Snipping the Stress Away

Cutting and sticking is really easy, anyone can do it and, with a few basic supplies, like paper, scissors and a bit of glue, you’ve got yourself a great kit to start working. Collage, conceived by Picasso and Braque at the beginning of the 20th century, and which the dadaists would incorporate later as an alternative, renegade response to traditional art, is a bit more than just cutting and sticking: it is experimentation, investigation, learning, and, a great deal of fun. If you inject some purpose or personal content into your clippings, you’ll succeed in creating a language of your own which will allow you to express your worries or experiences visually. Collage will broaden our vision of the world, transforming and recycling images that already exist to create new ones with different meanings and new aesthetics, apart from the therapeutic, rewarding experience of the practice itself.

This inventive activity art book, now in paperback, combines fun and focus, entertainment, and mindfulness. It includes a brief history of collage and practical tips and ideas to cut and paste, draw and paint, and sew and stitch using paper and everyday objects. Each double page proposes to look at things afresh, with suggestion and jumping off points to unleash the capacity for creativity and, ultimately, widen the horizons for expression. It includes 25 pages of cutouts. A whole world to discover!

Just for a moment, try to channel the rebellious attitude and principles of the dadaists, and get to work:
- Get carried away by luck and chance when you start creating.
- Don’t subject yourself to rules of any sort.
- Allow yourself to feel absolutely free while you work through the book; if you like, follow the guidelines we set out, or, alternatively, throw them out the window whenever you feel like it. In the end, work with passion, enjoy waht you are doing, and don’t forget to cut loose.