Visual Journaling « Collage Your World

My Summer 2013 Interview Spotlight!

Hello! Today I’d like to spotlight the blog of my good friend Irene Rafael. For those of you who aren’t familiar with her, she’s a special virtual friend of mine from The United States. We “met” while partaking in Kelly Kilmer’s on-line journaling courses some years ago and have stayed in touch ever since. […]

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 […]

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 […]

Reflections from Over the Rainbow…

Glinda the Good Witch of the South and Dorothy on the yellow brick road to the magical land of Oz…

Okay, more interview aftermath to discuss with you my dear readers. Some of you may be asking… if you watched or heard the radio excerpt of my interview … why the tears? I […]

A Date with Grazia Lecci: Sharing Life Stories

Do you remember Mrs. Gracia Lecci, the librarian from my elementary school days who inspired “My Love for Stories” journal page? If you don’t, here’s a brief re-cap. While I was exhibiting the piece at the Ottawa Public Library last fall, her colleagues decided to buy it for her as a surprise gift! Since […]

Just Minding the Gallery…

It Ain’t Over ‘Til…

Many people think that now that Pieces of Me III is up and the opening is over that my job at the Atrium Gallery is done. Now I can just sit back, relax and bask in the glory of it all! But this couldn’t be further from the truth! There […]