Creativity Through Nature: Foraged, Recycled and Natural Mixed-Media Art

In her most passionate and personal book for artists, acclaimed watercolor artist Ann Blockley takes the reader through a series of ideas of working with nature&;in its widest sense&;to nurture our creativity, inspire us, make us more sustainable artists, and breathe back energy and flow when our artistic streams run dry. In &;Go Outside and Play,&; the author exhorts artists to recapture a fun, no-pressure way of being outside and use that feeling when creating. In &;Connecting Materials to Place,&; she creates her own paint from the local pond. In &;The Slow Movement,&; the artist reveals her year of working on a specific local hedgerow and painting a series of different interpretations in its every-changing detail. She created regular creative rituals, using her weekly playing card as a starting point for a new painting to reflect the season each week. She reuses old paintings, and tissue and paper&;wabi-sabi style&;to create new textures and even new paintings. Including work from other artists as well as her own, she shows the ideas and work from textile and mixed-media artists.
From allotment inspiration to nature prints, from harnessing patchwork concepts to recycling pieces of art, to the alchemy of found materials, this is a journey to find new creativity through our connection with the natural world. In her most passionate and personal book for artists, acclaimed watercolor artist Ann Blockley takes the reader through a series of ideas of working with nature&;in its widest sense&;to nurture our creativity, inspire us, make us more sustainable artists, and breathe back energy and flow when our artistic streams run dry. In &;Go Outside and Play,&; the author exhorts artists to recapture a fun, no-pressure way of being outside and use that feeling when creating. In &;Connecting Materials to Place,&; she creates her own paint from the local pond. In &;The Slow Movement,&; the artist reveals her year of working on a specific local hedgerow and painting a series of different interpretations in its every-changing detail. She created regular creative rituals, using her weekly playing card as a starting point for a new painting to reflect the season each week. She reuses old paintings, and tissue and paper&;wabi-sabi style&;to create new textures and even new paintings. Including work from other artists as well as her own, she shows the ideas and work from textile and mixed-media artists.