Jo Dowers
Jo, when did you realise that painting/making pictures was important for you?
As long as I can remember I have drawn and painted and as a child would spend hours copying pictures from books which I feel has given me a strong foundation in drawing & observation.
Fortunately, I was encouraged both at home and at school and went on to Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montford University) to do a 3 year Fine Art Painting degree where my love of landscape & colour developed.
In my review, I referred to 'beginning with nature'. How important is the natural world to your work?
Extremely important, nature has always been a key inspiration and starting point both in my landscape paintings and the more recent botanical pieces. I do feel when you draw or paint from nature it changes the way you see it, encouraging you to look more closely, seeing detail as well as colour, pattern and shape.
In some of your work, there is a lot of blue. Is that an easy colour to work with?
I return to using blue in my palette time after time, again in nature it is the sky and the sea….
There is also such a wide variety of blues, from the cool, grey blues to the vibrant pthalo and prussian blues and I love that by just changing which blue you use can change the whole atmosphere of a painting.
What impact do you hope your work has on people?
I do hope they give pleasure, sharing my passion for watercolour and the beauty of nature & with the landscape pieces that perhaps they remind the viewer of somewhere they have been, maybe a walk along the Downs or by the sea.
I also teach creative watercolour workshops so hope that my work may inspire others to go home and dust off their watercolours and enjoy the pleasure of painting with this wonderful loose medium.
Thankyou Jo.