Hello
I’m Lucy, a mixed media artist and teacher
This is my happy place, playing with my favourite materials and getting messy in my creative corner, at home in Colchester, UK. I also have a garden Studio where I run small creative workshops.
Alongside selling my art and teaching, I am studying for a BA (Hons) in Painting with the Open College of the Arts.
My inspiration
I am madly in love with using a variety of mediums, like collage, painting, mark making and printing to create abstract, colourful and textured pieces. Nature is my “go to” inspiration as it never disappoints and never runs out – it is perfectly imperfect, just like life, and this is my main reason for loving mixed media art. There are no such things as mistakes and it allows freedom to create amazing effects with beautiful layers and texture.
I was drawn to this joyful way to make art five years ago when I discovered Art Journaling. Since that time I have kept all of my art in many Art Journals, but I am now stepping out of the shadows to sell my art and share it with the world!
I also run creative workshops to show you how you can create your own mixed media pieces too. You may be thinking, “I’m not good enough” or “I’m not arty”, but it is so much easier than you think! You don’t need to be able to draw or be “good at art” to enjoy my workshops. My simple processes for making your own abstract art, with your unique stamp on it, are fun and truly liberating.
Art is for everyone, not just “artists”, and I believe that we are all born creative. Creativity is a human emotion, like love and happiness, that we are all capable of unlocking. And when we do, it can be fundamental in helping us live more fulfilled lives.
My art story
I had a magical early influence in art. One of my fondest childhood memories is of being with my grandma – drawing, painting, colouring and rummaging through her art treasure at her house. She was never precious about her materials and always let me experiment and be in the moment.
In her younger days, she was an artist, painting incredible Japanese women in ink and paint. She won a scholarship to go to London and design wallpaper but unfortunately she was instead encouraged to stay at home, get married and have children.
She died before I went to secondary school – where I studied Art at GCSE and then at A Level. I did really well, but I didn’t have the confidence to continue at a higher level, so I went on to do a Diploma in Nursing and worked as a nurse for 15 years. I was good at my job as it suited my personality well, however I always felt a longing to be doing something creative. Then a fairly major life event meant that I had to give up nursing.
This is where my art journey went astray – I tried to draw in my spare time but it felt stilted and pressured. Where had the joy that I had experienced as a child disappeared to? The problem was that I was trying to create with my head, worrying about making mistakes and getting it wrong. This then led to sadness, frustration and guilt which in turn became a vicious circle. As it is impossible to create from that place.
At this point some wonderful friends gave me a gift of a course in Art Journaling and since then I can honestly say that I haven’t looked back. It was a light bulb moment – why had no one told me about this way to make art and be creative – collage, doodling, printing, painting, using your fingers, mark making and generally just expressing yourself in any way that feels good? I had always thought that being creative was about drawing – negative space, the human form, still life, light, dark and tone.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love drawing and painting for my degree. But with mixed media, you are truly creating from the heart and having fun. And once you find yourself in this flow state, you have checked out; your head has space and you forget about life’s troubles, just for a wee while.
The pandemic showed us that good mental health is more important than ever. This kind of creativity has really helped me to stay sane, so it struck me that there must be other people who also long to be creative but don’t know how to start and are scared to draw in case they fail or are laughed at.
During the Covid lockdowns I wrote a course called “Art Journaling for Beginners”, to help people to learn the basics of Mixed Media and get going. It launched in June 2020 and lots of people have signed up. If you’d like to find out more about having a go yourself, head over to my Art Stories website here.
My art journals are now pretty full and it’s time to start putting these ideas on to canvas for sale and to start inspiring others in real life and in workshops rather than just online!
Someone once told me, “You are your grandmothers wildest dreams”. I hadn’t really thought about it like that – but yes, she was unable to fulfil her dreams. So this is me, finding the joy that she taught me in order to fulfil my dreams and to help you to fulfil yours too.
