Jo Oakley
Jo at "She Rose"
Printmaking and Painting
Jo Oakley
For the last 35 yrs and since training in Fine Art at North East London Polytechnic I have continued to pursue my own fine art practice whilst working professionally within the arts and raising a family.
I am a South East Londoner but have had a deep connection with the East Kent Coast all my life. Childhood holidays set in motion my love of the Thames estuary and this is now where I live working solely on my art practice and running the shop and art gallery, She Rose. I now have workshop space within the gallery for my printmaking and painting and am minutes walk away from the sea and ‘The Downs’ of Herne Bay.
This beautiful unspoilt space gives constant inspiration. The connection with nature has added the ‘something’ I had been missing for a while living in London. Being aware of the seasons and developing an interest in foraging and collecting seaweed to eat as well as paint and draw.
The paintings themselves are a mixture of memory and still life study. The forms and textures of the surface of the paintings are built up in layers using gesso in the preliminary stages. I am drawn to faded turquoise, blues and greens in every hue in pursuit of the fading light of a certain season trying to evoke its unique qualities.
My interest and practice in printmaking has bought me in the last years to Lino. I have had a lasting fascination with the illustrations by Arthur Rackham and have collected Victorian seaside postcards for many years. Now living by the sea my imaginary world of sea dwelling folk has emerged. Aubrey Beardsley’s monochromatic line fascinates me, the form and flow. I am now exploring these lines for myself.
My grandmothers words fall from my lips now and immortalising this combination of line and words fill my mind.