Current Work

I just constructed this Reclaimed wood board on which to paint a portrait, but actually I love it just as it is! It may, or may, not be used for a portrait; I made and used a similar piece before for Reclaimed: Hope, which was considerably larger. I've added all the shades of burning here, as well as the pre-burnt board, because at every stage the colours and grain of the wood is just beautiful. It's made of reclaimed and upcycled wood I gather in Argyll, on a western peninsula of Scotland where I live and work.

This piece was put on hold whilst I got Sewing Tutor up and running. And now we're moving, it will have to wait a little longer. But I believe it will be such a beautiful piece, so I'm looking forward to setting the easel, and getting stuck in!

 I started portrait studies whilst in east London, following hours spent photographing people and places which bought the significance of every person continually into focus. Sometime before, whilst showing my MA work (around negotiating a multicultural identity) and after a panel discussion, an audience member observed that after leaving the care system at 18 she also had to work out how her identity fit together, and that this was also the case for those fostered or adopted. 

More recently, and as part of the Reclaimed series, I have researched adoptees stories, some of whom were transracially adopted. The research was profound and repetitive themes which stood out were the need for permanence, the sense of not having a voice or agency and the need to be heard and listened to, attachment disorder, genetic heritage Vs new heritage, of being reclaimed from a wrong or no status, belonging vs isolation, that adoption was Gods idea of rescue, trauma, difference, inclusion. 

I have put this portrait on a door quite simply because adoption opens a new world to the adoptee. And part of that is having a voice (hence the microphone) which needs to be encouraged and heard. In that journey, where there is nurture & opportunity, resilience and strength can be forged (symbolised by the yakisugi prepared painting surface). The sitter for Reclaimed: Chosen, is Joy Carter, adoptee and adoption activist whose story and further research can be seen on www.AdoptionArena.com 

Sewing Tutor is up and running! ... we've been on quite a journey from London to Sri Lanka, to Dunoon in Scotland and now we're moving to Glasgow! 

Loving all your enquires and the workshops with you. We do group and individual workshops, whether that's to refresh or learn a new skill, to get that project underway you just need a little help starting, or maybe to make and finish a piece you just want to get done!

All the sewing machines, tools and equipment are here, just bring yourself! That said, if you have your own and would like to bring it, then do. Using what you will later be using at home can help the learning and making process.  Hope to see you soon!

See the courses available on the Sewing Tutor page, and book your place on Eventbrite! 

For 1-2-1 workshops contact me on info@janehdee.com

Reclaimed: Grafted - the construction and painting of the bowl can be found in Portraits 

Cowal Kimono: Highland Spring  - can now be found in Intercultural Landscapes