Tag: art journal

a small distraction

Just for five minutes, let’s look away from all the chaos and uncertainty. Join me between the pages of my art journal. Let’s go hide out amid some squiggly doodles and swirls.

Friends, I’ve got a 5 minute distraction for you.

Let’s go hide out amid some squiggly doodles and swirls.

Just for five minutes, let’s look away from all the chaos and uncertainty – join me between the pages of my art journal.

I don’t (usually) start on the first page an art journal, or methodically work my way page by page through. It doesn’t have a right way up or an upside down. Everything goes everywhere.

(I’m far too flighty and easily distracted.)

Instead, I’ll flip back and forth, adding colors, shapes, doodles and scribbles in the spaces until it feels finished. This book is almost done, so I thought I’d share some of my page hopping doodle process.

Page Hopping Doodle Flip.

I hope you enjoyed this flip as much as I enjoyed making it. I’ll be back in a few days with an update on TWELVTY progress. Until then, take good care. Much love to you.

The Return of the Curious Creatures

To celebrate my birthday this month, I’m launching a new project involving my little doodled friends.

At the end of last year I published “Imaginary Friends & Curious Creatures“, a limited edition zine from illustrations in the art journals I made through 2019.

You can see a quick flip through of the zine here, and at the time of writing there are still some copies left in my Etsy store.

To celebrate my birthday this month, I launched a new project involving my little doodled friends:

Stickers!

On Sale Here! 🙂

We’re very excited about this!!

Featuring some familiar faces from the zine + some new ones, there are FIVE different sheets of NINE stickers to choose from.

Sticker Sheets are £1.99 per sheet or £6.99 for the set of five + postage and I can send these to you anywhere in the world.

Hop over to my Etsy Store to snap up your very own curious creatures to adorn your planners, journals, laptops, and phone cases. And anything else!

If you’d like to be first to hear about my projects like this, sign up for my monthly studio musings newsletter. Just pop your email here and I’ll make sure it lands in your inbox 🙂

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I send out a newsletter about once a month with news on what I’m making & what’s been inspiring me. Do check your spam folder, cos sometimes the good stuff gets swept in there by mistake.

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Hi – I’m Mixy!

This is Mixy 🙂

I’m a mixed media & textile artist from London, UK.

I love to share what I’m making, and I hope it brings some inspiration to your creative time.

You can see what I’m making on this blog, and in these places too

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Zine Sale!

My Imaginary Friends & Curious Creatures Zine is on sale now in my Etsy store. If you reserved a copy ahead of time, there is one set aside ready for you to order.

Oh hey there lovely friends! My Imaginary Friends & Curious Creatures Zine is on sale now in my Etsy store.

If you reserved a copy ahead of time, there is one set aside ready for you to order.

It’s a limited edition. There are only FIFTY copies in the whole world, once these are gone there won’t be any more. The first 10 copies are already on their way to their new homes – so don’t miss out! 😉

If you haven’t already seen it, here’s what the zine looks like………..

Get 10% off this + all the other goodies in my Etsy store when you sign up to my Studio Musings Newsletter

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You’ll get a confirmation email when you sign up (check you junk mail folder – cos sometimes the good stuff gets swept away by mistake).
I’ll pop into your inbox about once a month with news on what I’m up to in my colourful little corner of the universe and what’s been inspiring me.

Imaginary Friends & Curious Creatures

This is a limited edition run of just 50 copies, all will be numbered and signed. I’m giving away the first FIVE copies in a prize draw – open to all the lovely folks who receive my newsletter.

If you follow my social media doings you might have seen a post or two about this already…

My first Zine: front cover.

Out of nowhere, I was struck by the desire to publish a zine: An illustrated world inhabited by the bizarre and curious folk who have been popping up amid my art journal doodles.

I spent the following weeks with these ideas marinading in my imagination, finally arriving at this:

Imaginary Friends & Curious Creatures (Vol 1) ON SALE from 1 December 2019

Zine Details!

  • This is a limited edition run of just 50 copies, all numbered and signed, and I anticipate this is the first in a series (cos I’ve got a head FULL of ideas for this!)
  • It’s A6 size (a wee smidge under 4×6 inches).
  • Eight pages of digitally collaged dreamscapes, printed on 170 gsm recycled paper. 

On sale from 1st December in my Etsy Store

  • My first Zine: back cover

Be first to know about my doings and makings, the thoughts behind what I do & what’s inspiring me with my monthly Studio Musings Newsletter. Join up here 🙂

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I send out letters about once a month with first look-see of what I’ve been playing with in my studio, the thoughts behind what I make, and all the good stuff that’s been inspiring me + you’ll get exclusive discounts as a subscriber.

I promise to guard your email address with great care. I will never exchange it for magic beans

Patterns in Patterns

Do you notice the patterns around you? once you start to look you can notice them everywhere.

A few years ago I took an art class where we focused on grid patterns. Beginning with one grid pattern we developed it in different media in a sketchbook.

I started out with this photo of palm leaves in front of the grid pattern of window panes.

grids within grids – patterns within patterns.

Once you begin exploring an idea like this it’s amazing how many iterations appear.

