Welcome to Brookscape Studio.
I’m Julie Brooks — artist, material experimenter, ad avid observer of the strange beauty that exists in both decay and renewal.
Every piece you see here is made by hand in my Cape Cod studio, using mosaic, encaustic, patinated and rusted metal, clay, acrylic, and oil.
I didn’t go looking for these… but now I kind of can’t stop using them.
I was introduced to Tombow Dual Brush Pens in a color intensive class back in January (we had to buy the grayscale set), and what started as a required supply turned into a real studio staple.
What surprised me most is how they behave:
they’re translucent but still feel rich and saturated—and they layer incredibly well.
I pulled out my linocut tools (the interchangeable blade kind) and started carving directly into the surface. That’s when clayboard really shows off. Because it’s white underneath, every cut reveals this crisp, bright line. Thin scratches, wider grooves, curves—it all pops instantly.
A few weeks ago, my sadness and frustration with the world had only one therapy: squishing clay.
I tend to work on more than one piece at a time. Partly it’s just practical—but it also ends up pushing the work in a really interesting way.
Brown kraft paper gave me only “meh” results—its warm tone dulled the blue, and the lack of contrast made the images flat.
I think the Curiously Gorey show at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in Yarmouth is truly one of the best shows they've done in quite some time.
First off, the inspiration for the show is the whimsically macabre work of local artist Edward Gorey.
And the pieces in this show represent an amazing array of mediums and subject matter unlike anything I've ever seen before.