Joy is a painter of nature. She aims to express her sense of wonder, joy and excitement that she gets from her subject. She wants to express the sense of place in the landscape to paint what it feels like to be there. She was born and brought up on the edge of the City of Bristol in the UK and from a young age was always out walking or cycling in the fields and countryside nearby.
Since moving to Italy in 2006 she has been absorbed by the varied Italian landscapes from Italian Alps to the sunbaked landscapes of Sicily
Since setting up her studio in the transformed hayloft in her Italian farmhouse she has created works of the flora, sea, hills and mountains of Italy and exhibited and sold her work in all the regions of Italy, in many European countries and in America.
She is represented by galleries in Turin, Rome and Sicily. She was invited to take part in the Florence Biennale in 2021. In 2024 she was accepted as a member of the French Association of Arts, Science and Letters. In 2025 she was invited to join a group of International artists that are based in north Italy.
As a child she loved to draw and paint and her parents encouraged her interest by giving her a “painting by numbers” oil painting set. She was immediately drawn to the colour and texture of the paints and soon began to buy her own oil paints and made copies of works of art by famous artists, before moving on to make her own compositions. This developed into an overriding desire to go to art school. She studied a Foundation Course at Bristol Art School during which time her desire to interpret the landscape developed. She then chose to study for her degree at Birmingham Art School - a centre of excellence for landscape, and studied under William Gear and David Prentice. Through her studies at Birmingham she discovered the American Abstract Expressionists and really developed the desire to express her reaction to her subject not so much as how she sees it but how she feels it. On graduating she was awarded the Dame Louisa Ryland scholarship which enabled to her to spend time in Paris studying art in the rich variety of museums there.
After graduating she moved to London and worked as an artist and a manager of environmental projects - from introducing green spaces in the city to reducing air pollution. Her love of nature naturally drew her to care for the environment. Her search for subject matter for her paintings took her to the wilder areas of the UK - especially Scotland and the Lake District and she took study holidays in the UK and France. She created and successfully exhibited her work mostly in London and the north of England.
In the early 2000’s she made a major change in her life - having remarried in 2004 she moved to the Piemonte region of northern Italy in 2006. She then started painting full time, constantly developing her approach to painting to express the beauty and power of the Italian landscape. Her work is now in many private collections in Europe and America.
Since taking up residence in the Italian countryside, besides wishing to show her work internationally Joy has always sought to promote art in her local area and to explore the culture of the region. Her reading of Italian authors who wrote about the Piemonte landscape has inspired her works and she often takes titles for her paintings from their works. She has worked for several years with other local artists and in 2024 she opened an art gallery with 3 other artists in her home town of Cocconato. She is currently working with a wider network of artists to promote art throughout the Piemonte area.
Statement
I am an english landscape painter and see my work as following in the tradition of the english school of landscape painting, particularly the artist JMW Turner. i am inspired by nature. I was drawn to landscape when I was young, I was born and raised on the edge of the city of Bristol in England and was always walking or cycling out into the south Gloucestershire countryside. It felt the right place to be.. As I have grown older I have explored wilder landscapes of Britain, France and Italy - places that draw me. For many years I have chosen to live in the landscape of north Italy and have discovered the beauty of the Monferrato Hills, the power of Italian Alps and the sunbaked landscapes of Sicily. These are the places where I feel excited and inspired.
I work with acrylic paint, inks, pastels and other graphic media on paper, canvas and wood panels. I push the media I use to their limits to explore all of their qualities to enable me to paint in a expressive manner and eliminate detail. For example I use acrylic paint heavily diluted to create washes and staining; as it comes out of the tube onto the canvas; or mixed with other media to create texture. I love the free flowing quality of acrylic inks and use them on paper and canvas. I use a variety of tools including artists and house decorating brushes, palettes knives, toothed scrapers and combs, trowels and rollers. I use oversize tools to help eliminate detail and make bold statements. I work in series - five or six paintings or drawings at a time. Moving from one to another helps me to explore/find what I am looking for in the works.
From a very young age I have loved to draw and paint as a response to the things that I find visually exciting. In time I have realised that after the initial pleasure of being able to recreate what I see that it is possible to take it further to express what I feel and that is my aim now - trying to break free of detail and create the essence of the landscape as it feels to me. I aim to express my sense of wonder, awe, joy and excitement that I get from my subject - to find the wow factor.