September has gone really quickly…I can’t believe we’ve come around to Blog writing time already!!

I had some absolutely wonderful feedback after the last one, which meant a great deal to me-thanks so much, I really appreciate all your queries, comments and feedback-if you would like to get in touch, it’s really easy via my contact from, or just email: joyorkart@hotmail.com

I also wanted to take a few lines to mention, to those of you who only know me via my website, that I’m also really active on Instagram, where you can find me as joyorkart. this is the quickest place for me to update new work and process, studio news etc…so it would be really lovely if you would follow me there too!

One of the new things I really like about Instagram is Instagram Guides which allows you to group together works in collections or series, and you can also add loads of information about how the work developed, materials and techniques too…sit down with a cuppa and have a look sometime!

One of the strange things about working as an artist, is that sometimes it takes a long time for ideas to come through. A perfect example is that one of my ongoing series is focussed on the landscape of the Penwith Peninsula in Cornwall…over the years I’ve collected loads of material; sketches, colour samples and photos. Sometimes ideas for work come quickly other times, ideas work themselves out months or even years later.

I made the very rough sketches on the coast path, thinking about coastal shapes, and had in mind an idea around Landscape Geometry….playing with the shapes of headlands, inlets, bays and rocky cliffs. They started with a sort of shorthand; just the white of the page and a cerulean blue plus an off black colour; representing light , dark and middle tones. Some of the studies were done using opaque black and translucent white tissue collaged together. The interesting thing for me was that I was noticing how the sky seemed at times almost like a solid weight, pressing down on the landscape, and so I played with adding vigorous drawn lines to start to express something of this, and also to emphasise shapes.

This all developed into an abstracted approach, focussing on combining geometric shapes with textures, glazes and mark making. The gallery of images below shows the development of my first 3 canvases in this collection. For instance in the first image you can see a lot of linear lines which were glazed over, but created subtle texture in subsequent layers.

I’d already completed one piece which I now realise needs to be part of this Abstracted Landscape Collection; this one is a little larger and called Shallow Waters…Its on a 41cm square canvas and is painted in layers of opaque and translucent acrylics.

This month I’ve also finished the three canvases shown 👇. These three are more purely geometric in their approach, but I like that slight variation in a group of paintings. These are all on 30 cm square canvases, and painted in multi layered acrylic with incised marks and linear drawn marks.

They are small but very concentrated, so they’ve taken ages to resolve! Sometimes that’s the way with painting; smaller pieces can be intense and take a lot of concentration and focus. All 4 paintings are now available so do get in touch via the contact form, if you would like to know more….I rather like these three as a triptych, but they also work well on their own.

*All the paintings shown are currently available, just use the contact form for more information.

I also have current collections available from:

*Bils and Rye Gallery in Harrogate, in person and online: https://contemporarysculpture.gallery/artist/jo-york

*Northern Lights Gallery in Keswick, in person and online: https://northernlightsgallery.co.uk/jo-york-bio

That’s all for me this month, but i’m planning a research trip to Scotland in our camper van…loads more on this next month!

Meanwhile, I hope you’ve enjoyed my newsletter, and do let me know if you have any feedback or queries, I really enjoy hearing from you and always do my best to answer any questions. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!

Until next month, take care and keep in touch,

Jo xx

All text and images copyright ©️Jo York 2021