Julie H Davis [NRA 2019]

First name: Julie ;
Middle name: H ;
Last name: Davis ;

Member: Non-resident artist member ; 
Begin: 2019 ;
End: n/a ;

Biography:

Raised in the open spaces of West Texas, I remember a love of nature and a desire to explore the land at a young age. I have vivid memories of feeling awe for the big sky and endless fields, of anticipation when we’d travel through the Caprock Escarpment, and of reverence when witnessing a dust-filtered West Texas sunset. I still enjoy exploring the land, and nature still humbles and awes me. The anticipation and gratitude I feel when composing a painting outdoors and from studying nature’s beauty and dynamic character energizes me.

My approach to outdoor painting is primarily one of information gathering. My goal is not necessarily to pack up a completed painting, rather it is to learn what I can about a place through careful consideration and deliberate use of my time and materials. Through observation, sketching, and studies, I can translate my impression of a place into a plein air piece or into the foundation for a studio painting.

The scenes I choose to paint are rarely nature’s standouts. The introvert in me gravitates to the quiet of the landscape and the bits of our surroundings that don’t receive regular pause. I like for my work to celebrate the forms and figures in nature that are worthy of, but unaccustomed to, our attention. I’m drawn to the individual expressions of trees and the curious lines of long-forgotten structures. Translating and sharing our landscape is where I find my reward as an artist.

Julie Davis was born in Galveston, Texas, and was raised in towns across West Texas from El Paso To Abilene. She grew up drawing and creating, and earned degrees from Baylor University in education and law. After she and her husband started a family, Davis worked as a freelance writer and explored black and white photography, photographing the landscape and her daughters, and learning much about composition and light in the process. It wasn’t until 2007 that she had the opportunity to satisfy her lifelong curiosity to study oil painting. Davis quickly learned that it brought all of her interests together–her adoration of the outdoors, drawing, photography, writing, even law–all of it had a place in painting. She sought out some of the preeminent landscape painters in the country with whom to study, and continues to challenge herself to refine her skills so that she might demonstrate her respect for our landscape elegantly on canvas. Davis lives in Austin with her husband, Ben; their three adult daughters live and work in Texas.

A Signature Member of Oil Painters of America, the American Impressionist Society, and American Women Artists, Davis has been juried into OPA, AIS, and AWA national shows. Her plein air work earned Best of Show in the 2019 American Impressionist Society’s All Member Central Park Paintout in New York City and Best of Show in the 2013 and 2014 Kerrville Outdoor Painters Events in Texas. Plein Air Magazine featured Davis in the June/July 2020 issue and Southwest Art Magazine’s Editor selected her as an Artist to Watch for the September 2017 issue. Her work can be found at Mockingbird Gallery in Bend, Oregon, Gallery 330 in Fredericksburg, Texas, and Davis Gallery in Austin. Her paintings can also be viewed on Instagram (@juliedavisstudio).

http://juliedavisstudio.com

Artworks: