<![CDATA[Julie Shackson Artist - Juju's Fybercafe]]>

<![CDATA[Julie Shackson Artist - Juju's Fybercafe]]>Mon, 21 May 2012 17:59:53 -0800Weebly<![CDATA[Wonder woolly gorgeousness and news of a venture]]>Sun, 20 May 2012 16:30:33 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/05/wonder-woolly-gorgeousness-and-news-of-a-venture.html

I'm very much behind with my news as I've been so busy for the last month.

That time of year came round again, when I emptied the boot of my car to maximise space, and took myself off to one of my favourite festivals...............that is Wonderwool Wales!

I mean look at this heap of gorgeousness! I simply can't understand how anyone could possibly fail to have a fluttering heart at the sight of so much loveliness under one enormous roof. Alas my daughter starts to glaze over when I talk about it, so I have to post it here if I want to share!

Wonderwool is just chock full of stalls run by fibre traders around the country. From hemp products to sewing, embroidery, spinning, weaving and dyeing notions and tools.......and a host of fabulous skeins of wool, silk, cotton, linen and alpaca.

I met this rather impressive beast in one of the stalls. I had no idea how small alpacas were, though I've long appreciated the amazing softness of their wool. They're like long-necked goats and stand at around the same height as me (um that's short by the way).

I'm not sure what gender this splendid animal is, but s/he came right up close to me and stared right into my soul; sighing and making barely audible groaning noises. I think s/he was saying 'you look like you'd make a great alpaca breeder; take me out of here and feed me daisy sandwiches and lemonade for the rest of my days'. I think I may have to sell up and buy a field somewhere!

And so onto a bit of news and why I've been so very busy.

An artist acquaintance of mine (Sean Donovan) invited me to collaborate with him and three other artists in an exhibiting collective here. We met up a few weeks ago, and since then we've decided on a name, booked space to exhibit as a group at the Oriel Washington Gallery in Penarth and I've made us a website. So without further ado, put your hands together and give a big welcome to Cardiff Arts Collective!

We just have artist pages with images of our art on the website so far, but do come and visit (it boosts our google search criteria if you visit the website) and leave a comment if you feel the urge! We plan to put up a list of exhibitions and maybe a blog in time, but for now at least we're up and running.

Wish us luck! ;-)

]]><![CDATA[Freudian Art Fags]]>Tue, 01 May 2012 05:34:01 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/05/freudian-art-fags.htmlI had a request from HeARTS for Healing to exhibit in their forthcoming show in the Blue Mountains in Australia:

I re-shot a photograph of one of my Artist Books for the show and I've been asked if they can use it as the main image for an editorial in a local newspaper.

So for those of you who can't nip over to see the show (!) here's my photograph of Freudian Art Fags, which I shot against my Lichen print:

I wish I could jump on a plane to go see this show!

]]><![CDATA[Busy busy busy, but some time to reflect too.......]]>Fri, 27 Apr 2012 05:21:29 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/04/busy-busy-busy-but-some-time-to-reflect-too.htmlI've had a month of fun, some travel and lot of art!

Starting with a trip to London, I stayed at a hotel near the British Museum and spent a couple of days wandering alone around galleries and shops in Covent Garden with no plan and no-one else's agenda but my own.

I did take a trip a bit further afield to Cabbages & Roses where I bought some sweet floral fabric which will be perfect for making a bed set for the main bedroom at Ty Cariad. But the bulk of my time was spent wandering aimlessly around galleries with bouts of drinking Belgian chocolate whilst listening to classical buskers at the market.

Then I was off to Berkshire to spend a night with Toby's sister Julia (always a pleasure) then on to another weekend workshop on experimental digital print-making at South Hill Arts Centre with Janet Curley Cannon.

We spent the time creating collaged substrates for printing directly onto, and doing some more transfer work. As always, it was fun and informative.

This digital image of lichen was printed onto carrot paper that I'd collaged with burnt tissue.

And this is a digital image of hogweed printed onto an old pillowcase that I'd previously dyed and printed with plantstuff (wrapped with leaves and flung in the alkanet dye jar). This was a tricky one to get through the printer due to the decorative seams of the pillowcase.

