Meet Our Makers - Millie Moth
Karen Johnson aka Millie Moth is an artist based in Derby, who creates colourful floral paintings using alcohol inks.
Welcome to our first blog post in the ‘Meet Our Makers’ series. It only seemed right to start our maker interviews with Karen Johnson aka Millie Moth; an artist whose work is bright, cheerful and instantly recognisable. Karen had her first stall at Tissington back in April 2019.
Hi Karen, thank you so much for agreeing to be our first interviewee and I’m so pleased that we will be welcoming you back to Tissington Craft Fairs again in 2023! What is it that keeps you coming back?
Why do I keep coming back to Tissington Craft Fairs? Well, definitely so I can be in the village itself because I absolutely adore Tissington! It’s such a beautiful and peaceful place, and the initial drive down the leafy lane for me makes me feel so calm and happy. The Craft Fairs themselves are run very well and I can see you put a lot of effort and thought into each event and are helpful and very open to feedback & new suggestions from us makers. There’s a great mix of stallholders and products and everyone gets on really well together. Due to the size of the venue, it’s quite unique in that there aren’t a huge amount of stalls, but as we are based in a location where people pass through on walks, or just stay a short while to see the village, it’s absolutely perfect - visitors won’t feel rushed or overwhelmed with a huge amount of stallholders and so can chat to us and get to know our work.
Mille Moth at Tissington Craft Fair in 2022.
I know you have worked with other mediums in the past but how did you get into the world of alcohol ink art?
I first came across alcohol inks on Instagram about five years ago. I was painting abstract underwater sea scenes at the time using acrylics as I love the vibrancy of this medium - but when I saw alcohol inks I realised they were equally vibrant but also with a beautiful kind of translucency to them. I loved the fact that they had a floaty, ethereal quality like watercolour paints do, as well as a fantastic ability to bleed and layer.
I remember watching you demonstrate your work at the craft fair in the past, but where do your creations usually come to life?
I work from home and my studio is based in our (ex) dining room - I’ve more or less taken over really so we don’t have a dining room anymore without a lot of clearance work! Luckily I have a very understanding musician husband who has taken the spare room over upstairs for his music studio! I work from the dining table and all the shelves are completely packed with my own tools, supplies, stationery, stock etc. I use the table when I’m painting and also for wrapping and packing up my cards and small framed prints for orders. I have two black and white cats called Barney and Jasper and they’re always jumping up on the desk to “help” me by walking all over everything, trying to playfight with me, then flumping down to sleep right in the middle of whatever I’m working on!
“Soft and Spiky, which is one of my best sellers as well, is one of my favourites.” Karen Johnson, Millie Moth
What does your typical working day look like?
A typical day for me usually involves doing some sort of preparation for an event that’s coming up or for a big wholesale order that I might have - that could involve preparing stock and making sure my craft fair kit is up-to-date with a float, ironed tablecloth, signage and prices etc. If it’s a wholesale order it will probably involve me sat wrapping hundreds of cards or making up some small framed prints in front of my computer watching Netflix to keep me company! There’s always some admin or accounts to do, updating a website, or application forms to fill-in for Craft Fairs, booking workshops etc. It’s also desirable (but I don’t always get the chance!) to do some painting or designing. My paintings are done on Yupo paper using alcohol ink pens and splashes of neat alcohol - I sell the originals, as well as using the designs for cards and prints. I also create surface pattern designs for selling on print-on-demand sites such as Redbubble and Spoonflower. These I create using pens and paper, then importing and editing digitally by using Affinity Designer or Canva which are both graphics programs.
Do you remember your very first sale? And how does it feel when someone chooses to buy your work?
I don’t remember my first sale exactly but I find selling something is always exciting and makes me smile! When somebody buys one of my pieces, they’re buying into something that I’ve created, that’s come from my imagination, my experiences and skills. They’re buying it with their hard earned money to display in their home which is a huge part of themselves and their identity, which is a huge compliment isn’t it? When someone chooses one of my pieces it always gives me a boost and makes me feel validated as an artist, no matter how many sales I’ve made! I know I’m not alone in feeling like this - it’s a very special moment at craft fairs when you turn to a neighbouring artist/maker and share a little happy dance after a good sale!
“I really like the Wild Collage digital piece called Wild Blues and Greens” Karen Johnson, Millie Moth.
Do you have a favourite piece or one you are most proud of and why?
I don’t have one favourite piece as such but I have a few favourite elements in my work which I’ll use as part of my style. For example, I really like the Wild Collage digital piece called Wild Blues and Greens - I love the colours in it and the vivacity and life suggested by the plants bursting out of it. I love that I see the plant pot featured in this picture in my garden every day and seeing it makes me feel proud that I’ve created something lovely and lasting from it. As for my paintings, Soft and Spiky, which is one of my best sellers as well, is one of my favourites. I love the simple colour palette of vivid greens and blues - just lush! I really enjoy using many tones of blues and greens, as well as the other favourite I use quite a lot which is a bright cerise pink - it really pops! Bright colours to me suggest life and energy. They make me smile and feel happy! They seem to suggest sunshine where there isn’t any. I really enjoy creating some of my more abstract flower pieces too, which are more floaty and impressionistic and can’t really be defined as a particular flower. I love the way the inks flow and it’s just a joy to actually create them.
And finally what can our customers look forward to seeing in 2023? Do you have any new products in the pipeline?
This year I want to introduce a few more canvases featuring my colourful prints to my Tissington Craft Fair stall. I’m also aiming to design for fabrics and wallpaper so I may be displaying samples of these for visitors to see and feel, so that they can choose for themselves from my portfolio of patterns and designs from the relevant print-on-demand website at a later date.
Angelica Gigas by Millie Moth