Next layers: more mark making

“I simply do not distinguish between work and play.”
― Mary Oliver.

Yester-post we looked at first layers. Now I’m building on those foundations with some variations of these themes.

These are the techniques I use in my art journals and mixed media pieces. Whatever I’m making I like to work quickly and without any planning. It’s even easier without the distraction of choosing colors to use:

The first piece I pick up + the first paint or ink that comes to hand + the first tool I grab. It always surprises me how serendipity brings new combinations of patterns together.

While color is restricted, mark making tools are not. I don’t limit myself to paint brushes and *proper* art tools (although I like using these too).

Like a lot of folk these days, I’m trying to opt out of plastic use as much as possible, but it still turns up uninvited through packaging and whatnot. We know that re-use is more efficient than recycling.

For all that is bad about plastic, the up side to its indestructible nature is it makes very durable art making tools that are easy to keep clean and seldom need replacing. I’ve had some of the stuff I use for years and you’d never know.

These are a few of my favourite mark making things:

A hair comb.
Plastic cards – old bank cards etc.
Bits of bubble wrap, plastic bag and packaging.
Plastic netting – the type you get oranges and lemons in.
Plastic forks, knives, spoons etc. (especially forks)
Old pens that have run out of ink (ball points, felt pens, markers) – and their lids for perfect little circles!
Knitting needles.
String, feathers, elastic bands.

You’ll likely see all these things (and more) come up in my process videos over the coming weeks and months, they all make their own characteristic marks, some more predictably than others.

Next layers made in Yellow for TWELVTY 2020

I’m beginning to combine these pieces now with collage, fabric and stitching, They’re evolving from scrappy bits of paper with smears of paint and scribbles into curious little pieces of art.

This heap of part done bits and pieces is on my desk right now.

My adventures with yellow finishes at the end of the month, when I skip round to the next color in the wheel. Next post I’ll show you the *finished* {for now} stage, and explain what I mean by this too 😉

Every month this year I am making a series of pieces in just one color, so at the end of the year I can combine them into one big multicolored work.

I’m sharing my process throughout this adventure in this blog.

I’d love for you to join me. TWELVTY is open to everyone, and better yet, it’s free! Sign up for my newsletter to find out more and get your free TWELVTY guide ebook.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

First Layers

“Start where you are, use what your have, do what you can.”
— Arthur Ashe

The magic of mixed media art making comes from the layers.

First layers can be marks made in paint or pen, they can be collage or textural. Sometimes the whole surface is covered, sometimes it’s just a few marks to break up that beginning expanse of nothing.

scribbles and doodles break up the space on the blank paper.

When you keep in mind that what goes down on the first layer will likely get covered up, it’s much easier to feel free to experiment.

I don’t strive to make something beautiful, I just play. Letting one idea feed the next and seeing where it leads.

Experiment by combining patterns of mark making on different surfaces – thin copier paper reacts very differently to paint and ink than watercolor paper, or tissue paper, or fabric. Investigate some of the infinite possibilities!

I like having a few pieces on the go at the same time. Ideas cross pollinate between them, and I can swap from one to another while the layers dry.

Crumple or fold paper so the color can seep into the creases.

Consider how many ways there are to apply color to surface. Paint brushes are just the beginning, some of my favourite tools are not conventional things you’ll find in the art supply store 😉

Watch how the first layers of the first color of Twelvty began.

First layers made in Yellow for TWELVTY 2020

Every month this year I am making a series of pieces in just one color, so at the end of the year I can combine them into one big multicolored work.

I’ll be sharing my process throughout this adventure here in this blog.

I’d love for you to join me. TWELVTY is open to everyone, and better yet, it’s free!
Sign up for my newsletter to find out more and get your free TWELVTY guide ebook.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

the same, but different.

I’ve been playing with patterns again.

How many ways can one simple patterns look so many kinds of different in different media, in contrast and colors, in scale and size?

A pattern is defined as the repeated or regular way in which something is done.

An arrangement of lines or shapes,
a design in which the same shape is repeated
at regular internals over a surface.

A pattern is an arrangement of form,
of natural or chance configurations,
a regularity in the world,
in human made design
or in abstract ideas.

*acrylic craft paint*, *with* *sponge & paint brush*

Our psyches are plumbed in such a way to seek out and construct patterns.

