Today We’re Going On A Treasure Hunt

Every Wednesday throughout 2016 one of my beloved IGNITE Peer Mentors is sharing their creative wisdom and insight in a brand new blog series.

IGNITE Peer Mentors are women who successfully completed my IGNITE Online Intensive and are eager to deepen their own skills and intentions as heart guided artists by mentoring a new circle of women in IGNITE. This is the first year that I am incorporating Peer Mentors into my program and I am absolutely thrilled to work side-by-side with such an inspiring bunch!

You can check out past Peer Mentor posts by CLICKING HERE.

Today’s IGNITE Peer Mentor Mixy Gregory is taking us on a treasure hunt! I have to warn you though —  I’m already hooked.  Treasure hunting with Mixy is my new thang!!!

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Today we’re going on a treasure hunt. I know just where to look, we don’t have to go far… in fact, we’re already here.

This is a pursuit of the ordinary. The familiar. The general, humdrum, regular same ole backdrop to daily life. It’s everywhere. EVERYWHERE! The difference is, today we’re seeing it through different eyes.

Sometimes I play this game while I’m out in the world; the sight of some tangled tree branches or the texture of its bark, footprints in the mud, these are just too good to leave behind. And that’s it – I’m back in this game again.

I’m drawn to the dapple in the concrete, to the shadows on the wall, the bumps on the brickwork – these are the ingredients I gather to take back and experiment with, because I know each one holds multiple facets to explore even deeper.

The tone and the colours, the shapes and patterns. The more that you look, the more that you see. The more you see, the more you feed your imagination.

These ingredients we’re collecting can become backgrounds to draw on, to make digital collages or add texture to photos and a new level of curiosity. They can be printed, redrawn or re-created in paint of embroidery stitching. Print them out and let your pen follow the lines round to make new patterns, find shapes and faces and scenes for your story to play out.

These are a springboard into a stream of consciousness.

If you catch your prey closely enough they lose their intrinsic substance and your mind’s eye can conjure up a new story, new meanings, a new identity.

I caught these little treasures today from right here at my desk (see – I said we didn’t have to go far!)

As you’re reading this, do you have your camera or phone?

Don’t get up – just take a quick scan round – what colors and patterns would you like to grab? Maybe there’s a fragment of wall or floor, the corner of an object, or an edge of your clothes?

Be bold in your quest. Creep up on your target, focus in, focus out, play with the angle of the shot. Zoom right in. There’ s potential magic in all the options.

Sometimes the beauty is in the those accidental shots – the swoosh of a moving camera blends the light and dark making new patterns again and another layer of abstraction.

Tweak up the contrast, the brightness, play with the possibilities. See how many versions of that same bit of everyday background you can make – then make some more! Keep playing – just have fun and see what emerges!

You can see more of my found abstracts over at Instagram tagged #artiseverywhere. Join me over on ephemeralgecko.com for more ideas on playing with your treasure once you’ve captured it.

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Today’s Guest Post was written by Mixy Gregory, Peer Mentor for IGNITE 2016.  Here is a little about Mixy…

Mixy resides in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom and can be found online HERE.

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