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Tatiana Kuzyk's Create Shopping Bag Collage Art in 60 Minutes!

Tatiana Kuzyk : Turn Your Shopping Bag Into A Beautiful Collage!

Turn Your Shopping Bag Into A Beautiful Collage In 60 Minutes!

By Tatiana Kuzyk

Inspiration for your next art project is truly ALL around you and it may even seem very mundane at the first sight. But once you accept its silent invitation to creative play and exploration your rewards will be manifold. After years of shopping at my favorite grocery store, Trader Joes, I finally noticed beautiful, vintage images printed on the brown paper bag. I immediately thought of countless uses for this FREE goldmine of imagery. Not only did I deeply enjoy the process of creating my collage, but it also showered me with a multitude of delightful surprises throughout. Now it's your turn. Find a paper shopping bag and I'll help you turn it into a stunning mixed media collage that you'll be proud to display!

First, prepare all the supplies from the list below in your work area and let's begin our 60 minutes countdown in these 7 Simple Steps!

Ready. Set. Go!

Suggested Materials

1 or more grocery-sized paper bags
9''x12'' (or size of your choice) canvas panel, canvas, a cardboard (any durable surface is fine, but choose a suitable support if you plan to hang and/or frame your artwork)
Scissors
Self-Leveling Clear Gel or Soft Gel Semi-Gloss
Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid (Satin)
Golden Liquid Acrylics Titanium White paint
Golden Liquid Acrylics Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold paint
Palette knife
#11 or 12 Flat Brush For Acrylics
1 paper plate or 1sheet of palette paper

Optional Items:

Hair dryer
Stapler (only if you plan on attaching a bag handle to your collage's backing)
Golden or Liquitex Heavy Gel (Matte, Semi-Gloss, or Gloss)
Golden Polymer Varnish (Satin)

Except for Golden brand products, all supplies are available at your local craft store. Golden brand paints and mediums are sold at fine art materials retailers, such as Dick Blick.

Seven Steps to a Finished Collage:

Step 1

Using your scissors cut out images from your shopping bag. You may also want to cut out various shapes out of the background. It's better to have more pieces than too few. Have fun and don't pay much attention to cutting out 'perfect' outlines, just cut, cut, cut! Having multiple images and stacking them one on top of another will create a nice texture and add a sense of multi-dimension to your artwork. If you'd like to attach a handle or two to the backing of your collage, make sure you detach is gently from the bag. Also, you'll need a sturdier base for your artwork in order to staple the handle into the backing, such as canvas board.

Step 1

Step 2

Place all your cutout images on a flat surface or on the canvas and begin to play with different combinations of the elements. Usually, we tend to choose the first arrangement we like. However, I'd like to encourage you to start over again and come up with at least three more designs before you begin gluing. You'll be delighted to discover many unexpected patterns.

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