Jo Smith is an English-born artist who grew up on Australia’s east coast in the suburb of Capalaba (near Brisbane) after her family re-located when she was two. Living in Capalaba, Jo had access to a variety of natural and manmade environments including easy access to local bushland, Queensland’s Gold Coast beaches and Brisbane City. All of these environments combined to provide a rich tapestry to inspire the natural skills Jo demonstrated at a young age.

Her talent was first recognised at the age of six when her drawing of a ship spewing fumes from its smokestack and bearing down on the viewer was chosen by her teachers to be displayed in the school library. As Jo grew, her passion for art deepened and she received high marks for the subject throughout her education.

Although Jo has always used pencil or paints to express herself artistically; through her senior years at school she also discovered photography and hasn’t looked back. Inspired by artists such as Freda Kahlo, Van Gogh, Arthur Rackham, Marianne Harris (photographer) and Sydney photographer Daniel Boud (Boudist photography),

Jo depicts the beauty of the natural world that surrounds her. Her photography captures detail and movement giving a completely candid feel to her productions and her sketching and painting brings life to the animals and landscapes she illustrates. In addition to a passion for showing nature through her art, Jo also applies her talent to live band photography and sketching promotional images for bands such as Darko and The Justice Quartet.

Jo continued onto university after leaving school and studied a Bachelor of Business Management (Journalism) at Griffith University for four years. After university, Jo managed to secure a job as a Communications Officer with the Australian Services Union where she expanded her skills in electronic media, marketing and photography. Whilst in her last year of university and first year of full-time work, Jo completed an Advanced Diploma in Stage and Screen Acting with The Actors Conservatory in Brisbane.

In 2008, Jo moved back to the UK to live with family in Swanage, Dorset before moving to London for a year. She now lives and works in Guildford, Surrey.