When my daughter was a little girl, she had an imaginary friend named Brian. We would be getting ready to leave home to go somewhere, and she would say, "But Brian's not ready to go!" Brian was annoying sometimes. I asked our pediatrician about her imaginary friend, and he said 'great!' According to him,  children with imaginary friends tended to be extremely intelligent! And he was right -- she turned out absolutely brilliant! Now, here I am, at the age of 57 with my own imaginary friends. This is how I do a collage: I troll the internet and antique malls until I find a vintage photograph that seems to say, "You & I could have been friends!" Then I choose a background that my new friend feels comfortable in. Then I let them speak to me. One was a 'Gipsy Countess', another a 'lady of ill repute.' Still another was a young, talented, and very beautiful violinist! I honor their stories as best as I can, arranging & rearranging small pieces of their lives until they finally say, "Thank you so much. I am at peace here in my new home."