Joy Brittain B.A.(Hons.) has enjoyed a successful career in the Arts for over three decades. She completed a foundation course at Cambridge and, having specialised in Sculpture, went on to graduate in 1994 from Falmouth School of Art and Design.
Over the years, Joy has taught in schools, participated in Open Studios and has staged regular group and solo exhibitions.
Always keen to learn new skills, Joy has also explored Fine Art Textiles, Stained Glass and Photography – and she’s particularly interested in the way that a variety of disciplines can inform any given project.
This approach has been invaluable in collaborative work with her partner, Peter Ballam, where, together, they have designed and made costumes, stage props and shared a wealth of artistic and musical creative ideas.
THE ALBUM COVER
Peter had designed a fabulous visual mock-up for his new album, which was, originally, going to be called ‘Ancient Origins’. But, as the album was being re-recorded and mastered in 2016, this idea was completely abandoned.
Peter had encountered ‘ The Excavator’ – an extraordinary steam-punk inspired traction-engine sculpture created by Joe Gray at Shiver-Me-Timbers. This had now become the primary inspiration for the album cover.
So, having established Joe’s approval and indulging in a fun photo-shoot, Joy Brittain set about using the imagery for the album cover.
The design was sketched out onto a 32”x 32” canvas, starting with a ‘grisaille’ tonal underpainting. Subsequent transparent layers of pigment were used to build up to the final image. A high resolution scan was taken of the finished oil painting and the lettering was added, later on, digitally.
THE VIOLIN
This project was commissioned in 2015 by our lovely friend Allen Samuel, a consummate and brilliant violinist, who gave me full rein to come up with my own design.
Many violinists and violin makers will be cringing at the thought of painting a violin, because it will always affect the tone of the instrument – but this was a cheap and cheerful violin (one of many in Allen’s collection) and worth the gamble. I decided to use oil paint, to be sympathetic to the delicate wooden structure of the instrument and was inspired to use an image of a trilobite, frost patterns and watch mechanisms to complete its steam-punk character.
In Allen’s capable hands, it has a soft, sweet ‘voice’ and he absolutely loves it!
THE SHOP
The Chronicles
The Dark Room
The Tales
