Jo Johnston currently lives and works in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. She lives with her husband, son and three schnauzer dogs, one of whom was a rescued dog from Taiwan.

Jo was born and raised in Billericay, England. Jo is a self taught artist and has painted from a very young age, inspired to draw and paint by her grandfather in London. She has exhibited various paintings in local art galleries in England and was selected as one of the finalists in the BBC World Wildlife Competition in the underwater category in 2010 (third place).

She enjoys painting landscapes, wildlife, flowers and has a particular affinity for underwater wildlife, for example fish, sea anenome, starfish and seahorses.