So I’m back to my art journal. Flipping back and forth, adding little bits here and there…
Finding a place in this new, weirder version of reality where it feels like all the adults have gone out, and we don’t know when they’ll be back. If they’ll be back. If it was all a big illusion all the time…
[optional move: fall down that rabbit hole then have to take another nap]
OR, try to get a foothold in what used to be normal.
Okay…
So I’m back to my art journal.
Flipping back and forth, adding little bits here and there. Not quite every day, but that’s what I’m aiming towards right now, to build a bit of structure back into my days.
Here’s what this new (temporary?) normal if looking like in my studio.
How are you doing?
If you’re just keeping home, keeping sane and washing your hands more than you used to, you’re doing well.
I’ll be back with the next color in my year full of color next week. Meanwhile, take good care my friends. X
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.
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.
Featuring some familiar faces from the zine + some new ones, there are FIVE different sheets of NINE stickers to choose from.
Sticker Sheets are ยฃ1.99 per sheet or ยฃ6.99 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 ๐
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Hi – I’m Mixy!
This is Mixy ๐
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
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.
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! ๐
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.
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.ย
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 ๐
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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
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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My 100 day project timeย lapse compilations are growingย (you can check out the othersย over here)ย
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.ย 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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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.
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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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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