Purchase my original artwork at my Etsy shop: Gem in the Mud Gifts - Original Nature-friendly Mixed Media Art!
My mixed media art celebrates the rich and poetic delights present at the meeting of natural forms and the man-made.
As an Essex-based allotment owner, I fell in love with the magical sights of irrepressible plant life and the softness of animals, framed by the angular structures used to support crops.
Created intuitively, my small works combine bold, vibrant brushstrokes and pencil-thin, intricate details with geometric shapes and white space.
I use eco-friendly papers, organic produce I grow myself and recycled materials.
In February 2013 I had been performing folk fiddle on the snowy terraces of Montmartre, Paris and wound up with tendinitis.
For a long time afterwards I could barely pick up a fork but needed a creative outlet. That was when I thought, “I can’t play my musical instruments, however I could have a go at drawing them!”
Art had been a favourite subject at school and throughout my Related Arts and English degree. Almost 20 years later I took it up again; creating handmade double bass-themed postcards, mixed media art, creative coding sketches, digital art and black and white poetry illustrations.
I am also a prize-winning photographer and my photographs have been published alongside my live gig reviews for Jazzwise Magazine.
In February 2021 three of my pieces were exhibited in ‘Encountering A New Normal’ - an online exhibition for neurodiverse women artists, and in April 2021 I completed the ‘12ocollective:30works30days 2021’ challenge; a month-long project where participants are required to submit a new piece of work every day for the month of April.
During 2022 I learnt how to build my own cob cottage which I’m planning to create with my own hands and feet off-grid in Scotland. I also initiated some chalk talk on the pavement outside my house where my neighbours can let their imaginations and creativity run wild.
On my allotment I experimented with a mandala permaculture design and have been selling my cordial, wine, cider, tea, kombucha, sauerkraut, chutney and jam in upcycled glass with funky labels at local car boot sales.
Throughout 2023 and 2024 I enjoyed numerous wild / stealth camping overnighters in my local forest and in Aberdeen, Scotland; I published my second hand-illustrated collection of poetry about the pandemic and my relationship to social media, and composed / improvised a piece of music a day for a year - many of which I made into art films. Check them out at: www.youtube.com/@GemintheMud.
All of the artwork on this page is by Gemma Boyd
