It's OK to be messy

Week 2 of the messy book group (never to late to join in!!) and I'm trying to remind myself that it's OK to be messy - in fact, that is indeed the point of the exercise! So, it being Friday night and all, I decided to get smashed.

Don't tell my son, but I 'borrowed' a couple of his crayons and hit them hard with a hammer until they pulverised all over this page. But that wasn't really messy enough (unless you count the bits that flew off and embedded themselves in the carpet). Next up I headed to the kitchen and my art iron...

(As an aside, I would not recommend using your normal iron to melt wax with. I made that mistake before so have now purchased a £5 iron from Tesco which I use exclusively for this purpose!)

While I was waiting for the appliance to heat I turned my back just long enough for the boyfriend to come wandering in to the kitchen and move my messy journal scattering bits of crayon across the kitchen floor. More accidental mess.... it's getting good...

I melted neat, I melted through paper, I melted over greaseproof sheet. I burnt my hand and got bits of wax stuck down my fingernails.

Then, I turned to the glue page - nice and sticky. This one took a while as I had to wait for the glue drips to dry before I rubbed them with alcohol ink.

Then, I couldn't quite resist getting all arty... I took some macro photos but darn it the flash went off...



Hold on... if this isn't an accidental discovery, then I don't know what is... They have a certain appeal don't you think - accidental art.

I think there's a creature in this one...

Finally...

A real close up. I like this - follows the rule of thirds compositionally. A piece of art made from mess. Good work. Next week I might use food.... Eeek!

Let's get messy

I'm copying this over from my new creative business blog. It's a bit of free fun and a wonderful challenge for you all! I would so love it if you joined in!


Three summers ago I joined a group that helped change my life. I  know that sounds a bit far fetched - and you'll be even more dubious when I tell you what the book was - but it's the truth. It awoke something inside me that had been lying dormant for a very long time.

The book was Wreck This Journal: To Create is to Destroy by Keri Smith and the group was run by coach Jamie of Jamie Ridler Studios. Over the summer of 2009 around 40 of us destroyed our journals in the most creative ways imaginable and underwent a transformation. Suddenly we realised that art did not have to be about carefully positioned paint or strategically structured design. Art could be the messy stain left over after you squashed your spaghetti between the pages of the book. Art was words, dirt, stickers, fluff. Creativity was burning, cutting, smearing. Supplies were everywhere - from the long forgotten impulse buys from the craft shop to flora and fauna or even your own hair picked up off the floor of the salon!

We mixed in some guts and a whole heap of fun and just let go. Our Muses were given free rein and they loved it! We shared our wrecking each week on Jamie's blog and inspired each other to be more revolutionary, daring and downright dastardly to our books. 

Our friends and families, at first bemused, began to join in too. By the end of our adventure we each held something really special. I for one, was truly inspired. I knew that from that day forward, my house would never again be tidy and nor would I ever be far from a tube of paint. Magic had happened!

• Does that sound good to you?
• Do you fancy quite literally letting rip?
• Want your creativity to be let loose to have a mash up with your Muse?

Well, let's do it! Join me for a couple of months of messy play with another of Keri's books Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes. Every week we can return to my blog and share our creative adventures, inspiring each other onto more daring devilment with every page.

Are you in?

Just subscribe to the list below, so I can email you the details you'll need. All you need to play is your imagination, somewhere to post your week's mess and plenty of wild, crazy abandon! Let's start sharing our first forays into letting loose on Friday 6th April.


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