Julia Watson is an award-winning painter known for her lush contemporary florals. She was trained in traditional oil painting techniques, but her paintings veer into new territories such as flower mandalas and modern still life scenes. Julia is active in the Los Gatos art community and shows her work at Gallery 24, where she is the gallery manager.
“My job as an artist is to take the beauty I see around me and distill it into a new image. To say that my work is about beauty may sound simple and trite, but making a beautiful painting is not. I’ve painted long enough to know my preferred subject, style and medium. I’m inspired by nature and color, so it makes sense that I often paint flowers, usually from my garden. I like to build up colors in thin layers of oil paint, so that the viewer can see subtle nuances. I’m not always trying to say something specific in my paintings. I want them to communicate visually and I’m happiest when people react to them viscerally. If another artist says I have good technique, I’m flattered. But if I watch someone taking their first look at my painting and they immediately smile or say “Wow,” then I’m overjoyed. That’s the reaction I’m aiming for!”
Although she now works full time as an artist, Julia has a Ph.D. in microbiology and worked for many years as a research scientist. Her training in science taught her to observe carefully, all the better to capture the beauty of everyday things.
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