Jo Booth - Painter, Printmaker

“Jo Booth’s landscapes possess a remarkable informality, a sense of freedom that liberates the viewer, momentarily. But above all, they are simple, honest representations of the natural world. Booth is clearly besotted with the strikingly beautiful landscapes near her home. She paints the beauty, the space, the sense of occasion, even the possibilities that she sees before her, without resorting to photo-realism to get that message across. The sea, the sky, the rocks, the sand- all the obvious elemental players are there, so superbly abbreviated, but still in all their inherent glory.”

Craig Kerrecoe, Ovenden Contemporary, November 2006

I have always painted. Following a successful career in Human Resource Management and the arrival of my children I decided to devote myself to my art and have resisted the often strong temptation to return to full time work.
I discovered printmaking when I studied fine art at Hereford College of Art and Design where I obtained a Distinction in my Foundation in June 2006. Printmaking has allowed me to pare down my images, to recreate a more fluid representation rather than a literal view. In October 2010 I obtained an MA in Printmaking at the University of Wales, Newport.

My work both paint and print is especially concerned with landscape. I originally studied Geography at University College London and my art has always been about expressing the world around me and trying to capture its essence.

I am fortunate enough to be based in Monmouth, which nestles among the fantastic scenery of both Monmouthshire and Herefordshire. I also spend time in Cornwall, in an old fisherman’s cottage with sea views from its windows and this proximity to the sea has been a huge influence on my work. More recently, I have been exploring the Pembrokeshire and Gower coastline and the hills above Hay-on-Wye. I have also spent time immersed in the beauty and harshness of the Scottish Islands. I work mostly from my sketches and memory and the resulting work may be an amalgamation of the landscape I have seen or a simplified view. My work may reflect an actual place which the viewer might recognize or it may be a landscape I have created. Some of my work takes a more abstract form using shapes and imagery to interpret the often poetic title of the work.