Collagist

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that many of our customers are raising little ones.  After all, most children enjoy playing the leading role in a pictorial.  We here at Collagist love children and know how expensive it can be to raise them, especially around the Christmas season.  That’s why we wanted to point out a great deal going on at Gymboree.  For a limited time you can get 30% off everything in your cart (both in stores and online).  Need more?  How does free shipping sound.

This is one of those too good to be true sales, so jump on it right away and don’t forget who’s looking out for you!  With all the money you save, maybe you want to check out some collages? Just a thought

One major holiday down, one major holiday to go (well two if you count New Years Eve)!  As we head into the first week of December, the Collagist team would like to present one Christmas theme collage idea every Sunday throughout the month.   Today’s idea comes from the Disney family and shouldn’t take more than 2 hours of your time.

Hate feeling under the weather?  So do we.  That’s why today’s project will come in handy this month as the temperatures drop (we’re just outside Boston, which means snow is on the way soon).  Below you’ll find everything needed to create the perfect Tissue Box Cover Christmas gift for the soon to be sick friend or family member.  Enjoy!

Materials

Scissors or 2-inch circle craft punch, available at craft stores, Photographs or digital images, Colored paper, Mod Podge sealer, matte or gloss, Paintbrush, Plain plastic tissue box cover

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for a little collage history lesson, as we do each and every Friday.  I know some of you may still be in a food coma from the Thanksgiving feast, but here’s a little knowledge taking you into the weekend.

Q:  When was paper collage first discovered?

A: It’s believed that the the earliest examples of paper collage are the work of twelfth-century Japanese calligraphers.

According to artist Susan Krieg, Japanese calligraphers prepared surfaces for their poems by gluing bits of paper and fabric to create a background for brushstrokes. Later, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the Near East, craftsmen cut and pasted intricate designs and used marbled papers as part of the art of bookbinding..

I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson and be sure to check back every Friday, as we here at Collagist aim to become your source for all things collages.

Just launched a FREE SHIPPING special on all Collagist products. Please take advantage of this special offer before Dec 4, 2010. This special offer could be applied to all the Photo Collage and Canvas orders and could potentially save up to $14 on your orders. This offer is not only valid on large canvas posters/collages.

Cheers

It’s Friday, which means we’re introducing a new weekly feature to better educate and inform those interested in art of the collage as you head into the weekend.   Let’s just call it Collagist Friday Collage Trivia, or maybe just CFCT?  Well, you get the point, so kicking off our first edition of CFCT is the following question:

Q:  The term collage derives from the French “coller,” which means?

A: Glue, sticky, to stick.

According to wikipedia, the term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.

I hope you enjoyed today’s lesson and be sure to check back every Friday, as we here at Collagist aim to become your source for all things collages.

As you may have guessed, we here at Collagist love all things collages.  Defined as an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole, what’s not to like about this form of art?  And with a name like Collagist, it would only make sense that we’re a valuable resource for those looking for info on collages.  So with that as a backdrop, here are some of our favorite online collage related sites:

Awesome Collage Blogs:

http://www.chrisjlange.com/art.html – Collage portraits of Nintendo game characters like Mario, Luigi, and Princess Toadstool?  How awesome is that!

http://www.paintedcottage.typepad.com/ – A blog about Collage, Mixed Media, and Encaustic Art with a vintage flair.  Photos of current work, book and video reviews, discussions, and technique.

http://www.kohlage.com/ - Kohlage is a site dedicated to the expressive art form of collage. It is a place where artists can go to showcase their works and/or find inspiration in the work of others.

http://acollageaday.blogspot.com/ – A Collage a Day is an ongoing project that involves creating and posting a new 4″ x 4″ collage to the site everyday.

Collage Organizations:

http://www.collageartists.org/ – Collage Artists of America was founded in 1988 by nine Los Angeles-area women proficient in a variety of media who sought to expand their creativity to encompass collage and assemblage. Two years later the current name of the organization was adopted and membership has grown across the United States. Many members are or have been instructors at all levels of education and exhibit widely both nationally and internationally.

http://www.collageartforcancer.org/ – The Art for Cancer Network is dedicated to providing innovative art programs for people living with cancer. COLLAGE is inspired by a belief in the power of art and creativity to transform lives.

http://www.nationalcollage.com/ – The National Collage Society is an art foundation formed to foster the appreciation and interest in the art medium of collage. Collage as an art form has only been identified during the 20th century. The NCS, Inc. promotes the advancement of collage as a major art medium and assists in the education of the public through exhibits, workshops, lectures and publications.

http://collagemuseum.com/ – The IMCAC is dedicated to the collection, study and exhibition of collage, assemblage, construction, montage, photo-montage, digital collage, concrete poetry, collage poetry, film, sound collage, and other constructive arts.

How Do I Collage?:

http://www.collagecollege.com/ – Collage College is an on-line resource guide for collage and mixed media artists. I try to cover topics of interest, such as collage and mixed media technique, copyright, sources of public domain images you can freely use in your own work, collage materials, links and more.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=collage+techniques&aq=f – YouTube sourced video tutorials.

http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/collagesartscraftsideasprojectskids.html – Projects and tips designed to introduce children to collage.

http://www.collageart.org/ – Dedicated to the art of collage.

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Indepedence Day, July 4th, Post Cards

Take a look at brand new post cards for the July 4th Independence Day.

Happy Fourth of July.

Fourth of July is upon us.  In the spirit of the Fourth of July I have created a beautiful calendar design for the month of July 2010.  Here are a couple of pictures that you could use on your desktop background.  These pictures work great with the Windows PC background or on the Twitter profile backgrounds.  Simply download the file of your size choice and use your Windows desktop tools to update your background and show the spirit of Fourth of July all throughout the month of July.

Hope you like them.

Shruti

This is second in a series of free photo collage design templates.  This design incorporates nine pictures as a collage.  Sample graphics file and the accompanying Adobe Photoshop file is attached to this blog post.  Feel free to download it and use it for your pictures.  If you like this design and would like to comment or write about it then please link to this post.

Collagist Template - 9 pictures

Download the Adobe Photoshop File (12″x12″ size 2,890KB PSD file) and add your pictures for a beautiful photo collage.

Best

Collagist.com ~ do more with your pictures ~