Well, I've decided to try to keep up to date with blog posts. I can't promise they will all be entertaining but I'll try my best.
I'll blog about my interests, thoughts and anything else that comes to mind. I'm hoping to make it a spring board for my creativity, to ruminate on ideas that I'm having and hopefully centre them into action!
I suppose I should start with a little about myself. Firstly and fore-mostly I'm a creative, I could end there as that really does sum up my being! That might be a tad boring though, so I'll fill in.
I've been drawing all my life, as a child it was my escape (I've been an inhabitant of Lala land (not L.A.) all my life) and it kept me busy as I was mostly alone as a child, Mum was very sick when I was young. As I grew up drawing never left me but it was not something we were told we could make a career out of so I aimed my studies at Nursing, which would not come to fruition till well after my art career began, oddly enough.
After school I became a secretary and as any creative will understand found it bored the living daylights out of me. Then at the age of 22 when I'd lived a little and knew myself a little more the opportunity came to finally go to Art College. I studied general art and design for two years, in the first year specialising in fine art and in the second fashion and textiles. I was told I should go into Illustration but didn't think I was good enough.
I embarked on a HND (higher national diploma) in Design Crafts, specialising in Embroidered Textiles... Wow this was amazing and so the right outlet for me, which sadly I didn't realise at the time as I was homesick most of the time. I should have carried on to do the degree and become a designer maker but I was obsessed with Fashion Design.
After finishing the two years of the HND I then went on to a Degree, studying Fashion Design. The degree was good for me in that it allowed me to try out many areas of fashion, design, technology, marketing, graphics, promotion and more. However, through this variety it left me feeling unsure of my skills. I did however end up concentrating on Illustration (I know I should have listened to the tutors in the first place but it took me 6 years to gain the confidence in my Illustrative abilities). I wanted to do illustration so badly as with this I could encompass many of my skills but I was reluctant to move to London and leave my then partner of 6 years. Another wasted opportunity.
Now what was I going to do, I'd finished my studies I couldn't go any further as I couldn't afford to do an MA as I wasn't working. I could use the Mac so thought I'd try to find work in the Graphic design field, unlike most of the fashion students I wasn't afraid of computers. Finally, after 18 months of being out of work after my studies I got my first break. It wasn't a permanent job, nor was it what I wanted but thankfully I learn really quickly and got everything I needed within 6 months to get a real job.
I decided that if I was to work in the graphic design field then I needed to know more about the technical aspects of design for print. My first real job was in a reprographics house, not very far from where I'd lived as a student. I learned so much technical information here that I was able to move onto designing after another 6 months.
Then I went to work for a design print house, I'd learned the film stage now it was time for the print stage. I hated this place as the boss and people were not very friendly, inspirational and very stuck in a rut. I am and always have been ambitious so this place did not sit right but I learned a lot.
Next I went to another print/design house but this time much more involved in design, here I was able to get to grips with myself as a graphic designer but still using my film and print knowledge first hand. It was wonderful seeing my first huge palette of brochures I'd designed but I still can't stand the smell of fresh printed material! lol
Now it was time to really go for it, I felt technically stable in my knowledge and happy with my design body of work. After a few applications I got a job in a Design House! I'd done it in only 2 years of starting at the bottom, I'd got to where I was starting to want to be. My job title was artworker but that was fine as my job mainly entailed concept, design work but still utilising my film (for lithographic press not photography) and print knowledge to produce print ready artwork.
The work here was very varied and I loved it, even though I wasn't always necessary happy (I suffer from depression) but I was definitely where I wanted to be. After being there for maybe 18 months I was promoted to Studio Manager and all that that entailed. I was still designing but had to take on more responsibility, including mentoring and teaching the junior designer. Things were going well with my career and I could have seen myself staying there for a long time, sadly, that was not going to be the case as my personal life took a nose dive.
I wont go into that too much as it is private but I split from my partner of 12 years and lost a whole load of things as a result one being my ability to work.
Its now 7 years since that happened and I cannot work still, I've had numerous operations and I have more lined up.
I want to get back to how I used to work before I became a graphic designer, where I felt like I was just throwing things at a page and a tad too easy (I'm not belittling graphic designer but it isn't the way of working that suits me). I am seriously interested in Jewellery Design and have started to learn the art of Silversmithing. My aim for the future? To successfully sell my craft whether that be jewellery, craft, illustrations, textiles or a combination of all. That is what I'm trying to work towards.
I lost my Mum only 5 months ago, then me and Dad had to move house back to our own home and I feel like I've been playing catch-up ever since. It takes a lot of getting used to not having Mum around, as other than my uni days and living with my ex, I've always lived at home with them.
Hopefully, once things have settled down with the house I can get back to where I would like to be which is being creative all day long. I have a silversmith bench set up, my sewing machines out and ready so now all I need is to decide where to start and what project to start with. That my friends will be the hard part but hopefully I will get there. My health will never be back to how it was I don't think, I may be miraculously changed but I don't expect things so that I'm never disappointed.
There is only one way and that is forward... I hope you enjoy my journey into the future...
Love
Julianne
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