*collaged cut outs of painted watercolor paper*

We organise and categorise our ways into behavior patterns.

Patterns are as much about the arrangement of the component parts as they are the parts – the shape of the space in between.

I was quite entranced by these thoughts on holiday recently.

I had this little sketchbook and just a few colors. As I noticed the repeating patterns around me I began to play, when I got home I continued to fill up this little book with more variations.

I explored a similar idea before, but now I want to carry it on further – with simpler forms – maybe a circle or a square – maybe in just one color – just to see what’s possible.

If you’d like to see more ideas like this and find out what’s been inspiring me, sign up for my monthly studio musings newsletter here.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

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 colorful little corner of the universe and what’s been inspiring me.

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:

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Stitching together 100 days

Over the weeks and months these pages changed beyond recognition. This is a snapshot into the evolution.

This week we reached the end of the #100dayproject. Every day for over 3 months I posted my daily doodles to Instagram. Yikes!

Sometimes just photos, but for the most part, I shared little 30 second or so time lapse videos.

This is an art journal I’ve been doodling back and forth through for a long time. Every day I’d find a page that wanted something new, different colors or just had a space to fill. I’d scribble down words that caught my attention in a podcast or song lyrics, I’d sketch and play and add bits of scraps of stuff from my desk.

There are no rules in a book like this, nothing can go *wrong*. It’s all subject to change, it’s all ephemeral.

Over the weeks and months these pages changed beyond recognition. This is a snapshot into the evolution.

Evolving ideas

You can see a full flip through of this book by joining up for my newsletter. I share monthly (-ish) musings from my studio, first looksies at what I’m making, and exclusive discounts in my online sales, but if that’s not your jam you can unsubscribe at any time.

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

The Spiral Path of Words & Color continued

The methods for ink dying paper are as simple or complex as you want to make them. Here are my 5 top tips to paper dying.

Ink Dyed Paper: 5 Top Tips

The methods for ink dying paper are as simple or complex as you want to make them.

When I started out I used a shallow plastic tray and layered pieces of of paper. Each layer had splashes and squirts of ink between. Then I left them to absorb the liquid. I experimented with scraps of paper, envelopes, book pages…

early ink dying: recycled envelopes, printer paper, tissue paper, book pages.

Essentially that hasn’t changed much, only now I’m devouring entire books and working on a glass topped table so I can heap the inky pages directly on there. I just scaled the process up!

Trial & Error.

I cannot overstate how much it’s trial and error process. It’s the only way I work: unscientific, intuitive, learning as I make it up as I go along.

For every gloriously bespeckled rainbow I make there are blurry messes, torn pieces (wet paper is so fragile) and muddy overworked colors. But that’s how we learn, right?

Five Top Tips to Paper Dying.

These are the five main things I’m learning through my paper dying experiments:

Ink can be brushed on, dripped on, poured on, splashed, sprayed, squirted or flicked onto paper (wet or dry) with any manner of implements. It’s all A LOT of fun. There are NO wrong ways.
Different types of paper will take up ink differently. Right now I’m using almost exclusively old book pages and sheet music (ranging from circa 1920’s to 1970’s), the paper from each book has it’s own distinctive foibles.
The type and dilution of the ink both make a difference. It’s not just the intensity of the color, but how much it soaks in. Quicker or slower drying time effects the tide marks it leaves, the surface finish too (less water can dry with ink with dusty pigment traces, or a sheeny finish, or a distinctive layer of shape as well as color). All of these permutations have a beauty of their own.
Sometimes the pages stick to each other as they dry, especially at the edges. Gently brushing the stuck bits with water then leaving them a while usually resolves this. I found some inks are stickier than others – they work just fine but need diluting more – which leads me to…
More layers with more diluted ink work best of all. It’s the soaking of the water that creates the best patterns as it carries the pigment through the paper fibres. It’s the layers that make for the most intricate effects. Already dyed paper, left to dry then splashed, dripped and dunked in water or ink, can come to life in all manner of ways. Sometimes pigments reactivate or react. Things like this can happen…

splashes on splashes

Happy Accidents.

I’ve been leaving batches of papers to soak together, letting more magic happen as color seeps through the pages to the layers below. By arranging them haphazardly so one piece part covers the next it encourages the seepage patterns to happen more.

