Hi my name is Michelle, some of you may also know me as MJM On this page I'd like to share a little bit of me with you!!

I am a North Yorkshire girl living in Oxfordshire. I originally trained as a theatre designer following my studies at art college and enjoyed many happy years following this career. By default, over time, I fell into stage management and had an exciting few years touring the length and breadth of these fair isles. However, time started to take its toll on me, waking up in different hotel rooms and all the travelling was exhausting (all the glitz and glamour of show biz hey!) so in spring 2007 I decided it was time to follow my heart and return to my arty roots. I had a wonderful life in the entertainment world, I met loads of great people, made some really good friends and definitely learned a lot and am still linked to it as a long suffering wife of a comedian!! (here I'll insert a gratuitous link to my hubbies web site) I was missing my creativity, now I'm loving the roller coaster that is my life; getting messy, playing in my studio and remembering who I am!

I've always loved my art and am influenced a lot by colour. While getting back to my roots I found myself remembering lots of creative stuff which I've enjoyed and I have loved finding out about all the new stuff and techniques out there in the big artsy crafty world!!

I stumbled across scrap booking in 2007 and really enjoy scrapping as an art form. It is a perfect outlet for my creativity as it includes many elements: Journaling - I love using quotes as a starting point for my art. Texture - I like touchy feely art work with materials and embellishments. Photography - I enjoy capturing those moments in time and the everyday images that tweak my imagination. It lends itself to collage art too which I love and now I'm applying my past skills to it, transforming it into 3D scrap art. I was thrilled to be a Best of British scrapbooking winner in 2008 and have been lucky enough to see my career in the crafty industry go from strength to strength since then. I love to play with all styles and all mediums and explore all avenues hence the reason for the art tart, I can't stick to one thing!!!

Talking of the title.... the art tart!! Above is one explanation for the name the other is the wonderful illustration on my home page done by an artist called Julian Williams  whose cards I discovered in a shop in Worthing when I was at college. I love this image and for me the Picasso style mouse sums up art, she is a strange mistress who speaks to everyone differently and in many different guises!!

So thats me!

Hope you enjoy your visit and that you find some inspiration somewhere along the line!

I design for ....