Jo Morton

A bit about me: Again and again I find myself drawn to places of ancient settlement. They appear to have some mysterious story to tell, and perhaps this is the ‘sense of place’ I strive to communicate in my painting.
Although I have had occasional opportunities to study, my painting techniques have been mostly self-taught, aside from an invaluable session on ‘negative space’ at teacher training college, and some welcome comments from John Davie at the same college, who taught me how to make my work ‘fly’! It is due to him that I still paint now!
I have always been aware of the importance of developing my own unique style, and this has gradually emerged from the discovery of organic forms, crystallised as I strove to draw prehistoric field enclosures spotted on the hillside outside my Cornish b&b bedroom window!
Slowly and painfully I have gained the confidence to paint, always returning to my drawing, and perhaps this is why my style is often described as essentially calligraphic? An early sight of the Graham Sutherland Pembrokeshire painting of the entrance to a lane has been a huge influence, always at the back of my mind, commanding me to invite the viewer to enter and participate in my paintings.
In my twenties and thirties I possessed just two paintbrushes, a flat sable and a fine round sable, and with these I experimented and honed some kind of brush technique, reveling in luscious gouache colours, but feeling very much in the dark about what I should be doing. Still , I kept going in an intermittent manner, until suddenly I discovered watercolour, thanks to a demonstration by an artist who was willing to show a controlled technique which I felt suited my style. The sensuous joy of wielding my first hake on heavy rag paper were a wonderful revelation!
Favourite Media: pencil; pen; gouache; watercolour; oil; wood; steel.
My favourite products: Pentel mechanical pencils with soft 2B leads. Graphite sticks. Soft putty rubber. Uniball and Unipin pens and, a recent discovery, a Pentel Japanese brush pen, which dispenses beautiful intense waterproof ink with fluid ease! Moleskine-type plain journal books. More detailed exploration can take place on glued pads of good quality cartridge
VERY rarely I get the chance to work in 3-D, and love wood or even steel! one day I might post a portfolio of my ‘godwits’ project online! A fascinating process, and I was lucky enough to find an excellent blacksmith to