Jo’s passion for art began when she was an elementary school child, inspired by the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. She spent hours copying master drawings of human anatomy, particularly portraits. As an adult she retired early from a Telecommunications career to pursue her childhood desire of becoming an artist.

Jo is a classically inspired artist, trained in the techniques of Baroque and Renaissance masters. Her formal art education began at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She later obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of South Florida. Additionally, she received several years of private instruction with an emphasis on classical oil painting techniques under the guidance of Master Painter Frank Covino.

Her search for the lost methods of the old masters led her to artist Donald Fels, the author of “The Lost Secrets of Flemish Painting.” The years of tutelage on Baroque master techniques that followed ushered in an intense phase of work. During this chapter of her career, she created master studies and reproductions of paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Bouguereau.

That effort combined with years of studies in Sacred Geometry and Sacred Science directs her current interest. Jo’s appreciation for the motivation derived from the classical masters and gratitude towards many excellent mentors and their encouragement expresses itself by perpetuating the lineage of classical oil painting.

Portraiture is a doorway into one’s soul. Poetic as it may sound, for Jo it is a spiritual experience. Her attempts to capture the essence of those she paints, passionately drive her throughout the creation process. Even when no brush is in her hand, she continually paints with her eyes. This is because Lyme Disease and Bladder Cancer have limited her artwork for over twenty-five years. Unable to lift a brush for periods of time, her eyes, heart, and mind were always creating that ‘next painting’. Now, in 2026 she is able to display her paintings.