BIOGRAPHY
I'm Jax (or Jacques or even Jacks), a mixed media illustrator and published author from beautiful Somerset. I've always worked with paper from a very young age, having written and illustrated my first book at ten years old. Beno, a female skunk told the tale of her love for travel and the moment she befriended a hare (Sam); often they dined together while learning foreign languages . Interestingly, my parents gave me a French name: Jacqueline and I discovered that there are around eighteen different variations on the spelling. No wonder, when I first set foot in school, that I struggled to learn to spell my name! While some classmates put their pens down after scribbling the final letter of Sam or Bob or Amy, I was still on the fourth letter.
It would be another eight years before I experienced my first time on an aeroplane to know what it was really like. As an eighteen year old, seeing the sights during Bastille celebrations was truly mesmerising and only fed more into my love of books, story telling and literature.
Did you guess where I went? The place where all artists should visit at least once: Paris!
My fascination with skunks hasn't dwindled. I have two that travel with me, and believe me, they get up to all sorts of antics. Zip is especially mischievous much to the chagrin of his elder brother, Nettle. Keep your eye out for them and let me know if you spot them for a chance to win a mystery prize from Thread Tales UK!
Some random facts about me:
I draw and write with both hands due to an accident in 2009 when I severed a tendon in my dominant hand and needed major surgery and lots of physiotherapy after testing out a baking recipe making muffin cakes for a party.
I love hats ... my favourite being the cloche and I have plenty of photographs of different ones over the years dating back to my teens including:
beret, baseball cap, beanie, straw hat, boater, fez, Sherlock deer stalker, felt hat, bobble hat
We have a pie-bald cat with Siamese characteristics (ie. very vocal, large ears, petite). She loves shoes ... she loves to sleep in them. When we first brought her home, we thought she was male .., but the vet told us otherwise! Ooops!
It's in the Blood / or Genes!
The Thread Tales UK family is an eclectic mix of creativity. In January 2018, I discovered my roots are from Yorkshire ... and my Grandfather (who I never met) lived through two world wars despite being gassed three times and catching the flu in 1918. After WW2, he headed to Wiltshire to live and became a window dresser (designing displays, basically).
My Great Grandfather was a French Polisher then owned his own coffee house and my Grandfather worked in his bakery for a while when he was younger.
My Great Great Grandfather was a carpet weaver and so was his father before him.
My father and his brothers were artists, but worked in various engineering industries - my father taught himself to play the guitar and trombone, he also designed and crafted bespoke wooden furniture including chairs for a monastery in an era before the Internet - we did leaflet dropping to advertise his business ; his brother was a signwriter (among other director-type jobs) and did a lot of calligraphy work,
During primary school years, while learning to write, I loved the swirly handwriting of my father and how he joined his lettering. Sadly, during that era of learning, it was a big no no to join lettering at school. I was chastised for writing in a joined up style and told to write each letter separately. That memory created a love-hate relationship for me towards calligraphy and typography until adulthood.
My mother is a skilled machinist who, in her younger years, worked on lingerie and hats as well as a white cape I wore on my wedding day. She had the ability to alter clothing and used to make my clothes - my first bra, my first suit I wore to my great grandmother's funeral, my sailor outfit I wore when I was seven. The event was special - I'd been awarded a prize in a national schools' art competition for an illustration I'd drawn in my English book about the forthcoming Silver Jubilee. It accompanied some of my writing, which sadly I no longer have. The occasion was broadcast in the Bath Evening Chronicle and featured on the news. I remember the moment I shook hands with Prince Philip as he commented on my art displayed by Bath Abbey and met the Queen during the celebrations of 1977. I stood on the steps outside the Chambers of Commerce to claim my prizes from the Mayor of Bath - a commemorative paint palette and some modelling plasticine! I can still remember the packet of colourful ribbed strips that eventually turned to a murky mix of browns when they were all rolled together.
In 1991, I married a man who was also a musician and my best friend - a banjo player and played various stringed instruments including the six string bass. He is now a self-employed sole-trader who crafts Bushcraft tools and handstitched leather. He's appeared in a National Geographic documentary about Preppers.
My son is a skilled photographer and has a BSc in VFX for the movie and television industry. In 2010, he videographed an expedition to Laos where an orchid laboratory was being built.
My services:
Face-to-face Creative Writing Hub at Bookbarn International
Proof Reader
Qualified Teacher of English
TEFL
Craft, mixed media workshops for all ages in: batik, bookcraft, papercraft, origami, wirework, glass fusing, creative writing, rangoli, Raku, printmaking, lino and rubber stamp carving
My products: Mixed media illustrations, books, collector items such as miniature books and keepsake memory bears
My current projects:
The Great British Welly Run illustrated picture book
Training for a role as reader with The Silver Crow Publishers
Illustrated Zine of real-life anecdotes 'Don't Worry, it's only Winter!'
My long term goal: Finishing my novel