Artist Mixy shares her latest sketchbook pages and creative process.
Four years ago I decided to embark on a personal project in which I committed to follow a specific creative goal every week for the next 5-6 years (I couldn’t bring myself to math it out exactly, suffice to say, a really long time)
Riding the waves of 2020 chaos, all my coping mechanisms conspired to choose *A REALLY BIG ART PROJECT* as the best way to navigate.
What has helped sustain the project is the looseness of the brief.
It’s just a double page spread, made without a plan, which comes together over the course of one week.
Then Monday comes around, I turn the page, and I start afresh.
Book of Days: 400 page sketchbook
After the first year or so I loosened up the ‘rules’ a bit and now I’ll return to older pages and add little bits here and there as the mood takes me.
I also skip forward now and then and leave little easter eggs for future me to find: Usual sketchbook stuff like blobs and washes of colour when I have left over paint I don’t want to waste.
When I’m listening to an audio book or a podcast and some words catch my attention I write them down.
If a week’s spread gets too wordy I’ll skip forwards a few pages and carry on writing there. Too much text at once gets a bit indigestible to me so I let it fall out into other places.
I’m leaving notes to a future me.
The doodles and characters in this book have gone on to inspire a lot of my other art, from postcards to stickers to zines.
All this to say, I can’t let this 4 year anniversary slip by uncelebrated, so I’m bundling up some goodies from my studio for a giveaway for FIVE of you lovely people!
Details on how to enter will be on my Instagram & Facebook over the next couple of days, the winners will be notified after the draw at the weekend.
See my July newsletter to find out more about the GIVE AWAY
Sign up below if you haven’t already!
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
Mixy presents TWELVTY 2024, a year-long color exploration through watercolor and mixed media.
In my year full of color, I usually begin with Yellow, then trip clockwise around this color wheel a month and a color at a time.
What’s happening in TWELVTY 2024?
I dug out this lovely little square watercolour sketchbook from my stash.
It has about 30 pages, just right for 2 spreads per month/per colour.
I like to break the ice by noodling some sort of title on the front cover, I can go back and add more as and when the whims of fate decide.
My “This Color: This Month” rule has loosey-goosey-ed up as I’m in Color/Month 1 and we’re well into February.
Also I don’t think it’s ‘finished’, so I’m open to adding some more bits in the future.
Already the whole thing feels way more relaxed!!
Up to now Yellow has been a vivid array of sunflower, egg yolk and banana yellow, this time I’m looking at the subtler edges of what I call YELLOWISH, with ochre, Naples yellow, gold and cream.
That’s the plan today, watch this space to see if I can keep this far out from my loudest-colored-comfort-zone!
BIG bold yellows from yester year!
+ Contrast!
I also relaxed the just one colour aspect this time. This time I’m experimenting with each color being accompanied with flashes of something from way over the other side of the color wheel.
Here’s how I kicked off this year’s 12 color project!
Yellow-ish Page 1
This watercolour paper is handmade and heavily textured, it takes wet media like a dream.
Starting out with water soluble markers (Tombow, Ecoline)
Then water soluble pastels (Neocolor II), then water to blend
Followed by gouache (white, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre).
For a bit of darker contrast I used a fountain pen with a mix of black ink and water.
Water soluble pencil, then some collage pieces.
Finally highlighting squiggles in gold & yellow marker pen.
More updates soon!
Be first to see where this project leads me next by signing up to my monthly newsletter.
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
Well, can we have a big “YIKES” to acknowledge that 12 years have elapsed since my very first 12 colours in 12 months project?!?!
I had to double check my numbers, but it’s for real. TWELVE years indeed!
What is TWELVTY?
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, 2012 was a tough year for me…
my home life had been turned upside down, and creativity kept me afloat.
At the time I’d recently discovered fibre artist Marlene Glickman
Her piece “Day by Day” appealed to every part of my colour-hungry soul.
Making color and design decisions is sometimes difficult so I challenge myself to use only one color from the color wheel each month during my daily design exercises. A box sits on my worktable containing all the supplies I collected at the beginning of the month in one color.
From this I choose bits and pieces creating a 5″ x 5″ design/collage/drawing. The small format offers me the chance to explore a design and decide whether or not to enlarge it or expand on an idea. I also keep a journal for sketches, fabric swatches and working out future ideas and larger pieces.
Marlene Glickman 1948-2023
A Year Full of Colour
On Marlene’s advice, I decided to dedicate a sketchbook to single colour experiments, with one colour each month for a year. This is how it turned out (excuse the wonky video – this was new to me!)
the original 12 colors in 12 months art journal from 2012
Over the years I revisited this idea, and reimaging the monthly format. For a few years I ran a year long class sharing my process and guiding other creatives in their own 12 colour projects.
TWELVTY 2024
I can’t let this 12 year marker go uncelebrated, so this year I’ve got a new twist on the old idea in mind. Catch this month’s studio newsletter to see what I’ve been making, and find out how this year will be a wee bit different!
Is this something you’d like to join in with? Comment below to LMK, I’ve got so many ideas to share!
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
Mixy, the London-based mixed media & textile artist, took a relaxed approach to starting 2024, sharing a flip through her Book of Days series. She’s brimming with plans for the year and invites followers to join her newsletter for updates. Follow her creative journey on her blog, Instagram, and website MadebyMixy.com.
I took such a relaxed approach to beginning 2024 that it’s already February before my first post of the year!
Let’s kick off with a little flip through from the end of last summer in my always-a-bit-behind series from the Book of Days.
It’s said the way a person does one thing is the way they do everything…
So it came as no surprise to me when I noticed more than two years had passed since I wrote:
“When it comes to making a book like this, keep in mind that progress isn’t linear.
It’s more like a dance back and forth through the pages.”
The book I’m describing is an art journal I made from scrap paper, for the purpose of demonstrating how I make my art.
I documented the steps as I filled the pages, videoed my progress, made notes…
..and then a lot of life happened, time passed, and suddenly it’s now.
Time is so slippery!
My disorganised, wabi-sabi approach to art making became the way I made this book, and together they evolved in their own time. At long last, I’m happy to say it’s all done and ready to go!
This is how the art journal came out:
If you’ve signed up for my newsletter, then my Art Journal Serendipity ebook will be arriving in your inbox very soon!
It’s not too late — sign up below by the end of December & I’ll send it to you direct!
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
I have a confession to make: When I made this book I didn’t love it. Some parts of some pages made me happy, but as a whole I wasn’t especially excited about it.
I recorded much of the process of making the pages, and while I edited the videos I wasn’t at all sure what I was trying to achieve by sharing them.
So much so, I left this project unfinished for over TWO years!
But letting time pass lets us see things through fresh eyes. I still don’t love every single bit, but that’s not so important to me now.
Why I am I telling you all this?
Because maybe there’s a project you’ve let sit because you weren’t sure what direction it needed to go in next.
Because maybe you look at other peoples art and think ‘it’s different for them, they know what they’re doing, they have a plan…’ when in reality we are all winging it.
These pages belong to a book I made from scratch. They’re filled with messy paint, scribbles and experiments, vulnerability and love. I made this book for YOU.
There’s a full length flip through in my Youtube, and you can find out how I did it all in my ebook *Art Journal Serendipity*. All you need do is sign up for my newsletter by 27 December and it’s all yours!
Thank you to everyone for your support through the year, it means more than you could know.
For your free copy of my eBook Art Journal Serendipity sign up for my newsletter below by the launch date 27 December 2023
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
Mixy's Art Blog 