Jo Sykes Art

“……my soul spaces – places I instantly feel connected with, places that just touch the ‘button’ deep inside me and makes my soul sing…..a place I belong and feel rooted in and where I often feel a deep sense of peace and contentedness”.

I am a self-taught artist having exercised a creative element all my life exploring different media and approaches whilst working in a non-creative job. Once I left that job I was able to dedicate more time, energy and thought to developing my own creative voice and approach.

I am heavily inspired by what I call my soul spaces – places I instantly feel connected with, places that just touch the ‘button’ deep inside me and makes my soul sing. It often surprises me what places do that; sometimes it is hard to define why, but it feels a place I belong and feel rooted in and where I often feel a deep sense of peace and contentedness.

I particularly like to work in oils. oil and cold wax medium and graphite, these media suiting the contrasts in my character and how I like to work.

I love the simplicity of graphite and the slow, steady pace of building up a work. After doing lots of initial quick sketches of the landscape, I will then settle down in my studio to do a number of detailed graphite sketches. Using photographs to remind myself of details, my quick sketches of key elements that caught my eye and pulling on memories of being in the landscape and what I felt whilst there, I work on the graphite sketches which help me to deepen my observations and reflect further on my responses. I find the resulting monochrome images immensely satisfying.

I like to work in oils, and particularly with cold wax medium. Cold wax medium is a mixture of beeswax, resin and solvent and is used to extend the colour, making it more transparent in some cases, and builds up texture and detail using a combination of blending and intuitive mark making. It dries much quicker than just using oils on their own so is ideal for building up layers and it dries to a matt finish that can be buffed to a nice sheen to give a soft effect, but in a final layer that is tough and hard-wearing.

As a member of Huddersfield Art Society, I enjoy joining in with their challenges and sessions on different topics, in particular the portrait group where the discipline of exploring the ‘landscape’ of a face whilst also seeking to impart something of the perceived character of the sitter is a good challenge. I really value the opportunity to promote art in Huddersfield with the society and to support, and be supported by, fellow artists in developing our skills and confidence in our artistic expression.