Jo Shepherd

Painting for Jo is a compelling obsession, a life-long love affair with paint founded on a deep-rooted desire to create. She seeks to combine elements of emotion, beauty and narrative into her work. In this exhibition is showing trees.

Jo is primarily interested in portraiture and for her there is nothing more intriguing to study and to try to understand than other people. Our consciousness, emotions and cognitive behaviours are key elements to what makes us human. If she can portray any of these in a painting, then there is a chance that she might be happy with what she has created.

Jo has also often found inspiration in the woodland landscape around her to create vibrant, sometimes semi abstracted pieces. These are an expression of her perception of the colours and patterns she sees in the trees and gives her the opportunity to have fun and play with paint, allowing it to manipulate her as much as she might try to manipulate it. Jo is showing her woodland landscapes in this exhibition.

When Jo is not in the studio, she works with profoundly disabled people several times a week providing art sessions and she also teaches occasional life drawing and painting workshops at Watts Gallery Artists Village, Compton.

Jo is absolutely delighted that her second portrait of Ugandan artist 'Ludigo's Stories, Time will tell' has just been selected for the 2018 Columbia Threadneedle Prize Exhibition and will be shown in the Mall Galleries from 31st January to 17th February 2018

Her recent portrait exhibition - FACE to FACE, celebrating people with profound and multiple disabilities, was featured on the BBC South Today news.
You can view the film by following this link -
https://www.facebook.com/BBCSouthToday/videos/1154159411341314/
There will be another chance to see this exhibition at The Haslemere Educational Museum in 2018 (date to be announced)

Her painting ‘LUDIGO,THE BEST IS YET TO COME’ , a portrait of Ugandan artist and social activist ‘Andrew,Ludigo, Salema’, was selected for this year’s RA Summer Exhibition