Sometimes when I journal, I feel pressure to create traditional or arty scrapbooks with lots of layered elements. I’ll be the first to admit that my journals - when I was regularly keeping them - were never as creative or complex as those of the artists I featured in my book. I am in awe of those journals and the talent and dedication to journaling. But collage & layered found images is a creative option for those of us who don’t have the illustrative skills, or the time to dedicate to complex journaling techniques.
Which isn’t to say collaged journals aren’t as beautiful! I think they’re just as inspiring, even more so because I think, hey, I could do that!
These collaged design scrapbooks are from Aprile Eelcich’s flickr set:
I started this book over 3 years ago. I work in it once in a while but more often I look to it for inspiration. I called it curious because when I first started collaging I was quite curious about the technique (it seemed completely new to me). I had seen collages before but I wanted to do them differently - automatically. I cut out images from magazines (my favourites are wallpaper, vogue, dwell, and anything else I can get my hands on), and I lay about 50 images out at a time and choose which ones go together the best. Sometimes I start with an idea or piece that I would like to work on, and sometimes I am inspired by other collage artists to use different styles. I am very attached to my scrapbook because it is the longest project that I have worked on and I feel that it defines my personal style. I am about halfway through the book (over 100 pages) and I look forward to finishing it sometime in the next 5 years!
Beautiful and inspiring.
See more at Aprile Eelcich’s flickr set