Art for Mental Health & Wellness

Use this compassionate guide to access your deepest emotions, express them through art, and transform them into tools for healing and understanding. Former psychotherapist turned artist Andy Stanton offers guided meditations, imagery techniques, and collage prompts to open a safe space for not only grief and brokenheartedness, but celebration and thankfulness. First, follow relaxation and imagery techniques to access your feelings; next, use the simple guidelines for making collage art. Inspiring us by example, dozens of contemporary artists offer photographs of their most personally transformative artworks and share heartfelt stories about how those pieces helped them alleviate their difficult emotions. Focusing on the emotional-artistic process rather than specific skill, Stanton offers lessons for artists of all experience levels and mediums. An exclusive online bonus feature offers dozens more artworks and stories.

Requiring minimal equipment -- just scissors, glue, paper, and pens -- collage is an accessible craft that offers limitless creative possibilities. Like meditation or journaling, making collage can be an avenue for self-reflection and artistic exploration. In Collage Your Life, artist and teacher Melanie Mowinski teaches a variety of core techniques including lettering, stamping, stenciling, transfers, and adhesive methods, and provides dozens of prompts to jumpstart the creative process and encourage crafters to explore the versatility of collage, such as: make a self-portrait; disrupt your routine instincts; incorporate text; assemble mementos from a trip; process anger or anxiety; collage with others; or try creating block-out poetry with pages from a magazine. Inspiring examples of the author's work along with that of other collage artists are featured throughout. Crafters, journaling fans, scrapbookers, and artists alike will find guidance and support for developing their own distinctive collage style, whether the goal is to create a visual record of daily experiences and special occasions or to expand a creative journaling practice.

Every collage has a tale to tell. Tell your story in paper, fabric, and objects collected from your world. Storytelling With Collage will inspire you to capture your poetic thoughts, fond memories and passionate daydreams in a soft and simple style. Using simple tools and supplies that delight you, you'll learn to work with a variety of prompts and will discover how each element you select -- from small shells collected on your last trip to the pretty paper you unwrapped from a recent gift -- has its own part of a complete narrative. Nine collage prompts will walk you step-by-step through a collage creation as you work with textured papers, fabric, stitching, found objects, images, natural materials, color, wax and metal. In addition, inside you will find - Numerous Tasks -- ideas for combing your world for collage fodder - Beautiful photos to inspire you to customize your own worktable - Perspective on finding inspiration outside your window through the seasons - Extra inspiration in each chapter from the Collage Stories and works by 25 contributing artists.

Paper Collage Workshop enables mixed media artists, DIYers, crafters, and aspiring artists to explore their artistic side without having to invest in a range of expensive art tools and supplies. The only things required to play are scissors, glue, and imagination!

Even if you don't consider yourself an artist, If you Can Cut, You Can Collage takes the mystery out of this timeless art form through fun, easy, illustrated techniques.

Add Layers of Heartfelt Expression Inspiration - it's all around you, from the feelings you hold in your heart to the tantalizing paper and embellishments you buy at the store. In Layers, you'll learn how to blend feelings with color, memories with texture, and personality with pattern. All of this in projects richly layered with personal meaning and beautiful materials. With the help of step-by-step photographs, you'll create 25 clever collage-based projects. By using aging techniques to give your paper well-worn charm and exploring alternative materials (such as electrical outlet plates or a clipboard), you will learn how to create greeting cards, journals, books, scrapbook pages, gifts and frames. Next, with the help of author Shari Carroll's own stories and helpful ideas, you'll learn how to add your own layers of inspiration by incorporating your personal story into each beautiful piece. With a touch of texture and fiber here, a bit of sweet nostalgia there, Layers invites you to make the most of what inspires you. So start adding layers to your paper projects today.

Cut Paper Pictures is both an inspiration and a guide to using paper as your paint in creating personalized art with amazing depth and texture. Collaging is a fun and easy craft to make no matter what your skill level, and this is an excellent book to assist creative minds through whatever making process they favor.  Collaging can be done with a variety of different materials. Cut Paper Pictures shows how you can incorporate paint and other materials into your collages to really bring your art to life. Teaching through demonstration and deconstructed projects, visual artist Clover Robin guides you through the process without pushing you into specific projects. Offering step-by-step instructions, visual inspirations, and even a library of unique colors and textures, the author covers all the necessary materials, tools, and know-how, from adding color and using existing photos to create unique personal art.  Additional uses include: Scrap books, Vision boards Art journals Creative Planners Decoupage Or any other mixed media art project!  Whether you're looking to create floral lettering, patterns for prints, nature scenes from landscapes, photo recreation for homemade gifts, personalized maps, or unique and colorful personal cook book entries, this book is for you.   The book also includes 31 perforated pages that you can pull out and use for your own collage creation. Simple, approachable, and endlessly rewarding, this book allows you to create unique and charming keepsake that you'll cherish forever.

With Painted Botanical Collage, artists of all skill levels will learn to create lifelike botanical artwork--featuring flowers, succulents, and herbs--using painted background papers and elegant collage techniques. A unique technique book, Painted Botanical Collage will show you how to create your own collage materials. This guide takes you step by step through creating mixed-media painted papers, then using them--along with tissue paper, art papers, and found paper, such as magazines--to create perfect collage materials. Cut these decorative papers into plant and flower parts to assemble your designs, adding details using various media. Working from nature is central to this technique--look closely at the palettes and shapes in actual flowers to create realistic stylized representations. Painted Botanical Collage includes instruction on creating flowers, cacti, succulents, leaves, and other popular botanicals--over 30 beautiful designs in all. Join in the fun as British artist Tracey English shares the methods behind the magical flower collages that charm and delight her Instagram followers.  

Geninne presents an artist's field guide to her processes of observing and photographing birds in the wild, then translating those impressions to watercolour and collage.