Phoenix artist, Julie Gilbert Pollard, paints in oil and watercolor in a fluid, painterly manner. Her painting style, while representational, is colored with her own personal concept of reality. “The eye may see as a camera ‘sees’, but the mind’s eye sees an altered, imagined image, what it wants and hopes to see. It’s that illusive image, uniquely mine, along with a heightened sense of ‘realness’ that I try to express in my paintings. This world of ours is often a frightening and mysterious place, but it is filled with scenes and subjects that excite my eye and imagination! The magical allure of the natural world, and my reverence for it, compel me to attempt to capture its essence on canvas or paper.”
Julie is the author of three North Light Books, Discover Oil Painting (2016), Watercolor Unleashed (2013) and Brilliant Color (oil & acrylic, 2009), plus nine videos for North Light/ArtistsNetwork.com (three Watercolor Unleashed, four Oil Painting Unleashed and two Acrylic Unleashed). Additional publications include various articles and book inclusions including most recently Watercolor Artist (April 2018), Splash 18 (2017) and AcrylicWorks 3 (2016).
She has given instruction in watercolor and oil since 1985 in numerous venues such as La Romita School of Art in Umbria, Italy; Cheap Joe’s Art Workshops in North Carolina; Beach Art Group in Panama City Beach, Florida, Saanich Peninsula Arts and Crafts Society in Sidney, B.C., Canada and Vale do Lobo in Portugal. Current (2018) venues include, among others, Scottsdale Artists’ School, Shemer Arts Center and Sedona Arts Center in Arizona; and Sierra Watercolor Society in Reno, NV.
A frequent award winner, Julie’s oils and watercolors have hung in numerous juried and gallery exhibits, including in 2018, 9th Annual International Signature American Watermedia Exhibition, Fallbrook Art Center, CA. Most notable awards: Best Impressionistic Painting in Best of America, National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society, 2012 and Best Use of Light & Color in Best of America, National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society, 2011.
She is a signature member of the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society, Arizona Watercolor Association and San Diego Watercolor Society. Her work is included in many private and corporate collections and is represented in Arizona by Esprit Decor Gallery in Phoenix, Raku Gallery in Jerome and Sedona Arts Center Gallery in Sedona.
