Jo was born in Durban, South Africa and moved to the south coast of England in 1986. She now divides her time between England and Southern California.

She first began exhibiting in 2005 in the Arundel Gallery Trail.

Jo's influences and inspirations - as subtle as they are, have always been polarised, the Romantic Victorians welded onto Abstract Minimalisim. Whistler, The Pre-Raphaelites, Degas, other Victorian artists as well as Ben Nicholson and early abstract artists.

"With my older seascapes, which were inspired by the Sussex coast line, I felt I wanted to capture the feeling of isolation one often feels on long windswept walks, when the tide is out, and you're alone, happy in solitude. I particulary like the palette and romantic elements of Victorian painting. In Whistler's work especially, he has an almost antiquated tone, as if the paints have faded and become dusty. "

In 2008, Jo moved from the sparse, almost print-like images towards heavier textures. Again fusing abstract backgrounds and techniques, with the Victorian's love of all things Japanese. After she re-discovered Haiku a great deal of her work was derived from these poems.

In 2009, Jo moved to New York and after a trip to California her love of the ocean resurfaced along with a fascination with all the paper litter of New York's streets.

"It seems that on every sign, every sidewalk there is a naural collage of adverts, posters, telephone numbers, graffiti, tales of a city told through years of paper evolution. These patches of litter are hard and gritty and yet they are somehow beautiful in their chaos.