A flourishing tale for art enthusiasts and plant lovers alike! I want to share a story about the unexpected turn my latest collection, Bottle & Branch, has taken. It all began with a simple idea: capturing the beauty of found branches through art. But as the project unfolded, nature added its creative twist, blurring the lines between artistic inspiration and botanical experiment.

Acrylics are more than just paint; they're a medium with limitless artistic possibilities. For a mixed media artist like myself, this versatile medium is at the heart of my creative practice. Their appeal goes beyond compelling colours and into the realms of joyful exploration, for this malleable substance can be manipulated in myriad ways. 

Fine artists learn best through play and being free to experiment and explore is how to move forward. It’s in the unguarded moments of working with a new material and making random marks that discoveries are made. There’s a good reason artists refer to their work as a practice, because that’s exactly what they’re doing.

In my experience a good fine art collection is generally created out of sheer determination and hours of playing with paint. But in order to get to that bit something has to happen first. A vital spark. The trigger that sets the wheels of inspiration in motion. Finding that spark is something I love, especially when it comes from a single sketchbook drawing.

Surrounded by lush foliage, in a charming North Yorkshire garden, artist Jan Wilkins invited Little Bird and I to make cyanotype prints. As part of a fine art skills swap, Jan kindly gave us the opportunity to explore this curious blue technique. Arranging gathered flowers and leaves on light sensitive paper we had first hand experience of one of the earliest forms of photography.