While I was on holiday last month I accidentally found myself repeating this idea, but this time with the patterns I kept finding in the rocks and stone buildings.

The more I looked I saw similar shapes in other places, variations in this theme were everywhere. Even the shadows and light presented the patterns again in another ephemeral layer.

Now I’m back home I’m filling the rest of the book with variations on this theme.

Catch my latest newsletter to see a flip through of this work in progress sketchbook, and I’ll tell you more about these ideas.

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Metamorphosis & Metaphors

My 100 day project time lapse compilations are growing (you can check out the others over here) 

The pages in this book got layered over again and again – some began many months earlier – and then were then re-imagined many times in the 100 days.

This page began where I’d written the manifesto for the previous year’s 100 day project. An Actual Manifesto! Lawks!!

Never before had I felt called to write myself such a formal plan, but one morning last year I woke up from a vivid dream with an irresistible compulsion. Then a little over a year later I painted over it.

Watch how morphed over the 100 days here –

If you’d like to be first to see what’s happening in my colorful world, sign up for my monthly-ish studio musings newsletter.

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Outnumbered in my own story.

I’ve spent so many hours in the world between the pages of this book.

From the layers of drawings and doodles, to reliving the experience via editing the videos I made for the 100 days project, each page has developed a narrative.

Here is the next in the series of compiled time lapses (previous ones are here)

I work fast because one thought spawns a dozen new ideas and I have to run to catch as many as I can.

In this spread it was the stitches along the page edge that generated the triangular patterns, then the edges of the paint streaks which wanted more attention, emerging into solid shapes that demanded stripes, squiggles & spots.

Before I knew it, there were faces emerging.

I’ll be honest – right from the moment they began to appear – I wasn’t quite comfortable with this crowd.

As small and flat as their grinning faces were, I felt outnumbered, and until I redressed this balance I had an uneasy sense here.

Having looked thoroughly disgruntled throughout, the character who remained at the end took on a certain poise and dignity when the others left. Now she clearly owns this spread.

The rest of the characters in this art journal also have a destiny that’s yet to be fulfilled. Catch my August Studio Musings Newsletter to find out more. If you haven’t already done so – hop in here!

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Mostly Squiggles

An Art Journal Journey (part 2) – new time lapse video up 🙂

An Art Journal Journey (part 2)

(In case you missed it, the first in this series is here)

August’s newsletter is out next week – are you on the list? join up here for monthly inspiration and studio musings

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A plan, two things & a video.

About a new art journal

Giddy excitement. When I started this new (oooh new!!) art journal I decided to make the whole book the subject of a big time lapse experiment. There’s nothing like a new book to fill me with BIG intentions.

Plan: I’ll play first thing every morning and record what happens, then edit it all into a video for (mostly my own) amusement.

Reality: It’s been some mornings, but if I aim for all I’ll hit some. If I aim for some I might not hit many at all, the book will sink under a pile of other stuff, I won’t remember the plan. I know me. I know how this plays out.

Thing # 1

If there’s one thing I consistently am, it’s inconsistent. Just the act of making a plan triggers the part of my brain that prevents me doing the thing, no matter how much I enjoy thinging that kinda thing.

Is this massively incompatible with daily life? Abso-total-lutely it is. Jeepers yes. It’s really inconvenient and a battle I fight with myself all the time.

Thing # 2

If I let thing #1 stand in my way, it will destroy my creativity, and I’ll achieve nothing.

So in order to outwit myself I’ve put together the video of the first few pages. It’s not (yet) the epic project I first envisaged, and it might never be. But for now it is this, and this is a thing. If I’m quick, I’ll have done this before I realise I’ve fallen into my on trap. Sneaky? darned right I am.

For more stuff like this join up for my monthly-ish newsletter right here:

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Letting go of the butterfly

It’s curious to relive the visual journey. There’s nothing like filming the process to relive the ‘why did I do that?’ moments.

Time Lapse Compilation: part 3

If you’ve been here before, you’ll know that lately I’ve been documenting my art journaling process through a series of time lapse videos.

It’s curious to relive a visual journey. There’s nothing like filming the process to relive the ‘why did I do that?’ moments. These came up a lot early on but I’m noticing a desensitising effect with practice, and letting go of expectations. Process is process.

Nonetheless, the push and pull of loving/hating the direction it’s taking remains real. It took a really long time for me to catch on where this one wanted me to lead it.

The irony of the words that fell onto this page is not lost on me, from an interview with
Sabrina Ward Harrison: “Splendidly Imperfect and Alive”.

This video is a compilation of little time lapse videos taken over a few weeks of back-and-forth-ing on this spread.

The more time I spend in art making, the more I find parallels between a creative practice and all the other everyday-everythings. Seems to me, how we make tends to mirror how we live – bravely – messily – stubbornly – inconsistently… all of these are here!

Releasing the butterfly

This particular spread got so sticky because I reeeally didn’t want to lose that butterfly. I painted and drew around him until I had such a mess there was no other option, ultimately burying him under a new layer of paint to ease the intensity of so much going on.  I was resisting letting go.

I’ll post the next in this series soon. To catch it ahead of everyone else + get monthly-ish updates on my other colorful studio antics, join up for my newsletter here.

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