In mythology, Avalon represents a mystical place or paradise where heroes, like King Arthur, come to heal and regain their strength. It is a place of magic and rebirth of the spirit. 
Over the last year, I have been playing with combining different elements from classic paintings from the late 1800´s in my collage work.
I start by finding some focal points (subjects) and settings (landscape paintings, houses, rooms in houses, etc...) that interest me. At this point I do not know how or when I will actually use them; I just create a collection to pull from as I work. I look for images in digital downloads on Etsy from #mrscogscrafts and #adamoprints as well as in the public domain under topics like vintage landscape paintings, vintage portraits, 19th century art, etc. I then print the images on card stock or glossy print paper depending on whether the piece will be used in an art journal (glossy paper) or built on foam stickers on an art book page (card stock).
For example, here is a forest scene I enlarged from a digital download I purchased from #mrscogscrafts. I wanted to add it to my already decorated background, but I needed to cut away parts of the trees. This is tricky, but if you know what your focal point is, in this case the girl, then you can keep auditioning her in different places you have been cutting away. I figure if I mess up and cut too much away, I can always reprint the background. The more you play at this, the faster you get with discerning the parts that you want to use.
For Avalon, I used a country girl that was walking along a path. I initially saved the path but decided to cut it away and let the forest surround her. I completely cut away the backgrounds for the girl and the fairy that I found in another digital image.
For the surrounding background and forest floor, I used found words in book pages. It says,
¨Avalon...this is a marked spot...retreat into the past...
Read...the leaves longer...water, even the mists and flood tide, these are memories...
...the branches had grown...and I had learnt my lesson....¨
I also used soft fibers from #atattereddream on Etsy to represent the moss and pine needles beneath the girl´s feet.
I would encourage you to try this process of blending elements from different pieces of vintage art as a way of enlarging the variety of ephemera and focal points that you have at hand to help bring your collage work to life.
