Joan was born in Birmingham, UK, in 1938 and migrated to Australia with her parents ten years later.  She started her painting career in 1972 studying in London under Frank Walter, an excellent teacher who has influenced her present teaching methods.   Back home in Tasmania the following year, and with her two children at school, she was able to develop her own styles of painting and teaching.  During 1979 she attended the Decordova Art College near Boston in the USA.   She has travelled extensively, visiting many public and private galleries in Australia and overseas, absorbing the best of the artists in her own field while at the same time developing her own unique style.   She lives in Taroona, a beautiful harbour-side suburb a few kilometres south of Hobart.

Joan delights in truly portraying the moods and beauty of Tasmania, both in wilderness and in populated areas.   Her source of inspiration is nature and her work is the result of close observation and many field trips.   She has a particular interest in water in all its forms, including seascapes.   She took part in two circumnavigations of Tasmania by sea and has sailed to Port Davey in the remote south-west of the State ten times.

Joan's early paintings were mostly medium size, with occasional larger works.   Some of her earliest works were still-life's, mostly of flowers, but she has since concentrated on landscapes and waterways.  Her paintings were very well accepted from the outset and she received many awards on the local scene.   In the early 1990s she was asked to consider painting miniature works.   These quickly became successful and started to gain awards overseas.  Her large and small works are held in many collections world-wide.

Although she has occasionally used other media, almost all Joan's serious paintings have been executed in oils.  Her largest works are on board or linen and her miniatures are on paper, ivorine or polymin.  A handful of her very earliest works were signed JIH, all others are signed J I HUMBLE in block capitals near one of the lower corners.  You'll need to look carefully; the signature is usually quite small and in a similar colour to its background.

Joan is a founder member and committee member of the Australian Society of Miniature Art Tasmania Inc and a member of The Miniature Art Society of Florida and of The Art Society of Tasmania.  She became an Associate of  The Royal Society of Miniature Painters Gravers and Sculptors (RMS) in the United Kingdom in 2006 and was elected a Full Member in 2009.   Early in 2011 she was invited to join The Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Society of Washington D.C. (MPSGS).  A few weeks later she was elected a Signature Member of The Miniature Artists of America, the first Australian to be so honored.

While continuing her painting, Joan still teaches privately and for Adult Education in Hobart.   Two or three times a year she also teaches classes in painting miniatures.   As well as her painting qualifications and memberships she is a Fellow of The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and Arts (RSA) and an Associate of the London College of Music.