Josephine Wall

From childhood Josephine has had a passion for light and colour, fantasy and visual story telling. The life of a painter was clearly her destiny! Enchanting and detailed images flow freely from her imagination in an endless cascade of ideas. Her first employment after leaving Art College was at Poole Pottery, where she painted the dynamic and boldly coloured designs of the now famous Delphis ware – very collectable and realising high prices at specialist auctions. In addition to her main love of painting, she directs her creative energies into pottery figures, sculpture and reproduction stained glass panels. She has even customised items of clothing. She lives contentedly with her husband at Wisteria Cottage' where she works in a purpose built attic studio. The walls are covered with a huge wisteria, cascading gorgeous flowers - hand painted of course. Josephine is convinced that working under the pyramid shaped roof is a source of inspirational vibes, aiding her creativity! The rest of the cottage also displays her artistic nature, a woodland scene and butterflies in the kitchen, flowers and birds on the furniture and even more wisteria on the glass doors in the living room. Even the garden doesn’t escape her touch, as she likes nothing better than to spend time designing unusual features and creating an abundance of colour, with a slight bias towards a Victorian style. She has three children ( two sons & one Daughter ) and since marrying Bob also has two Step-Daughters. At this time Josephine & Bob have 10 Grandchildren – their ages ranging from a few months to 19 years old, some of whom are already showing signs of an artistic tendency. Much of the inspiration for her mystical images comes from her close observation of nature and her interest in its preservation. Though she often strives to impart a message in her scenes, she also hopes to inspire in her audience a personal journey into the magical world of their own imagination. As with most artists Jo is often asked ‘where do you get your ideas?’ the answer is … “from anywhere and everywhere”. Jo is never short of inspiration; in fact she feels it is a race against time to produce all the images that she has conceived. Another often asked question is ‘ how long did it take to learn to paint?’ the answer is … “a lifetime”, because she has painted since she was a child and the work has evolved and matured until the current image was created. Her paintings actually take on average 2 –4 weeks depending on size and subject. Josephine works mostly with acrylic paint, which allows her to paint quickly, and to create many textured and colourful effects. She has been influenced and inspired by the illustrative talents of Arthur Rackham, the surrealism of artists such as Magritte and Salvador Dali, and the romanticism of the Pre-Raphaelites. This combined with her own imaginative ideas has led to a wide and varied range of work. “The art of painting is more than a career to me,” she says, “it is an all consuming obsession and a love of colour and form. In fact, if I am away from my easel for too long I become restless and anxious to paint again” It would seem that in these days of doom, gloom and high pressure, more people than ever are seeking the escapism of fantasy and surrealism – which is good for Jo who loves to paint such images. The more imaginative and surrealistic they are the more they are admired. In addition to an annual exhibition in London, held by the Society for Art of the Imagination to which Jo belongs, her work can be found in galleries all over the south of England, from Cornwall to Kent and rapidly gaining popularity in America. Josephine was born in Farnham, Surrey, England in 1947. Educated at Farnham and Parkstone Grammar Schools, her family moved to Poole, Dorset when she was 14. Her paintings are mainly fantasies, influenced and inspired by the illustrative talents of Arthur Rackam, the surrealism of artists such as Magritte and Dali, and the romanticism of the pre-Raphaelites, which combined with her own imaginative ideas has led to a wide and varied range of work. Josephine is also an accomplished sculptor and has created a number of unique figurines. Using natural stone found locally, various modelling materials and semi-precious stones, she creates models that once painted, challenge the viewer to find where the stone ends and the figure begins. An increasing demand for character windows, led her to experiment in this field using self adhesive lead and vitreous paint, to reproduce traditional lead-lights and many of her own designs. Due to her individualistic, textured use of acrylic medium, she has been invited to demonstrate and lecture to local art circles. Whilst her work has always covered a wide range of subjects, since moving into the world print market, she has produced works with a distinct ethnic flavour and images of many favourite stories and fables. Her fantasy work remains most popular, many containing hidden images or faces, which has become a trademark. 