Art as a place to rest. Landscape as a companion.
About Jo Vincent
Abstract Mixed Media Artist
Landscape painting allows me to pause, breathe, and be engulfed by the moment. To absorb the shifting skies, the changing light and enjoy the benefits of painting outside — and bringing the outside back into the studio to revisit.
My practice is rooted in the belief that art, and the act of making it, can be a powerful source of wellbeing and pain management. Combined with time spent creating in the ever-changing outdoors and the act of noticing, this has led to a wonderful painting collaboration between capturing the landscape in paint and the remarkable influence this creative process has on my Inner Landscape.
I have found a deep respect for nature’s quiet wisdom and am developing a deeper understanding of how the act of art making benefits my health — a fundamental part of managing my wellbeing and my disability. Where nature is medicine and art and creativity are a reliable companion and a daily sanctuary.
A PERSONAL BEGINNING
Jo Vincent — The Stroke Survivor
I came to painting through an unexpected doorway — when at twenty-six, life changed abruptly with a heart condition and a series of strokes that reshaped everything and completely changed the map of my life.
During a long stay in hospital, adapting to the impact of stroke, a friend gave me a sketchbook. It was meant as a distraction, but it became a sanctuary. A place where pain softened and focus shifted from recovery and challenge therapies to a moment pushing a pencil around paper, sketching somewhere else I would have rather been.
Those early sketches were small acts of escape that felt like little minutes of freedom when I was trapped by illness and new disability. They became the foundation of a lifelong practice — one rooted in noticing, in pause, and the gentle healing rhythm of mark-making inspired by nature.
A Life Shaped by Creativity
As I rebuilt my life, creativity became more than a refuge — it became a way to connect with myself and others. For twenty years I taught young adults with disabilities and additional learning needs how to use art as a way to express and manage their challenges.
I witnessed, again and again, how the creative process offers confidence, comfort, and a sense of self — not because of what is created, but because of the journey of making it.
Since leaving the formal teaching profession, I remain passionate about the health and wellbeing benefits of creativity, especially for those with disabilities or managing chronic health challenges. I share my meditative painting process, The Inner Landscape, openly — in the hope others can experience the helpful and restorative qualities of using landscape, plein air and abstract art-making as an accessible tool of health and wellness.
THE INNER LANDSCAPE
“My work is a gentle reminder to slow down and savour the present. To take pause and reconnect with the landscape and yourself — for anyone, a gentle place to rest their eyes and their thoughts, stop and savour the moment.”
— Jo Vincent
Art and nature have the power to restore us. In a world that moves quickly, this space is more than a gallery — it’s a place to slow down, to follow the unfolding of a creative life, and to join a community that values nature and presence. A purposeful moment of stillness where the nervous system can soften and the mind can breathe.