Joanna Charlotte

Joanna Charlotte was born in Gloucester, England in 1977, the youngest of three girls. She grew up and was educated in Surrey and at the age of 18 moved to South-East London where she still lives today.

Some of my most vivid memories of childhood and especially primary school are of art projects I'd done. I always loved art and knew from a young age that it was something special to me.

I studied art at college but following that struggled to find a degree course that catered to the type of art I wanted to do as so many of them seemed to focus on conceptual and installation art. I have always been drawn to traditional art and wanted to learn how to paint like the Old Masters. When I failed to find what I was looking for, art was put on the back burner.

It wasn't until nearly ten years later in 2004 that I decided to pick up my brushes again. I had previously only painted using acrylics but never really got on with them. I still had the desire to paint in a traditional style and decided to try and teach myself how to paint in oils. I instantly fell in love with the medium. It took a few years of trial and error to really get to grips with oils but I was finally producing the sort of art I wanted to.

I took inspiration from my favourite artists such as Stubbs, Sargent, Whistler, Caravaggio, Monet and Klimt. I spent hours wandering around The National Gallery looking closely at the painted surfaces trying to dissect the technique of the artist. Over time I've developed my own method, slowly building up the surface using thin layers of paint to get a fine finish.

I am now based in Crystal Palace, South East London at The Gipsy Hill Workshops. I'm currently focusing on portraiture and equestrian art.