Artist statement by Jo Sykes
Jo is a self-taught artist working mainly in water miscible oils, watercolour and graphite pencil. Her main genre is landscape being deeply inspired by natural wild spaces with rugged, untamed land shapes, big skies and feral moods.  She is fascinated by the human relationship with the land, the story of the past in the scars mankind has created, the way nature always claims a space back and the sense of the lands own wrestle with itself and the elements. The grittiness of these spaces often challenges her about her own place in the world with her musings and reflections often finding metaphorical allegories of the human condition in what she sees.

"Working with oils allows me to develop my own style, increasingly trusting my own creative voice and process. Much of my work is done in the studio from memories, notes on thoughts and observations from life, and photographs I have taken for reference. Using photographs as a starting point, I quickly move to working intuitively. Handling the paint in a free and expressive way, I build up colour and texture in layers using different techniques to form shape and contour, all the time working to capture the mood and effects of light and responding to the painting itself and the direction it wants to take."


See more of Jo's paintings and information about how to purchase her art on her website at www.josykesart.com

Follow her on instagram at jo_sykes_artist