‘Unplanned‘ is the overarching theme.

After some hours of marinading, sometimes I’ll turn the whole pile upside down after a while so the moisture seeps back (carrying the color) back the other way. Peeling apart the layers and adding more pigment, or just turning them so the pieces in the middle get some air to dry.

Wet paper wrinkles and the lines that form become channels for the color to settle. Stripes and fabulous organic patterns like an animal print appear.

Lately I’ve taken to layering in stencils and texture plates between the papers to pick up extra patterning. plastic and bubble wrap works well, as does fabric, yarns and fibres (which of course soak up some of the color, transferring their own distinctive prints)

Next time: what becomes of these papers?

Or you can get the answer to this question ahead of the others – join the cool kids in my email list — hop aboard right here!

Processing…

Success! You're on the list.

Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.

Un-hibernation

In my latest newsletter (going out later today) I share more about getting through un-creativity; what’s on the horizon for my next projects. And my latest flip-though video.

If you haven’t already, hop aboard the news-list here 🙂

Gradually I’m recombobulating after an unplanned summer-long sabbatical.

It all began with slipping away from social media, from blogging, and from the digital mayhem of click-baity distraction.

Then it spilled over into my creative practice, as I set down one project after another, anything creative that felt more should do than a giddy-excited-to-play.

It was the accumulated exhaustion of someone who’s spent a life time rushing and bustling and keeping too may plans spinning. Driven by poorly reasoned logic, no time to question my motives.

The only kind of making that lit up my heart was sewing, so that’s what I did, day after day, until the lull passed.

This is a wall hanging I began making years ago. On and off I’ll pick it up, spend my spare time stitching away, then it goes back in a box and sits for a while longer.

This was the only creative outlet that’s sparked anything in my soul of late.

Then, as suddenly as all the ideas dried up, one at a time, they began to sneak back.

Beginning with some new textile projects and spilling into a bundle of new art journal/sketchbook ideas, it feels like that part of me that thrives on making and doing has come back to life. As the un-hibernation process is picking up momentum, one idea is feeding into the next. I’m feeling more like me again.

art journal spread inspired by Alisa Burke

A little bit of what’s on my creative horizon!

In my latest newsletter (going out later today) I share more about getting through these lumpy few weeks of un-creativity; what’s on the horizon for my next projects. And you can be first to see my latest flip-though video of the project that set off all that’s going on now. Yay!

If you haven’t already, hop aboard the news-list here

<a href="https://mixygecko.wufoo.com/forms/z1pfxfus0jq7ftl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fill out my Wufoo form!</a>

How much is enough?

How much time do you spend weaving between polarities?

Along the wiggling line of progress, between way too much and barely enough.

It’s not just me, is it?

How much time do you spend weaving between polarities?

Along the wiggling line of progress, between way too much and barely enough.

It’s not just me, is it?

At the end of last year I committed to a daily drawing practice: every day I’d work on improving my observation, coordination, imagination. Every day I’d give myself at least 5 minutes or so of drawing, not much more.

Just enough to open the flow of ideas at the start of the morning, to build on the muscle memory of drawing, to break through the first layer of inertia.

I really wanted to practice the drawings I find difficult, but to begin I was happy with doodles to see what emerged.

I told folk about this BIG plan of mine, I wanted the accountability. (I might have told you too.)

Just like the morning pages practice, the regular journaling habits, the daily yoga and meditation time, and all those wholesome promises I make myself…

I wonder to myself: is it the making of the promises, in and of itself, that makes me rebel?

“Who am I to tell me what to do??”

In the attempt to outwit my own ridiculous self sabotaging mind games, I ended up bending, breaking and rewriting every aspect of the plan:

Daily? nope. Drawing? meh, kinda, more splashing around in the shallow end of my abilities.

But what did emerge instead was the beginning of some compassion for myself.

What if sloshing watercolor about, writing seemingly meaningless words, letting patterns fall through my hand was enough?

What if I was still creating, still making, still bringing out ideas into the open. What if that was enough?

What if my obstinance and non compliance to my own self-set challenge wasn’t just the precursor to another ‘Fk this, I can’t do it’ and instead I just kept moving, kept making, kept playing.

And free from the berating inner monologue, occasional actual sketching would take place.

In the spaces in between, I can see, this is a part of my process I need to work through, not against, not in spite of, but with. With an understanding that only I can afford to myself.

