HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THE KIND OF ARTWORK YOU DO?
I find myself doing a variety of things and they’re all quite different but my most well-known project, at the moment, is my aerial scenes of Cayman. Acrylic paint on canvas has been my medium for a few years now and my paintings fall somewhere between realism and abstract. Some of my favourites produced over the last year feature the Flowers Sea Swim from above.
WHAT MEDIA DO YOU USE?
As well as acrylic on canvas, simple pen and ink sketching out and about always makes me happy. I’ve worked on a few little projects like wine labels and drawings of buildings, and I’m currently in the middle of a little sketchbook project, documenting South Church Street for my own enjoyment.
HOW DO YOU CREATE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ARTWORK?
This year I started building and stretching my own canvases where possible, which is very satisfying. Then, usually I have an idea of the sort of thing I might enjoy painting next. It’s a little harder with the drone to go out and get the imagery I want to work from because getting the right images is very weather dependent. I also have a 4-year-old, so going out and using the drone is also very child dependent.
WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION?
I’m always looking for inspiration, sometimes actively and sometimes subconsciously. I enjoy the idea of pattern in nature, which was the initial attraction to the whelk shell compositions I’ve done a lot of in the past. I also really enjoy people – drawing people, including people in my paintings etc. It’s much harder to include people in paintings (hard for me anyway) but when they work, it’s magical. My Flowers Sea Swim paintings I always thought of as a mixture of people and texture and pattern.
WHERE IS YOUR CREATIVE SPACE?
My working space is the living room of my two-bed apartment near Eden Rock. It’s not very big but I’m a creative person and I even made it work for my latest 8-foot by 7-foot canvas commission. The dream would be to have a studio somewhere.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN AN ARTIST AND HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?
I’ve always been artsy and my family is generally quite artsy too. I remember winning a Pirates Week drawing competition when I was about 5. I studied illustration at Edinburgh College of Art and have worked on a variety of projects since being back in Cayman. It’s still not my full-time job, but maybe one day it will be.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE STYLE OF PIECES TO CREATE AND WHY?
I love to paint loose and large and a little abstract. I’m always trying to be more abstract and it’s never as abstract as I would like. I really enjoyed working on such a massive canvas last year and I’d love to do more of that. I’m also hoping to do a bit more wine art this year and maybe exhibit somewhere fun like at a Jacques Scott wine store. I just need a few more hours in every day.
PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT SOME OF YOUR OWN PERSONAL FAVOURITE COLOURFUL PIECES THAT YOU HAVE CREATED AND THE STORY BEHIND THEM.
My favourite recent pieces have been my sea swim studies but I also really love my large ‘Two Conchs’ painting that is currently hanging in Kennedy Gallery. It is bright and bold, and I love the texture of the brushmarks. The movement of the water around the picture makes it so much more than a painting of a conch shell.
ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THE ART COMMUNITY IN CAYMAN? IF SO, IN WHAT WAY?
The Cayman art community is such a nice, smaller pool of talented people and it seems like everyone is very supportive of each other. I try and get to the exhibitions at the National Gallery, and they also do some amazing artist-inspired video lectures called ‘The Business of Art’ which I have really enjoyed. Cayman Art Week has also been a roaring success and I’d like to get more involved with that if the opportunity ever arose.
WHEN DO YOU FIND TIME IN YOUR LIFE TO CREATE AND SELL YOUR PIECES?
I also work a full-time day job so most of my creative work is done in the evenings after my son goes to bed, or at the weekend when we’re not at playdates or the supermarket. I did more painting than ever before last year and I’m hoping to do even more this year.
More of Jo’s work can be found at jopaintscayman.com.
This article appears in the Spring/Summer 2023 issue of InsideOut magazine, now available at magazine stands and delivered to select homes.
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