Paint an already primed canvas with at least two coats of base paint. While waiting for the coloring material to dry, cut out various sizes of round shapes from an old book: circles, ellipsis, ovals and oblongs. After the base paint dries on the canvas, use an acid-free glue/sealer to stick the paper shapes onto the canvas. Leave about one-fourth of the canvas, preferably near the top, free from paper shapes to create a design.
Cover the base of stretched canvas with different colors of textured paper. Collect some old materials at your house, such as old keys and coins, baggage tags, lanyards, playing cards, old CD’s, feathers, beads and metal rings. Using an acid-free glue/sealer put your odds and ends materials onto the paper. Dab paint or ink in random places to create a unique collage art project.
Get a collection of photos of your friends or family and print out some images that you find interesting to include in your design. Trace out the figures in your photos and cut them, and cut out the images you printed on whatever abstract pattern you want. Use an acid-free glue/sealer to mount your photos and images onto the canvas and create borders and other points of interest in your photo collage with acrylic paint.
Cut different fabrics into various shapes. Use a color wheel to pick up the colors of your fabric to get a better color combination. You can cut the fabrics in strips or other geometrical shapes, like squares, triangles and squares. Get an acid-free glue and sealer and use it to stick the fabrics onto pre-painted stretched canvas. Paint over with light-colored acrylic paint.