So we moved to the Shropshire!
If you’ve been tattooed by me in the past few years you may have heard me mention that one day, ideally we would move out of the city. I’ve loved Birmingham, it was great to me and it is where I felt that I really found my feet. I moved there to study then once I graduated, I ended up working at Modern Body Art where I eventually learnt to tattoo. Birmingham gets a bit of a bad reputation sometimes and I definitely don’t want to feed into that because I have a lot of positive things to say about it as a city.
However, what Matt and I just felt like the time was right. We’ve spoken a lot about moving and where we would end up being one day in the distant future then all of a sudden we were moving to Shrewsbury. I can’t really remember the catalyst as to why we did it when we did it.
(Eric and me in Wales this summer)
I do remember visiting Shrewsbury last year with Matt and being reminded of just how lovely it is. Shrewsbury was always on the top of my list of places for when we are ready to move. I grew up not so far from here so I already had roots set here. It had everything that we’ve spoken about wanting and our quality of life since moving has definitely improved. It’s hard not to enjoy living somewhere when you have woodland on your doorstep, a river by the studio and old architecture on every corner that looks as though it’s been pulled straight out of a movie set. There seems to be a real push for creativity in Shrewsbury. It’s full of independent shops and creative projects.
I was sad to say goodbye to our little studio space. I loved being in a small studio with just myself, Matt and our clients, it created a really intimate atmosphere that has a lot of benefits in how a client can feel whilst being tattooed.
However, it also has some downsides. One of which can be complacency. Don’t get me wrong, working on my own a lot in a small studio didn’t make me feel as though I was being lazy with my work, if anything I felt quite relaxed and confident, maybe a bit too comfortable at times.
Which brings me to how I feel about being in a studio with other artists again. So far it’s been great. There’s something about working with other creative people around you and the buzz it creates, it makes you strive to be better. Hearing artists talking passionately about what they do is really inspiring. Jo and Hanumantra who own Un1ty Tattoo have a passion and energy around creating art and tattooing that can be contagious. They always have a projects on the go for themselves and for us as a studio which means that I’m constantly creating things even outside of the studio.
With that in mind I’d like to mention where you can see my artwork in Shrewsbury at the moment.
You can find a skate deck that I painted hung in Condor coffee shop in Shrewsbury Town Centre along with all the other artists from Un1ty.
I’m sure I banged on about it enough already, but you can find two pieces of my artwork hanging in the Shrewsbury arts trail exhibition at the moment. One of which is it the Shrewsbury museum and Gallery just off the Square in the town Centre. You will need to go up a couple of flights of steps to find it. The second piece is hanging in the stairwell of the parade shops.
Thirdly, I’m taking part in the secret Art sale which will be raising money for Charity. It’ll be part of a collection of donated artworks from different artists. Each piece is £50 and this year the money will go to the Alzheimer’s. Society., The hive, and Grinshill animal rescue. There will be a viewing day on the 23rd of August and then buying Day on the 24th of August. If you’re able to make it to Shrewsbury on the 24th of August, please pop by the Soden collective and maybe you’ll see something that you love and get it for a bargain price.
Lastly, I just want to mention that I am taking bookings for Un1ty Tattoo. Work hasn’t been quite as busy as I’d like, but that is to be expected after a move to a new place.
I’m quite keen on the idea of taking on some larger work. I’ve got a few design ideas but around my head at the moment but just to get it out there.
I’d like to play with ideas of florals and botanicals climbing up and over the body. Things like wallflowers or things that most people would consider weeds so designs with a lot of space in the background and stems and vines and twining and growing around limbs. Both black and grey and colour as I have no preference on working either way. I’m also going to be designing some smaller, one shot designs which will be available.
You can get in touch with me via email or the contact form on my website. My email address is francesannefaith.art@outlook.com and you can send me your ideas. If you have a definite budget that you cannot go over then please don’t be afraid to tell me. Sometimes if you’ve got a budget and you want a one shot design and we can get something done that stick to that criteria.
That’s it for this blog. I will try to do a bit more blog posting in the future.
Thanks for reading.