Then I went with Toby and Dandy Doggins to Ty Cariad and we had guests up to stay with us for the first time since it's been finished. We had a party on the weekend (for my birthday) and the weather was glorious so we got plenty of fresh air, relaxing in the garden, walking in the Hafod ............

................and picnics by the river.

Then it was back to work for a couple of weeks, and it started raining again. I spent a very wet hour walking in the cemetary:

So looking ahead, I'm off again to Wonderwool tomorrow in Builth Wells (yip yip!) for a weekend of fibre lust and yarn inspiration.........or pornography for knitters!) and on to Ty Cariad for a few days for some art making.

I'm also planning a weekend workshop in May in Kirkcudbright (Scotland) in the studio of one of the my favourite textile artists Maggie Ayres.

I can't say too much about it yet, but I've been meeting up with a group of artists in Cardiff and we're planning to rent the upper gallery space in the Oriel Washington Gallery (Penarth) for an exhibition in August. I've been ordering materials for a new series of works I'm planning for this event; more on this soon!

And that's about it for now............a happy Spring season to you all!

]]><![CDATA[Art Central in Barry]]>Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:44:48 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/03/art-central-in-barry.htmlHere is the experimental encaustic work I have at Art Central in the Women's Arts Association exhibiton which is on until 26th March.

I started with a background of brown paper and gold leaf, then I burnt the edges of rice paper and layered over the gold. I printed the leaves onto rice paper and cut them out and collaged them. I enhanced the raindrops with graphite then added some gesso, painted on the pomegranate, layered some seeds petals and feathers, drew the branches to the left with ink and finally, gave it all a coat of encaustic wax.

We're off to Ty Cariad tomorrow for a ten-day break. Time to relax, take in some nature walks, and also have a bit of a party bash for my birthday. I'm really excited to be having lots of friends come and visit our beloved cottage for the first time, and I've bought a big canvas tent on Ebay because we can only squeeze around seven of us indoors. Hope the weather stays fine!

]]><![CDATA[Exhibition at the Gate]]>Sat, 10 Mar 2012 10:18:45 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/03/exhibition-at-the-gate.htmlI have two pieces of work in exhibitions at the moment; both organised by the Women's Arts Association and on until March 23rd. One is in Art Central in Barry and I went to the opening earlier to get a photo to blog, but it had closed early (doh!) I'll visit it next week and do another post. The other is at The Gate in Roath (Cardiff). It's another work from my Terrenaquea series and here are some photos of it that I took a couple of days ago.

The weather is glorious today, so hope everyone is enjoying the weekend sunshine!

]]><![CDATA[Seth's Masterclass]]>Sun, 26 Feb 2012 20:49:46 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/02/seths-masterclass.htmlWhen gathering artists work for his forthcoming book 'The Pulse of Mixed Media: Secrets and Passions of 100 Artists' Seth Apter posed the question "If you could take a class from one artist from anytime in history, including the present, who would it be and why?"

He's been posting our answers his Altered Page blog and mine is included this week.

It's been a great series to browse and in addition to many old favourites I nearly chose myself I've discovered many new artists along the way.

]]><![CDATA[Minty Mosaic]]>Wed, 15 Feb 2012 07:07:42 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/02/minty-mosaic.html

1. piles of ice, 2. Tidal Pool , 3. Burst, detail -- P1350300.JPG, 4. three craws, 5. winter moods II, 6. Sidewalk in Jerome, 7. Ferns, 8. O todavia no basta ..., 9. Untitled, 10. Vernal Pool?, 11. Untitled, 12. Blue Lagoon, 13. Untitled

]]><![CDATA[Walnut and Rust]]>Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:07:42 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/02/walnut-and-rust.htmlI'm laid up with Labyrinthitis of all things! I haven't been up to any art-making as it's surprising how much of my process involves putting my head on one side. When I do that I just start spinning out and staggering around like a drunken floozy!

So here's a photographic work I prepared earlier.

