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creator biography

“The swirls represent the flow of energy between all things and demonstrate how man and animal are interconnected with their world.”

Julia Watkins

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JULIA WATKINS

The work of contemporary artist Julia Watkins radiates the bright, the beautiful, and the sublime.

Brilliant, jewel-like colors shock one's senses while patterns of light, in a mesmerizing ebb and flow seduce one's darker side. Such is art as is life.

Watkins' work is truly unique.

She began her art career very young. By the age of 11 she became the prodigal student of the artist Fletcher. By 16 she had entered college to study art, and by 24 she was in Manhattan studying at the NYC-Manhattan Art Student's League.

Several years later, she found herself studying in Paris, Florence then Japan, often supporting herself through sale of her work.

After seven years of studying abroad, she returned to the United States to found the very successful Dogtail Fine Art Gallery (NY).

Unfortunately, over the years she found that being a gallery owner, while rewarding, took her away from her first love, painting.

She left the gallery business and over the past six years has renewed her painting career.

These collections have been compiled from her recent travels through to Europe and cities throughout the world.

"Moon Dancer" -->

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THE ENERGISM MOVEMENT..."What's with all the swirls?"

The swirls represent the flow of energy between all things and demonstrate how man and animal are interconnected with their world.

Pioneered by artist Julia Watkins, this style, known as Energism, was inspired by the concepts of the Chinese martial art Tai Chi.

Tai Chi masters believe the key to balance is to move and live with the natural rhythms of earth, water and sky. Moving with the natural flow of things is "the way" or Tao.

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PAINTINGS BY JULIA

"First Dream" was my first painting in the Energism series.

I painted it from the memory of a dream. In my dream I floated over a lake where patterns of shimmering energy moved and changed in unison with my movements, making pure high pitched sounds like tinkling glass.

In my dream, I somehow became aware that I had dreamed of this place many times but had always forgotten it when I awoke.

This time when I awoke I remembered and painted it. Then, driven by powerful inspiration, within a matter of months I painted the bulk of the images in the series.

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"Bear Mountain"

In this painting I wanted to create a personal relationship between the viewer and a bear, an animal I've learned is intensely intelligent and even contemplative.

I chose eye contact as the method of bringing bear and human together. When eyes meet a new and deeper understanding passes between two beings. An energy is shared.

In addition to being strikingly human, I painted the bear's eyes so they would follow you as you walk

by the painting. People who have one of my bears say they feel a bond growing between them daily...as if an old friend greets them every morning.

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"Elephant Charge" [Kenya] African elephants sometimes use mock charges to protect their close-knit families.

Elephants have little understood, yet amazing abilities.

These include the ability to communicate over many miles using low frequency sound waves and the ability to recognize the bones of ancestors they have never met.

I used the painting style known as 'Energism' to capture the mystical powers these animals possess. Notice the circular flow of energy emanating from the powerful central chest region of the Elephant.

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Lion

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Pandas

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"Stallions"

One early morning, these two stallions fought for dominance in the badlands of South Dakota.

To paint this, I had to relax and let myself feel the moment, connect to the instincts of these animals and the intense power which flowed through them.

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"A Girl And Her Horse"

Just Us

The tranquil moment when
a young girl senses
a deep connection
with her horse.

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"Birds"

Vancouver Bay

Birds fly in rhythmic dance.

Fluttering flow.

Surfing wind and ocean spray.

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Roix's garden is the top painting in a two piece set which can be shown individually or together to fill long vertical spaces.

The top of the painting is a very surreal garden which ends with a koi/goldfish pond at the bottom.

The pond continues into a painting below called "Koi."

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"Horse Crossing" came much later than my other horse paintings and after I'd been working with very loose Energism landscapes.

I believed using the watery landscape style to paint a tranquil horse scene would best capture the fluidity I saw in their movements.

This painting is of five wild horses crossing a stream in the South Dakota badlands.
Their trot is very natural and graceful.

They also move as a group, as if they are connected by an invisible string. Watching them can be mesmerizing. The painting expresses both the fluidity of the individual and of the group.

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"Sentient Being II...Path To The Light"

My inspiration for this painting was an aspen grove in Colorado. The aspen leaves turn a brilliant gold in the fall. They are so bright that when they lay on the ground, one can actually walk the forest at night.

One afternoon when the sunlight backlighted these aspens I began to imagine that I might meet god in a setting like this...
the light and energy of a higher power coming to me through the trees and a golden path to the source.

I decided to paint the vision. The first attempt was good, but seemed like a scene I was watching instead of the deep experience it should be.

I repainted it focusing on connecting viewer and spirit. The result was that many people who have seen it say they feel like a hidden force is drawing them down the path toward the light. It is the favorite of the religious and spiritual.

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"Four Monks"

Four Buddhist monks stand in prayer on a balcony overlooking a plaza in Laos.

One on the far right beats a large round gong.

I used the circular style known as "Energism" to show the flow of spiritual energy within the scene.

Whether by divine intervention or just a coincidence, I later learned that I had inadvertently placed colors in the painting where they would reside in Hindu Chakras.

Chakras are energies associated with specific colors believed to reside in and around the human body. Do you see the monks in this painting?They're Buddhist monks who traditionally wear orange robes.One is hitting a large round gong with a mallet.

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While between art shows I stayed in the Florida Keys right next to a dolphin park.

In the evening after the tourists left I would watch the dolphins jump and play.
Their movements were so fluid, so in tune with their environment and energy, that I just had to put it on canvas.

I had to balance numerous forces which at first proved to be difficult including: Energism's "flow of energy"; the flow of water; the dolphin's patterns of movement in each; and the high

frequency vibrations dolphins emit to locate objects, communicate, and stun fish. After a week of dead ends, in frustration I just painted without thinking about it.
When I finished, I realized what the problem had been. I was trying to isolate the fources and then blend them, when really they work in unison. You have to sense them as a whole. Then all the little parts magically fall into place.

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"Elephant Herd"

Kenya

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"Leaf Peeping"

"Mount Robinson"

British Columbia

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"Outer Banks Horses"

Free on Shackleford Banks

Locals believe the wild ponies of Shackleford Banks descended from Spanish stock washed ashore after shipwrecks and attacks by local pirates.

As direct descendent of Tuscarora Indians native to the outer banks, I used local scenes such as this to pioneer the artistic style known as "Energism."

This style uses swirls and flowing brushstrokes to represent energy and thereby demonstrate the interconnectedness of man, animal and landscape.

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"Moon Dancer" is the first of a three part painting titled, "Aquarius," based on the popular 60's song.

Each of the three parts can be shown individually or all three can be displayed as a group.

Below is my sketch (without swirls) upon which the painting is based.

The far right panel is the sketch for Moon Dancer.

panel 1 | panel 2 | Moon Dancer