, Chapter 4 - Creating the Container - shows a few different ways of constructing books - rejuvenating a cardboard box, and making an accordion book and a storage book with pockets.

 

© Charlotte D’Aigle, Talisman, acrylic/paper collage on board, 12" × 9"

 

You'll also find additional reading and resource lists, contributors and featured artist information, and a handy index. 

 

© Johanna Goodman, The Catalogue of Imaginary Beings, Plate No. 392

 

And now a U.S. GIVEAWAY! [ENDED]

 

To enter to win a copy of Collage Your Life, simply post a comment on this page after reading the note below:

 

NOTE: You must include your email address within your actual comment so that you can be notified if you win. If spam is a concern, type it like this: janedoe at gmail dot com (The blog's platform makes it impossible for me to see the email address you type in at first, thus this necessity.)

 Mars Vilaubi © Storey Publishing, LLC

 

Two chances to win: An identical giveaway is underway on Instagram [ENDED]. Yes, go ahead and enter both places. Double your chances! 

© Laura Weiler, photos sourced from National Geographic

 

Winners will be chosen on Sunday, July 17 via a random number generator - one from blog entries and one from Instagram entries - and announced at the bottom of this post and on the Instagram post. 

 

 © Connor “Phib” Dainty

 

Collage Your Life is available now and can be purchased from Storey, Amazon, your favorite bookseller and/or ask your local library to obtain a copy. 

 

Congratulations to the winner!

ccwhitmore

 

Excerpted from Collage Your Life by Melanie Mowinski. 

Used with permission from Storey Publishing.

Thank you to Storey for sponsoring this giveaway.

 

 

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