Use Those Old Paintings to Make Your Own Collage Painting

Have you ever passed by your neighborhood Salvation Army store and seen an old painting? More times than you can remember, right? Strange faces or familiar landscapes staring at you abandoned, unwanted. Well, there is a way these paintings can be put to good use on your walls.You can create a collage with them.

Collage, a word derived from the French word “coller“, meaning to glue, brings to mind images of children tearing up magazines and sticking them on paper. Well, for some, collaging is serious business.

But you needn’t be thinking about galleries just yet. For now focus on only three things

  1. How do you want to make a collage painting?
  2. Where do you want to mount it?
  3. How do you want to mount it?

A collage by definition can be made of various materials including clothing, magazine pages, or wallpaper. Start with deciding the basic design you want to build your collage around. This is where you make a decision whether you want to go with a simple, so to speak, two-dimensional collage, or introduce in it a three-dimensional element.

There is a lot that you can do to make an interesting collage. For instance, a bird cut out of an old gunny bag pasted on the canvas with its edges unstuck could be a brilliant addition to a landscape collage. But these elements could be difficult for a beginner to nail in the first go.

Here are the steps you need to follow to get yourself that perfect collage of paintings to mount on your wall.

Step 1

  1. Come up with a design, or use someone else’s design, there is nothing like plagiarism when looking for the best design to decorate your home.
  2. Visualize, or choose, something that is easy to accomplish, yet eye-catching when mounted in a room.
  3. Decide on a color scheme for your design, this will help you in later steps. You can add acrylic paints as well to give your collage a stronger background.

Step 2

  1. Decide how you are going to mount your piece. If you are using a canvas, and are not sure if you can stretch it by yourself to fit the frame, get the stationery shop to do it for you.
  2. If you are doing it on paper or cardboard, pick a color to go with the color scheme and design you have chosen. You can later get it professionally framed or simply stick it on a wooden frame.

Step 3

  1. Choose the right paintings and materials for your project. You don’t have to splurge for paintings you are going to tear up anyway.
  2. Try and look for cheap deals in stores selling re-used materials, that have the colors you need and interesting elements that you can use.
  3. You can also go for old magazines and digitally printed paintings to give it that extra texture and variance.
  4. Get a strong adhesive, a good cutting knife and board or scissors, a ruler (if you need one) and a batch of acrylic paints and brushes to add layers.

Step 4

  1. Start painting where you know you are going to need it.
  2. Once you are done, set it down to dry, and begin cutting the paintings according to your design.
  3. You can cut them to perfect measurements, but if you choose to leave some white, hand-torn, edges that may look good as well.

Step 5

  1. Once done, begin sticking the pieces in their designated locations.
  2. Try and get a harmony of the colors you have chosen. If you can achieve a color gradient with the pieces you have cut it is even better as it will give the collage more depth.
  3. You can number each piece according to its position in order to avoid confusion.

Step 6

  1. Give your collage enough time to dry. Considering the amount of glue that goes in making one, it will take some time to dry. If required, use a low-blow fan to dry it.

Step 7

  1. If you have made your collage on paper, you can now stick it on a wooden frame or cardboard for support.
  2. Now that your collage is ready, mount it in the location you had in mind.

Making a collage can be a very cathartic, liberating and pleasing thing to accomplish, not to mention, it will look stunning in any setting if done right. Enough said, now let’s get collaging, people.

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