mixed media art – Page 4 – Mixy's Art Blog

midweek mayhem (18/52)

Y’know when you hear about a new thing, then you hear about it again within a really short time, and you think:
Hey, Universe, are you trying to tell me something here?

Well, this week I’ve read in more than 2 places the suggestion of freeing up your creative mojo by drawing freestyle, playing about at mark making, with your non dominant hand. It kicks the brain into action in a way doing the usual things in the usual way just can’t.

So with some degree of awkwardness I set about some cack-handed doodles. Scribbles. Scraping of pencil across page.

Not pretty, not descriptive, but after a bit of warming up the eye-brain-hand coordination came together a little better and it did at least begin to look and feel a bit more deliberate. And it’s only a first layer. With some more colour it’s already becoming much more backgroundier.

There it goes, merging behind, blending away.

Some collaged layers begin to add structure and I’m back to my usual right-fisted chaos. But…….

The other reason I’m posting these stages is to make the point that pages can go through really ugly phases; totally scrappy and uncohesive. I mean really, really URGH. Really WTF is going on, ‘I honestly thought I could make pretty, creative, loveliness…. then I go n do this thing and it’s just so… just so… I can’t even look at it….’ <sob>

The key to getting through this is to keep on going! Don’t stop here!! It’s just a phase. It’s easy to get despondent looking at such an incoherent ugliness. It’s a shambles. But it’s only a shambles at the moment.

It’s a very rare art that can’t be pulled back from the edge of ugly in some fashion or other.

I’ll be back tomorrow with how this got saved, there is ART after URGH.

weekly art journalling 15/52

From the start of this year I’ve been art journaling on a weekly basis. And it’s thrown up all kind of interesting thoughts I wouldn’t have pre-guessed.

Like how some patterns recur through so much I do and make. This checkerboard effect is an old fav. Especially this sort made up from snippy bits of text.

And the subconscious recurrences. There’s definitely an eye peering over from behind these guys. I only saw that in this photo just now! Since I chose Focus as my word for the year, I don’t think a week has gone by this year without eyes featuring to some extent.

Primarily it’s a place to doodle, spill words and thoughts, splash color with free abandon, and dabble about with techniques. I’m on mahoosive collage trip right now!

Collage and doodles. It’s my therapy de jour. I get utterly lost in the layers of cut out images, paint, doodle, ink splash….

This week’s page has been a really involved evolution.

Yes, there have been some important things I should have been doing. This book is a mirror of my procrastionationability

Long Time Week (13/52)

One quarter of the year through: meet week 13.

Compared with the last few, this was an uncomplicated page: dragged paint and organic in its making, a lightly tribal vibe. Muted.

But as a collection of 7 days in my life it’s been brimming to overflow (hence less time to spend in this book).

I’ve been reading Caroline Myss. She’s directed some of my thoughts to a place I haven’t visited in a long while, it’s been both refreshing and nostalgic.

It’s a page that crossed months: March over to April, so has the intentions I set for April. This time open ended wishes, based around the tone of climate I’m wanting to head toward next: Contentment, Progress, Stability, Fun, Restfulness. I think that has it covered for the immediate!

Behind the times 5/52

Last week was such a wild week, full speed ahead into the future. …. Big mental adventures, idea exploration, culmination and loose end tying. And then the massive full moon on Tuesday. Maybe that’s why it’s taken until now to post last night week’s page.

This is where it started out: a splurge of words came tumbling… so many they needed watering down. (Literally)

Edit/note to self: a daemon from a daemon (transformed)

I’d spent the weekend at Jamie Catto’s Transforming Shadows workshop. I’ll post more about that separately once it’s settled more in my head – suffice to say for now, transformation occurred! And it led me back to a bit of face drawing, I haven’t done this in a while…

The theme of the workshop was centred around befriending inner demons. As each day the page evolved the faces developed, coming more into their own. And the big full moon started to dominate.

Something tribal feeling began to show. I’ve had an increasing sense I need to find my Tribe. And the page seems to be reinforcing that. (Gotta love the way art unfolds answers to questions you didn’t know you were asking)

As a marker of time and achievement, the final additions: collaged left over bits of the project I completed this week, oh and a big ole FIFTY. Cos guess how many kilos I lifted at the gym this week? 😉 Gotta love a round number milestone!

word clumsifulation

Hi folks, hope you’ve all had a great weekend. I had a surprise visit from 2 old friends last night which was wonderful, but meant I didn’t to bed last night til so late it was morning and my ability to do much at all today has been scuppered!

That said, I have finally sat down and written my Artist Statement. Wow, how many times have I put this off ?! It’s in its first draft stage, but if anyone has a mo to glance over it and offer thoughts that would be most kind of you. I think I have the main essence there but the more I read and over read it just scrambles into a clumsy goo of words. I haven’t even printed it off yet (cos those typos show up better on paper than on screen!) so there might be glaringly obvs mistakes I’m screen-blind to.

Now, I’m off to take this weary brain to bed, go rest up for a big bright new week ahead! G’night all 🙂 X

Currently studying for a BA in Fine Art as a mature student, I am a mixed media artist, with an emphasis on utilising reclaimed materials and found objects. I enjoy the process of reinvention which is echoed in my work by the underlying themes of impermanence, the cycle of life, and renewal.

Often beginning with a loose notion of color or form I work intuitively with a range of media, layering painted and hand printed materials in collage and with stitching. I work on several pieces in parallel, allowing space for ideas to incubate. In a process of construction and deconstruction, salvaged scraps and fragments relate to the emerging theme. Elements often migrate between projects; some pieces evolve over a period of years. As I introduce new techniques acquired through my studies, I am always innovating my practice.

I’m continually drawn to forms and structures found in nature, flowing rhythmic lines and recurring patterns. I also find inspiration in the fleeting visual ephemera, shadows, the play of light, and their transient interactions. I surround myself with color, fascinated by its powerfully expressive qualities. Driven by a fervent need to create and visually interpret thoughts; the process of my art is my meditation.

My style is influenced by a range of art and architecture. The Art Nouveau style, calligraphy and Islamic art all engage my interest in combining organic forms with repetition. The work of Naum Gabo, Louise Nevelson, Bridget Riley and the Cubist movement all appeal for their structural, dimensional aspects which challenge the viewer’s perception.