JD Creative Works is the result of the combined efforts of artists Jamie and Darren Brown, a married couple who live, create art, and spin dreams in Paso Robles, California. Art comes in many forms, and they like to involve themselves in as many as they possibly can.

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Jamie prefers creating images on paper using pastels, though she’s been known to make use of pen & ink, oil paints, pencils, markers, and any number of other artistic implements she can get her hands on.  As a young girl, she was even known to create her own sculpting medium out of dryer lint, and the dense clay soil native to the Paso Robles area. She used it to sculpt a life-sized wolf’s head with her own two hands, and probably made use of half of the cooking implements in her mother’s kitchen in the process. Surprisingly, sculpting clay made by a prepubescent girl didn’t stand the test of time, and was eventually returned to the garden from which is sprang.

Her mother was steeped in the arts, and Jamie was marinated in the creative environment manifested by her mom. From her father, she received a delightful sense of sarcasm and a sharp wit, but not one whit of artistic ability. That all came from her mom, who has an enormous talent for everything creative, from landscape design, to oil painting on canvas, and sculpting breathtakingly beautiful, whimsical art out of paper mache. With such an influence from the start of life, Jamie cannot remember a time when she didn’t feel comfortable when a drawing pencil in her hand.

Sewing has also been a lifelong artistic endeavor for Jamie. From the age of five, she has been learning and honing the skills necessary to give fabric a life of it’s own. It gives her immense satisfaction to take a flat piece of textile, then mold and stitch it into something with depth and dimension, shape and beauty; an expression of art through fabric.

To further her ability to help people look and feel their best, she took college courses in embroidery and overlock machines, as well as pattern drafting. The skills she learned there allows her to take a person’s ideas and drawings, and bring them to life. From measurements, she can create a bespoke garment made just for the individual at hand.

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Darren is a long-term camera nerd who enjoys connecting with nature, and capturing those moments in images. He originally hails from the seaside town of Plymouth, England, conveniently located near to Dartmoor, where herds of semi-wild ponies roam free…and sometimes pose for the patient photographer.

Darren’s maternal grandfather had amazing artistic talent, and would paint and draw frequently. His sister has a wonderful talent for painting, inherited from their granddad, whereas Darren received from him the gene for ginger hair, and his first camera. It was the start of something beautiful: a life-long love of photography. Growing up in South West England, Darren Brown gained a great appreciation for the countryside. From a very young age he made countless visits Dartmoor National Park, and when he first picked up a camera at the age of ten, it was the picturesque woodlands there that became his first subject. 

By the age of 16, Darren had his own darkroom, and had spent a week with the photographic department of a local newspaper. His interest in camera technology led him to get a job with a national electronics retailer, where his knowledge could be further developed (pardon the photography pun). Scroll forward twenty years, and local camera stores were sending customers to him for information and advice on cameras and photography. 

In 2011, after searching the globe for the perfect wine and photographic subjects, Darren found something he wasn’t expecting: Jamie. On his first visit to California in 2013, drawn by sculptures and the possibility of great wine, he and Jamie visited Sculpterra Winery and Sculpture Garden. The two of them have had a connection with the winery ever since. Now, in 2017, Jamie and Darren have been married for over 2 years, and Darren works at Sculpterra, surrounded by wine and art.