Using souvenirs in collage

Whenever I go away on holiday, I collect pamphlets, maps, newspapers and other such media, which are especially useful if, for example, I am creating a piece inspired by the Tuscan landscape: hints of Italian text and glimpses of a map peeping through all help to evoke atmosphere, memories and the magic of the scene.

Similarly, short passages describing the history or the scene itself all add interest. Seascapes and harbour scenes are great opportunities for adding text: examples could include ‘Fish for Tea’, ‘Beneath the waves’, and so on. You can see where I’ve used torn-up text and numbers on the boats in Moorings at Low Tide, above, and in On Location, below, where I have used descriptive text in various typefaces and weights to convey a story.

Moorings at Low Tide, mixed media on canvas, 15¾ 19¾in (40 50cm). I love painting harbours and boats: they are a great inspiration to me and lend themselves perfectly to collage. I find it exciting to spend time searching out various designs and torn-up words in my collage papers to create patterns, texture and interest on the boats, harbour walls and houses. In this particular piece, I used collage to suggest the texture of the harbour wall and torn text to decorate the boats

On Location, pure collage on mixed-media paper, 11 13¾in (28 35cm). Note the use of various patterned papers here to create form, and words to tell a story. This form of collage can give great pleasure and allow the imagination to be fully engaged