Jo Parry

Jo Parry was born on the south coast of England in the early 1970s and spent her childhood in and around Dorset and the New Forest. As a child, she was inspired towards an artistic career by pouring over the beautifully illustrated children's books her parents bought for her to read. In particular, she enjoyed A A Milne's Winnie the Pooh and Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verse, and loved the illustrations so much that she decided at a very young age that this is what she wanted to do with her own life. At the age of 12, Jo Parry did also achieve the holy grail of all artistically-minded British children of her generation, when one of her paintings was finally included in the `Gallery` section of Tony Hart's famous art show on children's television! She was also inspired towards her artistic career by the Headmistress of the grammar school she attended who, furious that she had decided to go to art college rather than study English at university, told her that she was a `drop-out` and that she would never make a career of art! Jo Parry subsequently completed five years at Art College and is now a professional illustrator and artist. She describes her artwork as `fun, bold, colour-inspired and unpretentious` and usually works in soft pastels. Her hobbies outside the artistic field include photography, travel, sport and cooking.