About Me



​I am originally from the East Midlands, although I have lived in Sussex for many years.  I spent a happy childhood growing up in a country village on the outskirts of Nottingham.  From an early age, I had a keen interest in the arts, and I spent my secondary school years training to be a dancer, by earning a place at a stage school in Surrey.  However, my career as a dancer was not meant to be as my love for painting eventually overtook my desire to be a dancer, and became my number one passion.  I decided to hang up my ballet shoes when I was 16, and focus on my journey to become an artist. 

After completing art college in Nottingham, I then moved to London.  Initially, for the first few years, I had to juggle my art with working in the city, and slowly forged my career as an artist by exhibiting and selling through local and national galleries. My career as an artist has also been interspersed with travelling and having children.  

As a nature lover, I try to depict the essence of nature and its magic, into my work.  I use a whole range of different materials depending on the composition. For my floral pieces, I tend to use mixed media on silk, which when applied with a batik effect, creates a great backdrop for meadows. These are also interspersed with textured wild grasses, with accents of gold and silver. For my tree and landscape pieces, I use layers of acrylics incorporating texture, with metallic highlights.

I love to play with colour, and sometimes this will dictate the composition of a painting.  I always have my camera to hand which allows me to capture a moment in time.  I am never short of inspiration as I live in rural Sussex where I am surrounded by beautiful countryside, with the South Downs on my doorstep.   I generally work from my own photographs that I have taken and enjoy putting my own interpretation on a natural scene, giving it a contemporary feel.

I work from my studio at the Turner Dumbrell Workshops in Ditchling, East Sussex, where I have been established for many years now.  I have sold my work through fine art galleries all over the UK and abroad.  My current work is available to buy exclusively through Whitewall Galleries, who have multiple galleries all over the UK. Please click on this link to view available work: www.whitewallgalleries.com/shop?sort=&artist=jo-starkey&style=&price=&type=

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Map of my studio location: Unit 17, Turner Dumbrell Workshops, Ditchling, East Sussex BN6 8GT,
​tel: 07944 875019
GALLERIES