Exploring Mixed Media - Inspiration

I recently took part in an online mixed media art workshop with Laly Mille.  I really like her mixed media work and this was an opportunity not to be missed.  It was a free course to celebrate her ten years as a mixed media artist. 

 The first thing we needed to do was to create inspiration pages in a book - either a sketchbook or journal.  The pages could be filled with images from magazines, colour, our own pieces of art work, images that we liked and which appealed to us in some way.  My pages came together really quickly and I was surprised at the amount of images I found with a similar theme - in this case, colour.  I raided my scraps box and also my gel print stash.  

I knew there were certain colours I was drawn to, but hadn't realised how many things I had which were these colours, collected without thinking about this. Above is the teal/blue page . These colours have been a favourite of mine for many years.

The next page was all about the rich jewel colours - pinks and purples.  Again, another favourite but also a surprise at just how many images and pieces of gel prints and papers that I had already got in these colours.

The third page was one I was more concerned about - neutrals.  I am not really a 'beige' person and have no clothes in these tones.  However, again I was surprised to find lots of images with these colours, beige, grey, cream and some light purple, which appealed to me and which I had kept, thinking they would come in handy.  The owl feather was sent to Chris from someone in America, as part of sendsomething.net.

So far, just three double pages, but they were so enjoyable to put together.  

The next part of the workshop moved on to using the inspiration pages and finding small bundles of collage to add to four small pieces of art work.  More to follow... 

Felt making again - at last!

It has been about six months since I made any felt pieces and last week, I finally managed to pick up my carding combs and make something.  The photo above shows the piece in process and I really liked this combination of blues and turquoises and teals, so had to stop to take a photo.

The piece was based on one I had previously made, taking my inspiration from the sea lavender on the marshes at Saltfleetby, on the Lincolnshire coast.  The original one was fine but I decided to make the colours a little deeper in this version. 

The felted piece, showing how the wool exerts its own influence.  The horizon was a bit more dramatic than I would like, but the colours have worked together well and have given the slightly impressionistic effect I was aiming for.  Now it needs to have the embroidery added, to give more definition to the sea lavender.  That's the next job.

More jewellery

I have finally started to use some of my 'stash' of gemstones and have been enjoying being creative.  Above is a set of amazonite jewellery, using different cuts of stone and a bit of silver.  I have been looking for some blouses/tops to match the colour and have found several, but none of them was quite right - too tight, too baggy - you know how it is!  Anyway, I can always wear white until I find the style and type that actually fits. 
I love the different shades in the amazonite, from a milky green/white to a deep almost turquoise blue/green, to teal.  There are lots of other colours in the stones too, from reds and browns through to black and grey.  It never ceases to amaze me how all these colours come from one particular stone.