Mulch

 Good evening folks. This is my first blog post and I wasn’t really sure what to talk about, so I’ve decided to tell you about my current college project, ‘Mulch’

‘Mulch’ is an art book that was originally started as an autumn woodland project I intended to decorate with woodland animals such as foxes, mice and stags as well as birds and insects. But as I set out to play with colour and mark making the pages started to tell a story and the book evolved into something quite different to what I expected or initially planned. I began to imagine walking in a woodland on a wet, autumn day. Of squelching and crunching underfoot and of dark, hidden places as well as dappled sunlight through half bare trees. It spoke to me of leaves floating gently down as they give themselves back to Mother Earth to be mulched and regenerated into new life at the beginning of the next years cycle. 

It reminded me of the fragility of life and how things change continuously. It is an art journal to help bring us back into the present moment whilst recognising that all things change and that it is good to let go of what is not serving us so we can make room for further growth.

An old book covered with silk and decorated using paint and crackle paste. It has a hidden spine which I then used lace dyed with rust and burnt with a heat gun to creat more texture. 

Embrace the mud is based on the idea that artists sometimes despise the colour of mud as it’s often created accidentally whilst mixing paint or over painting something. I simply chose to embrace those ‘mistakes’ and make it part of the book as it fits with the theme.

I also used eco dyed paper which I sprayed with ink to embellish and creat the texture of autumn leaves in a tree.

Mushrooms are created from mulch…

The leaf was fashioned from copper sheets

Colours of rusty oranges and golds adorn the autumn woodlands.

This is the most abstract journal I have ever made and I had real fun creating it. Perhaps for my next project I will attempt to add some more abstracted animals..

What do you think?

Thanks for reading and I look forward to creating more posts with you.