Over the years, as a collage artist, I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the quality and quantity of the imagery in magazines. For this reason, I prefer to purchase older magazines from thrift stores, as the paper and imagery are much better.

Magazines are also so much thinner than they used to be, but I am still subscribing to various magazines for the time being. Even though the imagery is sparser and more limited, I start cutting them up for collage as soon as they arrive at my door!

Adapting with the times, I have recently been experimenting with abstract collage, and I am really enjoying it! Not so reliant on imagery, I have been cutting up bits of patterns and colours in interesting shapes.

Since I no longer need to process such heavy emotions through my art, my collage process has become much more peaceful and contemplative. 

I find that abstract collage suits my meditative purpose very well, as I like to sit in quietude contemplating my different compositions. I usually work on 3-6 collages at a time - sometimes for a very long time.

Expressive Art Process:

~ Choose several colourful and patterned pages out of a magazine. You might also use patterned scrapbook papers.

~ Cut your papers and pages into geometric and organic shapes.

~ Spend some time meditatively rearranging your shapes on your backing paper.

~ When you feel satisfied with the arrangement of your abstract shapes, glue all of the pieces down with a glue stick.