Photographic Collage Techniques: An Artist’s Guide to Image Transfer
Updated: May 29
Photocollage in progress 
Photographic collage 
Polaroids and image transfers 
Indian summer by Claire Hankey 
Photocollage by Claire Hankey
How photographic collage transformed my mixed media work
The technique of photographic collage has added a playful element to my work in the last year or so.
I've always loved photography, particularly silhouettes and shadows. I'm particularly drawn to the wild beauty of hedgerows and have literally hundreds of photographs on my phone! This technique has given me another way to link my love of nature and painting.
Image transfer art: papers, mediums & printing methods I use
I've experimented with so many different types of papers from tissue to kozo paper, feeding them through my printer and adhering with different mediums. Recently, I've been working with teabag paper which is brilliant because it's strong and can take many layers of paint.
Photographic collage in art history: Rauschenberg, Man Ray, Schwitters
Photocollage by Robert Rauschenberg Man Ray photographic image.
Photocollage is of course nothing new - above are some examples from Robert Rauschenburg, Man Ray and Kurt Schwitters. I love these playful pieces which reveal quite different approaches and narratives.
I feel I'm just scratching the surface with my research on combining photography with mixed media. I've tried image transfer art, ink jet collage and I'm now looking at photo litho printing and cyanotypes. Last week I had a wonderful workshop with a cyanotype artist Anna Lukala. She showed me how to expose negatives of my photographs and create beautiful cyanotypes, I was intrigued by the process which is fairly scientific, requiring measuring and timing! This is not something I'm used to but I thoroughly enjoyed the systematic approach.
Below are the cyanotypes I created on my workshop with Anna taken from negatives of photographs taken in Andalucia. I was so pleased with how these turned out and I'm looking forward to experimenting with this image transfer technique further!
Cyanotype by Claire Hankey Cyanotype by Claire Hankey Cyanotype art by Claire Hankey
If you'd like to learn about my photo transfer techniques I have a self paced online collage course entitled Photographic Collage; Creating Veiled Images. You can find out full details here Learning more: my online collage course
Claire Hankey - Leigh on sea Artist 
Photocollage art-b Claire Hankey 
Photocollage with cold wax
Email - hello@clairehankeyartist.com
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