Mixed Media Artist: Stuart Morris

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This article is written by Vikki Geary

Stuart Morris is a successful British artist based in East Anglia, and his textile printing business is well-established as one of the UK leaders in charity fundraising. Parents in particular may already be familiar with Stuart’s work, as he specialises in school tea towels featuring self-portraits of the class.

mixed media painting

 

This article looks at Stuart’s life as an artist and how he turned his love of art into a successful business.

Early life and education 

Stuart has always been creative and remembers looking forward to art classes at primary school. His coastal family home afforded stunning views of the sea, and Stuart loved painting pictures of the sailing boats as they passed by, and his painting of his favourite steam train ‘the Puffing Billy’ won first prize in an art competition.

It was at the age of 19 when Stuart made the decision to take art and design seriously. He moved to Paris, one of the art capitals of the world, where he spent his time wandering around the city searching for inspiration. He particularly admired the majestic stained glass windows of the Parisian Cathedrals and the ancient Egyptian exhibit at the Louvre, which sparked a lifelong interest in ethnic and primitive art.

It was here that he also developed a love for the Post-Impressionist painters Paul Cezanne, Paul Gaugin and Vincent VanGough. He also developed a passion for Paul Klee and Juan Miro.

After a year in Paris, he returned to education and studied a degree in Fine Art at the University of Leeds, followed by a Masters in Screen Printing at the University of Leicester. His studies introduced him to early Renaissance paintings as well as ancient Greek and Roman relics, furthering his interest in ancient art.

A successful artist 

After university, Stuart made his name in the artistic community with his colourful, large-scale prints and paintings. He displayed his work at solo exhibitions in Bonn, Cologne, Edinburgh and the London Barbican. His work has also appeared on the arts television programme ‘Folio’.

As an artist, Stuart’s interest in primitive art shines through in his use of natural materials such as wood, rock and sand, whilst his bold use of colour is a nod to the Post-Impressionists that captured his young imagination.

Today, Stuart divides his time between his personal art projects and his textile printing business.

mixed media assemblage

 

Textile printing

It was back in 1972 that Stuart founded his own textile printing company, Stuart Morris, and opened his first screen printing studio in a converted chapel in Suffolk.

Stuart Morris has developed organically over the years into a successful commercial business with clients at home and abroad, including 5,000 school customers, as well as heritage and charity organisations.

mixed media textile painting

 

Stuart’s top 5 tips for aspiring artists

  • Be single-minded and set your sights on what you want to achieve,
  • Be determined and don’t let anything stand in your way,
  • Work hard at your craft,
  • Release your inhibitions and let your personality come out in your artwork,
  • Be expressive – the best paintings are not necessarily ‘life-like’, but tell a story

 

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You can see Stuart’s artwork and textile printing business online at http://www.stuartmorris.co.uk/

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Mixed Media Artist: Ann Strecko Koeman

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This article is writen by Ann Strecko Koeman

Hi. My name is Ann, I have always been making stuff. In fact just two days ago a fellow scrap booking friend stopped by my house, it was her first time. As I was giving her the nickel tour of my home and then my craft room area she asked: “Is there ANYTHING you don’t do?” I did have to admit that I don’t know metal work very much. Hee hee. Actually, there are probably many things I could learn and it will take more than the rest of my life. That is why I am hardly ever bored, I am too busy.

Ann’s Arts and Crafts         Ann’s Arts and Crafts         Ann’s Scrapbook

As a little girl I would spend hours gluing, stapling, taping, and stringing odds and ends into whatever my imagination wanted. I learned to sew at my mother’s side when I was at pre-school. I wrote little stories and illustrated them. I learned to knit and cook before I was nine. I loved flowers and playing in the dirt in my toddler years. As an adolescent I built forts in our woods and igloos in the winter. I have always been creative and wanted to make whatever I imagined.