So page by page, I’ll continue. Do you have a daily creative practice? I’d love to know what shape it takes.

If you’d like more of my art based thoughts delivered right to your inbox once or twice a month, you can sign up here for updates

<a href="https://mixygecko.wufoo.com/forms/z1pfxfus0jq7ftl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fill out my Wufoo form!</a>

(and I’ll send you my ebook A Year full of Color as a thank you for joining)

Your email is utterly safe to me. It will be wrapped up snug and nestled with a hot water bottle & a kitten until summer arrives.

Parallel Progress

If there’s one thing that keeps my creative imagination alight, its progressing a few pieces in parallel. Sometimes a piece has to sit and dry, or sometimes it needs just simply to sit.

If there’s one thing that keeps my creative imagination alight, its progressing a few pieces in parallel.

Sometimes a piece has to sit and dry, or sometimes it needs just simply to sit.

It might be in (one of) the ugly phases, uncooperative, or just tired and needing a rest.

Ideas need to incubate, assimilate, to marinate in wet paint or to settle amid the layers of thought processes and ideas.

Among these layers of color and pattern are layers of construction and deconstruction.

Themes emerge and submerge, continually spiralling around, cross pollinating each other as they go.

Time finds their place, turning in turns they cycle into their next phase.

(I often feel like I’m on the outside looking in while this happens)

These images are snapshots of the paintings I’m making for the 100 day project. You can see them develop day by day in little time-lapse snippets over in Instagram #100LayersByMixy

These little videos, in turn, are combining into longer video stories.

The first is out there in the youtubes already, but for exclusive first viewings you’ll need to clickety-hop aboard my email list right here:

<a href="https://mixygecko.wufoo.com/forms/z1pfxfus0jq7ftl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fill out my Wufoo form!</a>

100 Days, 3 Whys.

100 Days, 3 Whys: By the time I noticed the hashtag #the100dayproject that kept bobbing up in my Instagram feed last summer, it was already well under way. I was intrigued…

The 100 Day Project begins again on April 3rd – are you in?

You can find out all about it at the100dayproject.org, or watch a Q&A about it here

By the time I noticed the hashtag #the100dayproject that kept bobbing up in my Instagram feed last summer, it was already well under way. I was intrigued by the challenge: a creative act every day for 100 days. Right away I wanted in, I was late to the party and my 100 days weren’t consecutive, but I saw it through and I learned a lot along the way.

In 2017 I made a little drawing every day for 100 days, inspired by the photos in my phone.

I take pictures obsessively wherever I go, so I had a gazillion or so images of places and things, textures and colors, interesting patterns and reflections, little memories and captured moments of my days. I collect these images for inspiration, but to be honest with you this was the first time I really made a concerted effort to use them.

Every day for 100 days I rummaged through this collection, picked one out, and made a drawing based on what I found. Sometimes it was close to a copy of the image, sometimes just a shape or outline inspired my imagination to take off some place else.

This year I’m doing something new.

These arrived yesterday. 5 big canvases, still wrapped up and I’m itching to begin painting….

My 3 Whys

There are three big reasons why I chose this project for myself

I love working small. Tiny, itsy little & weeny are the scale I default to. These canvases are 30 x 24 inches. Not enormous – but way bigger than I usually work. I’m curious how it will be working BIG for a change.
Canvas. Historically I haven’t got on so well with canvas. Is it the texture? I don’t know. If I’m going to find out, I need a project that corners me into using these. Another direction away from my comfort zone.
100 days! Seriously, a HUNDRED days! It’s longer than it sounds, and it sounds a long time! I plan to pace myself. This challenge will be finding balance, I’m prone to haring or tortoising and not so much in the middle. I want to learn to meet myself in the middle.

As we get closer to the start date my ideas are solidifying, I’ll tell you more about my project tomorrow.

What is your creative stretch? Do you want to step outside of your usual practice and explore new territory?

Are you joining the 100 day project? I’d love to know what you plan to make and do. Let’s meet up in Instagram and we can cheer each other along as we go 🙂

If you want to be first to hear about my new projects, you can join up for my newsletter right here:

<a href="https://mixygecko.wufoo.com/forms/z1pfxfus0jq7ftl/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fill out my Wufoo form!</a>

SaveSave