About Yorkshire – based Felt artist Janine Jacques

Welcome – I am Janine Jacques a felt artist living in Yorkshire, UK.

How I became a felt artist

If it wasn’t for my love of tea, I’d still be a web designer working for Microsoft.

“Whether it’s the cuppa you just have to have first thing, elevenses or afternoon tea we stir, settle, and relax…”

Roll back to 2009 and this was was the intro to our ‘tea and cake’ hobby website. I designed and programmed the website and my friend Sam wrote all the copy. We became obsessed with all things tea and cake.

One day browsing a local craft shop – I saw a felt tea cosy! I loved it. I had never seen a felt tea cosy before. It was so beautiful and warm to touch. I wanted to learn how to make one for myself.

I found the wet felting workshop I’d been looking for in 2015! My first tea cosy had a landscape scene on and I sewed little beads into it to enhance the design. I was hooked with wet felting and felt THIS was my medium.

I started to make lots of felt tea cosies all with landscapes on, which soon led into creating felt landscape paintings. This was the start of my new journey – as a felt artist.

Since then I have set up felt making workshops to teach adults the art of felt making, along side creating my own felt artwork to sell in gallery shops and in my own online shop.

My pieces have evolved and changed over the years. As my felt landscapes are no longer made purely from wool as I often include other materials and fibres along with the wool they could be described as felt art, fibre art, textiles art and ‘wool paintings’.

I work from home in Yorkshire, within easy reach of the beautiful, inspiring countryside.

Growing up

As a child I grew up on an arable Lincolnshire farm and I was lucky enough to have many pets, including a small flock of four Mule Cross Suffolk, pet sheep. Funny as my main medium of choice is now wool.

My sheep were called Sootica, Cindy, May and Wilma. They lived very happy long lives in the field in front of our house.

I now sometimes include my four pet sheep in my artwork as a nostalgic nod to my childhood.

The image at the top is of the farm house I grew up in. The farm house has been home to 3 generations of the Jacques family now – my grandparents, parents and now my younger brother – and approx 300 years old.

My bedroom was the middle window at the top with an amazing view over the rolling fields in front of the house, which is where my love for landscapes began. Watching the view change day after day, year after year – through all the seasons and beautiful sunsets!

Education

I graduated from University with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Painting And Drawing in 1996. Followed by a P.G.C.E. in Secondary Art Education in 1997.

Career

I worked as a supply teacher in secondary schools for a few years, before deciding to re-train as a web designer.

I worked for 11 years as a web designer for companies including Microsoft in London and Inter Marketing Design Agency in Leeds, before having my children and starting my career as a felt artist.

Art Memberships

Member of International Felt Makers Association since 2019.

Member of SAA since 2022.