1967 - Following three years at Bournemouth College studying Fine Art, Josephine worked at Poole Pottery as a designer and painter of Delphis Ware (now very collectable), later modeling animals to be displayed at Harrods in London. Her pottery figures include characters from Tolkien’s "Lord of the Rings" and mythological creatures. Certain pieces of this work now form part of a book on the history of Poole Pottery. 1974 - A number of larger paintings were exhibited in Teheran and Tokyo. 1975 - Held her first solo exhibition in Swindon. 1990 - Following a period during which she brought up her three children whilst still exhibiting both locally and abroad, a second solo exhibition was held at the Mayfield Gallery in Bournemouth. Also during this year, Josephine and her paintings were the subject of a special feature on Southern Television in the UK. 1991 - Held her third solo exhibition at the Mayfield Gallery. 1993 - Following a visit to the Spring Fair in Birmingham she signed contracts with F.J.Warren based in Hitchen, England and Wizard and Genius from Switzerland to publish her work in the form of framingprints, posters and cards. These prints are distributed worldwide. 1995 - Josephine’s painting "Dance of all Seasons" was selected for the cover of W&G’s “Cheerful Joys”catalogue. 1996 - Signed a licensing agreement with Art Impressions based in Los Angeles, California, which has led to many new outlets for Josephine’s images. Many products are now produced including cards, stationery, puzzles, journals, bookplates, back to school products, mugs, needlepoint kits and posters, as well as limited edition prints. 1998 - Five original works were selected for an exhibition at London’s prestigious Mall Gallery entitled “Art of the Imagination”. Josephine has subsequently joined the circle of artists in the society of the same name, with the possibility of many more exhibitions worldwide. 1999 – Many products are now produced including cards, stationery, puzzles, journals, bookplates, back to school products, mugs, needlepoint kits and posters, as well as limited edition prints. 2004 – First exhibition at the New York Art Expo, resulting in 6 images being selected for use as Hand Embellished Limited Edition Prints for sale at auctions on board cruise ships around the world. 2005 – Exhibition at New York Art Expo at which my first book was released “The Fantasy World of Josephine Wall”. Received a nomination for the Artv Awards (like Oscars for art) which is to be held on 28th October this year at the M.G.M.Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Pop Icon Britney Spears requested the use of a number of images for use on her new website www.britneyspears.com. Britney also purchased a number of Limited Edition prints and Josephine created an original painting for her. 2006 – Leanin’ Tree requested a series of “Zodiac” images which were completed in 6 months, and have proved to be very popular. They were exhibited all together at Courtenays Fine Art Gallery in Westbourne. Seven were sold that evening , and the rest soon followed. Met Maggie & Ric Hilton who purchased the Windcliffe Manor on the Isle of Wight, and converted it to a boutique style 5 star B&B, renaming it “The Enchanted Manor” www.enchantedmanor.co.uk and basing the fantasy style décor on Jo’s work. Bought at auction the Manor was featured in the television programme Homes Under the Hammer, and displayed many of Jo’s images. 2007 – Met Dr Pat Sager at Faeriecon in Pensylvania, who offered to promote Jo’s work in the U.S.A.and Worldwide – in particular originals and Limited Edition Prints. She also set up a website to offer all Jo Wall products. She also took on responsibility for coordinating events to promote her work www.josephine-wall-imagination-art.com Following the success of her first 6 prints (total of 1200 hand embellished) on Princess Cruises ships a further 4 prints (800 hand embellished ) were chosen to be sold at auctions aboard the 29 ships of the Carnival group. In October she was asked to be Guest Artist on Oriana where she gave painting demonstrations and Q&A sessions, and exhibited 6 originals. 2008 - In March & April Jo did a tour of Georgia & Florida organised by Dr Pat Sager with exhibitions, book signings, and including the Cherry Blossom Ball in Macon. 2009 – Follow up tour of Florida with Dr Pat Sager including the Art Walk in Jacksonville. Invited to display original work at the Quay Gallery on the Isle of Wight, with other members of the ‘Society for Art of Imagination’. Invited to be guest artist at a number of Fairy events to meet fans and show work, book signing etc. Finishing touches made to biography written by Susan D. Brandenburg called “Palette of Dreams” http://www.josephinewall.co.uk