Callie Jones

The Stuff she loves

Callie Jones is an artist and printmaker from Cornwall.

She lives in North Wales with her Welsh photographer husband and their two children.

Callie works from her studio in a 15th century farmhouse which she is currently renovating and lives surrounded by ponies, sheep, chickens, ducks, cats and a tortoise.

What’s the best place that you’ve visited and what did you love about it?

I loved visiting the incredible walled fort of Jaisalmer in the desert of Rajasthan, India because of its amazing architecture and colour. And a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon in Nevada blew my socks off for sheer stunning views. But Kynance Cove on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall is my favourite place with its crystal clear water and incredible light. We love to go snorkelling around the cliffs and watch the sun go down. It’s such a special place that I will never tire of going to.

I love living here in North Wales because it reminds me so much of the Cornish landscape and coast where I grew up.

If a push comes to a shove, what’s your favourite album of all time?

As a teenager growing up in Cornwall in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, I was lucky enough to share my brother Jim’s very cool music collection. There were so many incredible bands, but I think my favourite were Talking heads. Their third album Fear of Music (1979) made a big impression on me. My favourite song was Life During Wartime. We played it over and over very loudly which really annoyed my mum.

I liked David Byrne because he was completely bonkers (I especially liked his dance moves) and the music still reminds me of happy times.

And your favourite book?

I love Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons which I first read as a teenager. It’s dark and hilariously funny and I’d love to illustrate it! I also love Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and the original 1940s Hitchcock film is my favourite and most watched film.

Oh, and what work of art do you love above all others?

I love the graphic, quirky linocuts and wood engravings of Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) who worked as an illustrator, designer and war artist. He was lost in action on an aircraft which was dispatched on a rescue mission off Iceland and was never found. I always wonder what amazing pieces of work he would have produced if only he had lived longer.

Do you believe in a god?

Not really, but when I shared an illustrators’ studio in Clerkenwell, London in the ‘90s there was a large skip in the courtyard where everyone from the many studios in the block would throw things that they no longer needed. When you really needed something like a filing cabinet, a lamp or a quirky ornament you could pray to the skip god and it would often appear in the following days or weeks. I don’t think the skip ever needed to be emptied officially as everything was constantly recycled.

Do you have a route that you walk or run that’s particularly special to you?

My favourite is the Trwyn y Tal cliff walk at Trefor Sea Stacks on the Llyn Peninsula very close to where we live. The views are spectacular where Yr Eifl mountains run right down into the sea. The sunsets are the best I’ve ever seen.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure (or at least the guiltiest pleasure that you’re prepared to tell us about)?

Eating too many crisps.

What possession, more than any other, means the most to you?

A vintage leather trunk that my grandfather took into a Japanese prisoner of war camp called Lunghwa in Shanghai. He stayed there with my grandmother, my mum and my uncle from 1939 till 1942. It has his name and prisoner number painted on it. Funnily enough my parents named the house I grew up in in Cornwall Lunghwa after the camp which was originally a university.

What’s your favourite word?

Home.

Cheese or pudding?

Pudding.

Wine or water?

Wine.

What’s the best thing about Sundays?

Going for walks and picnics or a swim with my family.

Who is your hero?

My dear late mum is my hero. She was the most positive, resourceful and dynamic person I’ve ever known.

She was born in Shanghai where her Romanian Dad and British mum had lived since they emigrated from Britain between the wars. She was interned with her parents and youngest brother in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Shanghai -which I mentioned above- at the age of 19 until she was 23. She said they were allowed to take one suitcase but when she opened her case it had been looted and was empty.

Mum believed that she had to be strong for her parents as her eldest brother had just been killed in the war and they’d lost their home and all their possessions.

They never gave up and they survived the camp where my dad had been interned too.

They got married shortly after the war and had 4 children. I have two sisters who were born in China and my brother who was born in Hong Kong. I was the youngest and the only one to be born in the UK when they went to live in south-east Cornwall.

Mum always told us that we could do anything if we put our minds to it and encouraged us to travel and take any opportunities that we were given in life.

She was an amazing quilter and was awarded an MBE for making thousands of small quilts for charity which went to cover beds in orphanages and hospices all over the UK and in Europe. Unbelievably she actually made 5534 in total!

She lived to 93 years old and was still quilting until just before she passed away in September 2015.