Maker's bio

My name is Karen Johnson and I'm the Derby based artist behind my small business, Millie Moth. Inspired by my wild garden, I create vibrant flower designs to feature on cards, artwork and homewares, mainly using alcohol inks as my medium. WILD GARDEN COLLECTION this technique involves "painting" with alcohol based ink pens and dripping splashes of isopropyl alcohol onto a non absorbent synthetic paper called Yupo, allowing the inks to bleed and run together in beautiful and unpredictable ways. The vibrancy of the ink colours is absolutely mesmerising and I adore choosing the colours for each piece, which I then more or less create intuitively and without much forethought! This is a technique I evolved after discovering other artists using these beautiful inks in many different ways. After several years and a lot of trial and error, my Millie Moth signature style of a splashy bold background with wild garden flowers was born! I really enjoy sharing my joyful technique with like minded people who love plants, flowers and bright colours so would love to welcome you to one of my workshops. I don't have space at home so aim to travel to various areas around Derby. I'm also happy to offer private workshops in your own home so please get in touch for more details. My work is full of colour and I aim to convey the happiness I feel when I’m around flowers and foliage. There is such a wealth of life in every small growing space and I try to capture that beauty, elegance and vigour by injecting a little wildness and joy into every piece. Come and join me!