Home – Julie Whyman

Julie Whyman

Julie is an established artist from the Waikato.  She creates vibrant original mixed media pieces, using colour and form found in nature. She lives rurally in the Waikato region.

Julie draws on a love of birdlife and the natural world, the rolling green and treed Waikato, and the coastal Coromandel Peninsula, where she also spends time.

Alongside texture and colour, there is a stunning depth of layers in Julie’s work. At times, she represents birdlife or tree shapes as a focal point in a painting, while at other times the birds are more abstract and become part of the landscape. She constantly finds herself seeking out birds in her garden, listening for their calls, and noticing them wherever she travels. The changing colours of the seasons are also a fascination, and her palette often changes with them.

Julie is self-taught, developing skills and techniques through hours of practice and exploration.  This exploration means Julie paints intuitively, making many mistakes and discoveries.  She never stops learning, allowing work to evolve while maintaining her own sense of style and uniqueness.

Julie’s process is to start with play, with the intention of finding inspiration.  Her studio contains various works in progress, as she adds layers of paint, ink, pastel, collage, and various media until form emerges.  She loves metal leaf, and these are often found featuring or hidden under layers, creating luminosity.

Julie’s work is held in private collections in New Zealand and overseas