Ann’s Arts and Crafts         Creativity         Creativity

Today at, ahem… 45 years, I have amassed an incredible collection of skills and stuff. My skills impress my friends and family. My stuff, well, shocks! But it is organized! I love to collect stuff and find a use for it down the road. My collecting, repairing and repurposing drives my husband insane! He has little vision! We clash. I persevere. I do not like to throw stuff out and just go buy new. I hate waste. Thankfully we own a large home and I am able to stuff it in an organized manner. Hee hee

Arts and Crafts                                             Arts and Crafts

My children think I can fix anything! And always bring me stuff to repair. They think it is normal, and believe every mom can multi task and is creative. I have sewn and knitted many or their baby clothes. I continued to sew many articles for them over the years. Even now in their teenage years I sew some of their pajamas. I do more altering and repairs now, as they are, well, teens. I have made many of their costumes for Halloween or plays. I crochet some of their favorite video game characters. We have made buildings and towns out of cardboard boxes, board games from the recycling bin contents, and more.

Until a few years ago I had never heard of Mixed Media. When I did I thought, “that’s me!” I do and love so many things and often combine them. I sew, knit, crochet, scrapbook, do paper crafts, draw, paint, repurpose, decorate, garden, cook etc… In art school I got discouraged because of one professor, and there was family pressure to have “something to fall back on”. I switched concentrations. I went to University and Graduate school and became a professional. And hated it! I kept my “hobbies” and became a wife and mother, I was happier!
My kids are my proudest creations.

Ann,

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Ann lives east of Ottawa, Canada’s capital, in a small bucolic country town with her husband of nineteen years, their two teenage sons and a meowing fur ball on four legs.  She has been creating since she could hold scissors and hasn’t stopped.  She was introduced to mixed media four years ago and declared: “That’s me”.

You can see more of Ann’s work at Ann Makes.

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Red Poppies

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This article is written by Gloria Malour-Marsh

I love bright colours, so this is why I chose to paint a field full of blooms with brilliant red poppies as the focus point, and a back drop of cobalt blue. Firstly, I found covering the canvas with cobalt blue enabled this vibrant color to shine through on a maximum level and gave a very contrasting effect.

Red Poppies symbolise renewal and life, blossoming, loyalty, beauty, and courage.

Mixed media artist painting

They also signify a promise of resurrection after death.  It also has many medicinal qualities.

The red poppy is an annual herbaceous plant with a straight stem, covered with big hairs.  The red poppy flowers are single with 2 big sepals and 4 big bright red petals.

I painted the whole canvas with cobalt blue. The composition started with finger painting.  I used my thumb, the index finger and the middle finger, to create a raised effect with each petal of the poppy.  You’ll begin to notice the texture is building layers. Something that was very foreign to me.  It took some practice to be confident. As I would finger paint, I’d manipulate my fingers with a twist to form one petal of the poppy, and yet maintained a confident hand.   The finger twist created a raised texture, and this is something new I learned in mixed media.  I needed to build layers and this developed the texture. This gave a vibrancy to the composition and an easy manner of manoeuvring began with my fingers.

The colour red kept me thinking of human life, of blood and of hearts beating.  A feeling of fascination set in for me as I started to apply this new found technique.  I added tiny flower centers and they were done with the head of a cotton bud, and I chose white and yellow. I was still somewhat apprehensive as to the outcome.

But I have learned so much with mixed media, that this form of art is very forgiving and one can make mistakes and rectify them immediately. I still have so much more to learn in this art medium. As I sit and paint, I’m transported to another time in space. At this point, I feel the art medium is a form of meditation. The mind becomes very absorbed in what you are doing and a sense of stillness settles inside. We are learning newfound techniques and are applying them to our lives. Philosophically speaking, we take one step at a time, make mistakes, learn from them, and we develop confidence with the brush and with life. We look on life with a very positive and happy attitude. We take one step forward and two steps backwards, and any mistake is a stepping stone forward and a good teacher.  This is the time to hang in there.

