Mixed Media for Beginners - Concertina Book - Carlton Fire Station - Adult Learning

This is your space to relax, explore and express who you are through creativity. In this course, you’ll turn a pre-loved hardback book into a beautiful mixed media journal all about you.

Using a range of art materials such as acrylics, watercolours, inks, collage, and even modelling paste, you’ll create meaningful page spreads based on personal themes—whether it’s your garden through the seasons, your favourite films, cherished family memories, or dreams for the future.

This course is all about giving yourself permission to play and reflect. Along the way, you’ll pick up new techniques that you can use in future creative projects—from journalling and card-making to art pieces and mindful sketchbooking.

Whether you're new to mixed media or ready to build on your skills, this course offers an inspiring and supportive space to make something truly your own.

What will be covered on the course?

Across four creative and supportive sessions, you’ll explore how to:

• Repurpose an old hardback book into a personal journal;

• Use mixed media materials like paints, collage papers, and modelling paste;

• Develop a visual theme based on your own interests or life story;

• Use mark-making, painting, and layering techniques to add depth and texture;

• Incorporate both imagery and text into your artwork;

• Share your work and ideas through reflective group feedback.

Each session builds your confidence as you explore your theme in a free and expressive way. By the end, you’ll have the start of a rich and personal art journal to continue in your own time.

What will learners achieve by the end of the course?

• Develop your ideas using research and mind mapping, and explain the difference between primary and secondary sources with examples.

• Combine collage and paint techniques to produce layered and textured artwork.

• Apply at least two new mixed media techniques to paper to add visual and tactile depth.

• Create at least two completed page spreads in your altered book that reflect a personal theme, using a mix of materials and techniques.

• Share your journal and reflect on your progress, giving and receiving constructive feedback in a supportive group setting.

• Build creative project planning skills by developing a theme, researching visual ideas, and producing consistent artwork across multiple pages—a valuable process for roles in design, creative industries, or freelance projects.

What you will need to bring to the course:

• A notebook or sketchbook and pen/pencil.

• An A5 sized hardback book from either a charity shop or it could be an old novel from your shelf at home that you no longer use.

• Different interesting paper collage with – envelopes, white tissue paper, packing paper, paper bags, newspaper, book pages, maps etc. No need to buy anything, just see what you can find around your home.

• A set of basic acrylic paints (available from B&M, The Artworks, Hobbycraft, The Range)

Books to inspire you:

• 101 Mixed Media Techniques : Master the fundamental concepts of mixed media art – by Cherril Doty

• Journal with purpose: over 1000 motifs, alphabets and icons to personalize your bullet or dot journal – by Helen Colebrook

• The art of vintage journaling and collage: techniques and inspiration for working with antique ephemera – by Maryjo Koch

If you receive certain benefits you will be offered the course for free, however if you have a financial barrier which may prevent you from enrolling on the course, please visit our funding page for further information.

Residency in England

To book and enrol on one of our courses, you must be living in England permanently and live outside of the devolved areas listed below or live within the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA) devolved area (Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire).

• Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield 

• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

• Greater London

• Greater Manchester

• Liverpool City Region

• Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside and Northumberland

• Tees Valley

• West of England

• West Midlands

• West Yorkshire

Residency Eligibility – other criteria

If you are living in the UK on a visa we will require evidence of this in order to be funded for the course, you can upload this evidence when you apply for the course. (completion of a questionnaire will be required).

Some exceptions may apply for example

• Your visa expiry date must be beyond the end of your course

• Asylum seekers must have lived in the UK for 6 months or longer while their claim is being considered by the Home Office

• You are receiving local authority support under section 23C or section 23CA of the Children Act 1989 or the Care Act 2014

Any learner who is not funded full cost fees would apply to these courses.