Josie Brown

Commissioning Works
From the tiny card to large presentation documents, from wedding anniversaries and christenings to family trees, from small commemorative booklets to large framed hangings, Josie will work with you to arrive at designs that meet your intentions as well as your budget. Initial ideas are talked through, estimates of costs supplied and draft layouts produced. Upon approval of all aspects, an accurate quotation will be provided and the work carried out.

See below for examples from some of her larger commissioned pieces.

Rothschild Houses Hanging

Dimensions: 6ft 7” (203 cm) high by 5ft 4” (171 cm) wide

This piece of work was commissioned to be displayed in the Goodwood Room at Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, a National Trust historic house & garden. It hangs next to Jean-Marc Winkler’s painting of 42 of the principal residences purchased or built by the Rothschilds in the 19th and early 20th across Europe. The ‘Rothschild Houses’ hanging informs the visiting public as to who built which residence and where they came in the family ‘tree’.

All design drafts went through two different committees at the Manor, so decision-making was more complicated than usual, and although a short lead time in which to carry out the work was given, the final piece was delivered by the deadline.

The paper used was from a large roll of Saunders Waterford HP, which was then pasted onto Holland cloth using the aluminium wall board at Gloucester Records Office. To undertake the artwork, a large vertical drawing board was rigged up with rods at the top and bottom, covered with foam piping to extend the width of the board and prevent creasing. A large diameter carpet tube was suspended underneath, onto which the whole piece was wound or unwound for ease of working.

In situ, it hangs from a purpose made wooden pelmet and is not framed. (See images below)

University of Gloucestershire Timeline

Framed dimensions: 7ft (214 cm) wide by 3ft 6” (107 cm) high
Joined skins measured: 6ft (184 cm) wide by 2ft 3” (69 cm) high

The Old Students Association of the University of Gloucestershire wished to commemorate an editor of their Year Book. Jill Allport had been a student at one of the old colleges as well as having given much of her time and expertise to the OSA. They wanted to commission something that would also honour the history of a fairly newly inaugurated University, so they decided on a timeline showing how the various conglomerate colleges became one Higher Education establishment.

Three large vellum skins were joined together, ‘relaxed’ using steam and then stretched onto a large board which had been lined. This allowed for plenty of painting and gilding without fear of the skins cockling. Once the work had been carried out small vellum tabs were woven over the top edge with strips of thinner vellum and a hand-crafted steel rod passed through. This was then fixed within a purpose made box frame, so the piece hangs freely in front of a birch-ply backing board. The frame is hung in the main building at the Park Campus using hand-crafted steel brackets.

Emblems from the University’s Achievement were used in the side borders and the decorative border at the base includes a few of Jill’s favourite flowers, the year book and flora symbolic of learning. The corner motif is the badge bestowed to the University in their Grant of Arms.

Testimonial from the commissioning body:
“We are really delighted with the Timeline. It is a wonderful piece of work and we are so very grateful to you for your dedicated commitment in producing it. We know you put in a great deal of hard work in researching details and ensuring accurate representation of the badges and coats of arms, and the end product is evidence of this.”

Further Testimonial from Major Rebbeck at the Regimental Headquarters, The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment:

“Josie Brown has prepared Freedom Scrolls for the Gloucestershire Regiment and for the Cotswold and Northavon District Councils during the past five years. Her work has always been of the highest quality, and she has met every deadline with ease, working on vellum in a wide variety of styles and designs.
We would have no hesitation whatever in recommending her to any prospective client for such work.”

 

 
       
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