Art Journaling « Collage Your World

Part I: The Fabric & Patterns of Everyday Life

When I first began visual journaling, working with magazine fragments of fabric patterns really began to interest me. I remember a friend pointing out how cool it was that a character I’d collaged was wearing “hound’s tooth”. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I Googled it. Although I was familiar […]

What Dreams May Come: Ghosts of the North, Part II

I discover two versions of myself in “Ghosts of the North, Part II” (a collage in progress). Part III will soon be in the works. What it will reveal, I have only just begun to imagine…

Dream Journal, September 6, 2010:

My husband’s body and that of an Inuit hunter are discovered floating […]

My Uncle’s Collage: A Life in a Heartbeat

Detail of my uncle’s photo collage. Top left and four images to the right are of Doug; the one on the bottom right is his mom.

Sometimes the impetus for a collage comes from my need to elaborate on a character who’s currently affecting my life. Since February I’ve been dealing with a […]

Reflections: Choosing Characters for My Visual Journal Pages

During my first “Pieces of Me” exhibition, a visitor enquired where I was in my journal pages. “I kept looking for you!” she said. I told her I was there almost everywhere in them… in fact, many female figures whether they be young or old, carried some aspect I wished to embody. Thus far, […]

The Birth of Collage Your World

Michelle Casey, “In Memoriam: Elizabeth Wortman”, 6 x 8.5 inches, Collage/Mixed Media Journal Page, January 2010. Women like my neighbour, “Bessie” Wortman, made me realize the importance of following my dreams. See below for text of this journal page.

Lately I’ve been reminiscing about the day I came up with the name for […]

Collage Tip #14: Incorporating Quotes into Your Collages

There’s No Right or Wrong Way to Collage a Quote…

I thought I’d end my writing series (for now) with another fun tip for integrating words into your collage and mixed media pieces. We’re not all great writers and thinkers so it’s a good thing there are plenty of wonderful quotes out there that […]

Everything Old is New Again: Re-inventing Stories to Collage

Since time immemorial, story tellers have been taking old stories and making them new again. Walt Disney after all was not the first man to relay the tale of Cinderella – its origins are centuries old and it has been re-crafted by many cultures around the world. You can use this same exciting tactic […]

My Father’s Hands: Writing, Collaging, Commemorating

Practicing what I preach, I thought it might be cool to share a minimally edited excerpt of one of my creative writing journal exercises of 2005 with you and reveal how some of its iconography and memories manifested itself in a visual journal page I created in 2010. That April day the writing prompt […]

How Writing Can Inspire Your Collaging

So, some of you more timid souls might have gotten out your pens and markers and went about writing on your collages as I encouraged last week. If so, I applaud you. Perhaps, however, you’re still feeling frustrated. Maybe the words aren’t flowing out as smoothly as you’d like them to. In order to […]

Conquering Your Fears of Adding Text to Collage

Recently I was asked to give some further advice on adding text to collage. The person inquiring feared that adding words to their beautiful pieces might potentially ruin them if they did the wrong thing. Having been there myself, I could really relate to their apprehension. As a result, I’ve decided, for the next few […]