We recently connected with Julie Woodard and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Julie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

It’s tricky to pinpoint an exact moment. I don’t think I knew for a long time, yet art kept creeping into my life. When I was about 7 years old, my uncle saw my artistic skills, and he saved and framed a forest scene that I drew. I didn’t remember writing this paper in high school, but it was about me selling my paintings so that I could buy a horse ( I was also horse crazy as well).
I loved watercolor, and my husband bought me my first set of paints, brushes, paper, and some books. I practiced on my own and took some classes, and eventually joined a watercolor guild where I met many wonderful artists and was able to learn from many demonstrations by internationally known artists.
Little by little, with the encouragement of my husband and artist friends, I started teaching, painting, and selling my works. It took me a long time before I was comfortable saying that I am an artist.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I didn’t have a direct pathway to being an artist. I actually started out with an undergraduate degree in Biology from Mt Holyoke College, planning on becoming a veterinarian. I didn’t get into vet school the first time, so my backup was a PhD in pharmacology at the University of Alabama. I met my husband, and we both decided to pursue a degree in psychology. So off we went to University of Dayton for our MA in Clinical Psychology. I did practice psychology as a crisis counselor and then as a substance abuse therapist.
We started our family, and after my high risk pregnancies, I decided to be a full- time mom. When our children were old enough, I loved doing art projects with them.
My first art “job” was teaching drawing to children for the company Young Rembrandt’s in Illinois. We then moved to Michigan and I happened upon the Northville Art House. I saw a huge opportunity to create a very active art education program there. I started very simply, and the art classes gained more popularity. Over the 15 years at the art house, I ran tots classes, watercolor for kids and adults, drawing, acrylic painting. I would get requests for certain topics and mediums, and I would figure out a way to teach that subject/medium. So I became very versatile- which of course was so fun for me- and a great excuse to buy all sorts of art supplies! I would also teach printmaking, paper making, mosaics, colored pencil, gouache, pastels- oil and soft, and alcohol inks to name a few of the classes I ran.
I started the summer camps for kids with my Draw-Sculpt- Paint idea where children would explore a specific subject in a variety of modalities.
I also introduced children to an art appreciation program called 2nd Saturday. The gallery would have an opening on the first Friday of every month. But on the Saturday of the next weekend, I would have the children tour the gallery and learn about the art displayed, then go to the classroom and create similar art.
I also worked with the wonderful organization Living and Learning- doing art with kids with autism. My background in psychology and my diverse knowledge of art mediums helped me immensely in working with these awesome students.
I expanded my knowledge in acrylics when I worked for Grumbacher at Michael’s for 5 years.
So, as you can see, I’ve had a variety of wonderful experiences. Plus I’ve taken workshops and classes and worked hard on always improving my work.
Ultimately I’ve settled on 3 main mediums- watercolor, acrylic, and pastel (soft). I currently teach acrylics at Schoolcraft College. I teach an online drawing class over the winter.
But going back to my love for animals, I found that I truly love doing pet portraits. I’m trying to build my business in doing commissions of people’s pets. I think my style is fairly realistic, but with a painterly aspect- I would not say I paint totally photorealistic. But I am open to creating paintings of landscapes, florals, seascapes….
From my studies of the masters, I am drawn to a more impressionistic style.
I want to keep a balance – I love teaching and inspiring others to do art. With my psychology background I feel that art is healing. I love creating a positive environment in my classes where students are all supportive of each other., and we develop some wonderful friendships in addition to creating art. From the energy of my students, I am inspired to create for myself..

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

One of my goals is to be rewarded for my time and “talent”- monetarily and professionally. But a bigger part of what drives me is my commitment to helping others create art, feel good about themselves, bring together a community of sensitive, kind, caring, creative people, and fill the world with as much beauty as possible!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Not necessarily that I wish I knew, but I wish I had… YouTube!!!! Also joining various art groups in your area is a wonderful resource.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: artby_juliew

Image Credits
All images are from my own reference photos and all paintings have been created solely by me