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In 2020 – when most travel plans stalled – many of us were scrolling social media to capture scenes from distant places that we were dying to visit.
The bouldering artist Julia Bright – who grew up in Lithuania near the Baltic Sea – brought her longing for wanderlust to canvas and created a series of paintings inspired by the sea.
Two of them are currently on display and for sale in the Loveland Public Library through September 30th.
In her lifelike recordings, viewers can almost hear the crash of an indigo blue wave. Detailed and full of movement, they bring the calm of the sea to our landlocked country.
At a time when it would have been easy to paint objects in her home, Bright took a break from painting still lifes and tried to create the inviting shorelines she longed for.
Bright’s pieces are timeless and it is not surprising that early in her career she spent time at the Louvre in Paris studying the works of Rembrandt, Chardin and Ingres.
From showcasing the power of nature to highlighting the complex beauty of flowers in a water-filled vase or the shine of a plump tomato, Bright transmits the wonder to everyday life.
We caught up with the award-winning creative to learn more about her latest work, what she’s hoping for her pieces for the patrons’ homes, and what visitors can expect from her solo show at Mary Williams Fine Arts in Boulder this fall.
Reporter Herald: Love your newest work. Heard you created these ocean scenes during quarantine last year. What inspired this series?
Julia Hell: I don’t think I would be the only one feeling stuck and scared during the pandemic. 2020 was literally the worst year of my life. Aside from the pandemic, my mother died and I was in a car accident. I felt down and not enthusiastic about life and my work in general. Growing up near the Baltic Sea, my happy place has always been the water – being in it, being around, smelling the sea, feeling the sun on my face, reflecting in the sand on the beach. I longed for the freedom, joy and excitement that I always experienced on the water. But of course I couldn’t walk like everyone else who was inland in Colorado and locked up. So I decided to paint it.
Right: What is it about the sea that particularly moves you?
JB: I never get tired of the ocean. It is constantly changing, it never stops. To an artist, the subject is fascinating because there are millions of shades of blue, from aquamarine translucency that shimmers in the sun to deep indigo violet in the depths on the horizon. There are so many things to watch, memorize, and paint that I can literally produce dozens of pictures from just one spot on the beach. But the moment I sniff this salty air, it lifts my spirits and gives me joy and hope for the future. The ocean is eternal, it is huge and it is life giving. What else can be so infinitely fascinating?
Right: What do you hope your seascapes will add to the guests’ interiors?
JB: My wish is to convey on canvas what I feel when I see the ocean: joy, love, a feeling of freedom and hope. Collectors who have bought my seascape paintings have told me that every time they look at the painting, they lift their spirits. Some have said that they will find another part of the painting that they have never noticed before – whether they find that the foam on the waves is actually not white, but a rainbow of rose, aqua, buttery yellow and blue, or them notice a rock underneath water they have never seen before. It is these discoveries over months and years of owning a painting and the beauty of the nature depicted that people love. And who doesn’t want a little bit of sea in their surroundings?
Right: I know you always go to the seaside at least once a year. Were you able to travel there in 2020 and do you have any plans to explore a coast this year?
JB: Unfortunately I couldn’t visit the beach in 2020. But this year I was able to go on an exploration trip to the south coast of Mexico. It was heaven. I painted and drew on the beach. I brought so many ideas with me that it will take me years to explore them all on canvas. I can not wait any longer. And there are more trips to come, from visiting the California coast in a few months to a week or two in South Carolina next year. I always have a couple of coastal excursions to look forward to, aside from another pandemic.
Right: What topics or techniques are you currently researching in your work and what can we expect from your one-woman show at Mary Williams Fine Arts in Boulder?
JB: For the past two decades I have mainly been a still life painter. But since the pandemic, I’ve expanded to include both seascapes and landscapes. Most of my landscapes nowadays have water in them, because that is an infinitely fascinating subject for me. Before, but especially during the pandemic, I was drawn to and preoccupied with the subject of our changing and disappearing ecology. The fact that our topography, our oceans are changing due to climate change is worrying. I saw it with my own eyes when visiting Mexico, whose beaches have a very unusual amount of algae due to climate change. As an individual, as an artist, what could I do to help the situation? I thought that painting landscapes and seascapes is the best way to remember and make everyone aware of how beautiful our planet still is and that it is worth saving.
As for the painting techniques, I paint alla great, which means that most of my pictures are done in one sitting. I try to paint en plein air – on location – whenever possible, but my seascapes mostly arise from memory, my observations of the ocean and how light behaves when it hits the water. I use old masters painting methods and materials, paint with hand-sanded oil paints and painting materials on handmade archival birch boards.
I’m really looking forward to my one-woman show at Mary Williams Fine Arts in November. I’ve been with the gallery for over two decades and consider it one of the best representative work in the area. I’ll have a selection of the works I’ve done over the past two years – the still lifes I’m known for, but also landscapes and seascapes that my collectors have valued a lot lately.
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