Artist Statement:

    I find art to be a wonderful journey and adventure.  Each work is a path leading to new discoveries of expression, creativity and ability.  I love the realistic qualities I get from layering watercolor with colored pencil.  These two mediums work well together, creating a rich vibrancy of color and texture.  When I slow down and engage my heart and mind into a realistic work I am awed by the details I would have otherwise missed.  I find in such a fast paced world it is easy to miss the beauty we have been given. In contrast, I enjoy the freedom I find in acrylics.  I often work at a much faster pace with looser brushstrokes allowing expression to flow freely from the song within, conveying more spiritual surrealism in my work.

Biography:

    Julie Armendariz was born in the early 1960’s and raised in Manhattan, Kansas.     She studied Fine Arts at Kansas State University for two years.  After marrying, she moved to New Mexico and then Oregon, where she currently resides with her family.  Although Julie enjoys working with many different types of media, her current work consist of colored pencil, watercolor and acrylic.  Julie enjoys exploring realistic, abstract, and spiritual surrealism themes in her work.

Dedication: 

    I would like to take a moment to say thank you to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, without Him I am truly a blank canvas.  Thank you Jesus, for always being the Master Artist at work in me.