This started me with overcoming the risk factor of making mistakes with the brush and my confidence took a leap. I started to like what came from my imagination. This brought alive one’s freedom and abandon without conforming to structure and build on our childish sense of imagination and fun. This truly frees up one’s rigidity and encourages our creative unique style to flow.  Positive self regard builds one’s self esteem and we start building on our own identity. A sense of trust settles in and we start powering on with the brush with confidence.

I worked hard to maintain a free flowing consistency with my fingers. I know that practice, practice and more practice are the recipe to unleashing the artist within.

Enjoy!

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About the author:

My name is Gloria Malouf-Marsh. I live in Brisbane, Australia, in a suburb called Indooroopilly. I live with my husband Greg and my daughter Salwa.

I have been on a personal journey for over 20 years. I am a very analytical person. I am a Yoga Chi Gung Teacher.  I have been teaching for nearly 5 years. I now have taken up voluntary work in that field. I have been studying Ayurveda and Taoism, and apply the knowledge and benefits to my life.  It’s a life long journey. I enjoy the rhythms of  nature and ground myself when I walk. Among the interests I enjoy are singing, chanting, history and the study of different faiths. I also take time out to meditate, to be mindful and understand the power of the breath. I’m involved in voluntary work in the capacity of newsletter editing and I have a penchant for the love of cooking.

In the last four years, I have taken up drawing, water colour painting, collage, iconography and acrylic medium, which I love so much.  My artwork takes me on a journey with my title.  It could take me 3 months to finish a painting or 6 weeks, depending on what’s going on in my life.  I sometimes have dry patches, and I know that is for a reason.

I’m itching to pick up the brush and discover new horizons in the techniques of mixed media. The best teacher is practice, practice and more practice. I’m trying to organise a special place for my art work. I feel this will give me momentum and more encouragement to continue my journey in this creative medium.

Emails are welcome: gloria@radiantpathways.com.au

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Are you becoming a “Frugal Artist”?

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This article is written by Debbie Ward of Lucky Girl Paper Arts.

I find myself falling into a new category of paper crafter, the “frugal” artist. A few months ago, I had to put myself on a spending diet. I don’t know if any of you have ever done this, but, in short, you either reduce the amount of what you have been spending on your supplies or completely cut your spending 100%.

I had to do this because I had just come back from the local scrapbook store, happy with my purchases, until I got home, opened the items, and realized everything I bought I already owned. I was so angry with myself I gave myself a “time out” from spending. I had to get creative with things I already had laying around the house if I wanted to continue to create. I not only found it a challenge but I treated it like a game, and the best thing about it, I saved money.

Take a moment, think about what you might have in your own home that can be used in your card making arsenal. If you have children in your home, you may already be sitting on a large stockpile of doodads & trinkets. If you do not have children, start going through drawers and cabinets and you may be surprised what you might find. Here is a short list of things I found when I started looking around my own home: old books, corrugated cardboard from an old mailing box, aluminum foil, old jeans, buttons, string, pipe cleaners, game pieces from an incomplete game, beads from a broken necklace, playing cards from an old deck, postcards, tissue paper from a specialty store (I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away), sand paper, and metal washers.

Here are some samples of what I made with the treasures I found:

mixed media greeting card by Debbie Ward

Card made with 2 skewers (cut down) and twine

frugal artist debbie ward

Card made with a scrap of denim

Looking back at the month I was on my spending diet, I realized two things:
1. If there is ever a Project Runway for paper crafting and they have to make something from basically nothing, I can win that challenge.
2. My creativity doesn’t come from what I buy but what is inside of me.

I can’t say I will be throwing away all of my supplies after this, but it is nice to know that I can push myself creatively. As a side note, the money I saved from my spending diet was invested in new die cutting plates.

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Debbie Ward 
has been paper crafting for many many many years. She loves to create cards, scrapbook pages and altered items. Debbie designs for a local scrapbook store, Hannah’s in Antioch Illinois USA. www.LuckyGirlPaperArts.com
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