Inspired by the Coast: Jo Payne

What inspires your art practice?

The big beautiful sky, the weather, the sea, the coastal landscape… in short, living on the the North Devon Coast and absorbing my beautiful surroundings every day! My work is about expressing elements of the coastal landscape, the sky with clouds, horizons, the sea, reflections, tidal effects, contrasts, wide open spaces, meandering rivulets, pools on the sand which reflect the sky. I describe my paintings as elemental.

What technique do you use?

Several. I mainly paint in acrylics, and I often incorporate real gold leaf into my paintings, sometimes silver or copper leaf too. I also make collage paintings using my own hand made collage papers, which I create on a gel plate with wet strength tissue, sometimes using collected coastal treasures like shells and seaweed to make unique impressions into the paint on the gel plate.

Can you describe how you create each artwork?

Well they are all different, and so different techniques come into play depending on what I am making. For my pure paintings, seascapes and abstract landscapes, I work intuitively mainly, in layers, allowing my materials and random mark-making to lead the way. I am not painting with a specific outcome in mind, I just start and see where the process leads me. I have many works in progress in my studio at any one time, and I often leave work aside for long periods while I work on other things.

For the gold leaf paintings it is a different, more methodical approach as there is a specific order to their creation, starting with a warm colour under layer on my canvas so there will be no white visible from between any breaks or gaps in the gold leaf. Then I add the gold leaf where I want it, using a special metal leaf ‘size’ to stick it to the canvas. Once the gold leaf is on, and buffed up with a soft cloth, I continue painting until it feels like the right time to step away. Because of the method needed to make these, I tend to work on them from start to finish, often a few at a time in a series, until they are done.

What influence do you take from the coast and nature?

The glimmers of light from beneath the clouds, the silver or gold streaks across the sea, or golden reflections on the beach, the rays of light between clouds, the contrast between dark clouds and glimpses of bright light, the huge ever-changing sky. Where sky meets sea or land, the horizons the shapes in the coastal landscape, both from nature but also, piers, harbours, steps, boats, buildings, all set against the sky and the sea.

How important is the Coast Path to you?

I walk daily with my dog, and as we are situated near the coast path, it is very important! I can walk from my home straight on to the coast path and go up the Torrs and towards Lee Bay or in the other direction to Watermouth Cove and harbour. But I also do many walks here in Ilfracombe, up Hillsborough, down to the harbour, up to St Nicolas chapel lighthouse on Lantern Hill, round Capstone Hill, the possibilities are endless.

What is your favourite place on the coast?

I love it all! From the spectacular views from Lynton and the Valley of Rocks, to the rugged seas and seal strewn rocks at Morte point, to walks behind Capstone Hill in Ilfracombe, looking down the coast towards Lee and Woolacombe, and across to Lundy Island… I just can’t get enough of it. Luckily I have my painting to allow me to express just how much I love it all!

Do you have a ‘go to’ location that you like to paint?

No. It all comes from inside my head! I absorb all the beauty, majesty and spectacle of the North Devon coastal landscape on my walks and looking out of my north facing studio window, and then it emerges naturally from me into my paintings.

About Jo

A painter of coastal landscapes, Jo Payne is a self taught artist working from her studio in Ilfracombe on the North Devon coast of England. Jo’s paintings emerge as an emotional response to her surroundings. She expresses elements absorbed from her daily walks to create atmospheric sea paintings which focus on huge skies, wide open spaces and interesting horizons.

“For me, art and life are inextricably linked. Every walk I take in the coastal landscape brings more and more inspiration. There are times when far away in the distance the sea and sky seem to be imperceptibly merging. Whatever else happens, the clouds continue to pass by, the tides ebb and flow, and the world keeps on turning. New clouds, new waves, it never stays the same and there is no end. I’m in love with both the simplicity and the complexity of this elemental flow, and I feel compelled to keep on painting my interpretations of it. I am particularly interested in painting the light.”

Jo’s work is held in private collections worldwide including the USA, Australia, Canada, South Korea, and across the UK. She welcomes studio visits by appointment and some of her work can be seen at The Pier Gallery, Ilfracombe.