It's one of my digital photographs of hogweed seedheads; printed onto vellum, and hand-processed by sprinkling with powdered iron and walnut husks. I then wrapped it up with a square of cotton in a bundle and soaked for two days. The resulting image was dried out, then scanned back to digital from both front and back of vellum, and edited in photoshop. Very much made up as I went along!

]]><![CDATA[Art for Alison]]>Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:59:26 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/01/art-for-alison.htmlJust a brief one today; a picture of a mixed media work that I had under wraps as it was commissioned by a friend (Dave Id) for his partner's 50th birthday.

I started with a photographic image of a rockpool that I took in Trebarwith Strand in Cornwall. I printed the image onto canvas (approx. 50cm wide) and then laid on gold leaf to highlight the central water reflections. I then worked on the edges, laying down silk strands and plant dyed tissue paper. Finally, I worked over that with acrylic paint and oil sticks.

Dave came to my studio a few times to talk about the work and about what Alison likes. Then when it was finished, I went with him to the framers to help with the choice of frame.

Alison's birthday isn't until February, but they are off with a party of nearest and dearest to India to celebrate, so Dave arranged an 'unveiling' last weekend. It was a lovely evening, and I got to see a few old friends, though I was a bit nervous as I've never been to an unveiling of my own work and didn't want to steal Alison's thunder. Anyway, how wonderful to have a birthday celebration on another continent too!

]]><![CDATA[A new year, an old love, a warm blanket and some plans]]>Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:25:20 -0800http://www.julieshackson.com/1/post/2012/01/a-new-year-an-old-love-a-warm-blanket-and-some-plans.htmlI can't believe it's over half-way through January already! I had a break from blogging and spent a month doing far less on the computer, more time making art, playing with wool, and making some plans for the coming year.

I'm kicking off with an old love (knitting and crochet) and a display of some of my recent woollen adventures:

Remember my red shawl? Well I had some Alpaca left over and decided on a matching beret by knit designer Ysolde Teague called Rose Red.

It's a lovely pattern, with a litte lace worked in the centre of each petal motif.

It has some cabling around the band.

Strangely, the thing I find most charming about it is the little iChord tip!

Here it is hanging out with it's partner shawl.

Reclining Mahonia Beret!

Next up are my fingerless forest mitts, here being modelled by a pair of olive leather gloves because it's far too cold for fingerless affairs at this time of year!

Continuing my love affair with red, I couldn't resist a line of red beads along the edge.

Here are some shots of a Jacket I made from Noro. I love the colours, though I'm always cross with the quality of their yarn; tiny gaps in the colour here and there, and with knots midway through balls; this should never happen in a quality yarn!

Anyway, I struggled on with it, and am rather pleased with the result, though I can't put my hand on the pattern at the moment to give details as it's buried somewhere.

Last autumn I started planning a new blanket inspired by the vivid colours of the leaves. I started off by buying 14 skeins of Colinette (ART yarn in Moss) for the grid that holds all the squares together. Then I examined the stash for any that had the right weight, sufficient meterage and in the colours I had in mind. Then I had fun browsing the websites for the missing yarns. I got quite obsessed and it took ages to plan, but I finally started on it on New Year's Eve. Here is a sneak preview, although it's not yet half-way finished.

I agonised over whether to knit or to crochet, but finally opted for crochet because both sides are the same. The Moss of the grid is much greener than this photo suggests, so I'll try a better shot when it's finished.

And to end with something completely different............well it's not made of wool and I didn't make it, but it will complete my autumal ensemble

I don't buy a lot of jewellery but I've got a thing about acorns and oak trees, so when I saw this on Etsy I just couldn't resist. It came in a lovely little box with a red ribbon (how apt!) seen here against one of my old crochet hats.

Oh, and I nearly forgot the bit about my plans! No New Year's resolutions for me this year (though I did fulfil my last year's resolution to sell some work).

To build on this in 2012 I plan to overhaul the website. I'm tired of the format, the images on the pages, and the white on dark print. I also want to add prices on some of the work for sale and put a means of purchasing on. It won't be soon as I've got too much on in the spring, but as long as it's all up and running by the end of the year, I'll be happy.

That's about it for now; more soon on a recent painting I've completed.

And belated warmth and prosperity to you all for 2012!

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