Julie Beth Wileman
After retiring from working in education in 2008, Julie Beth Wileman began to paint. “My sister-in-law gave me three visits to an art studio and I arrived, supplies in hand, along with a bucket load of fears,” Wileman recalls. “I had a graceful, but persistent guide and after those three weeks I was hooked.”
Wileman works mostly in oils, but dabbles in other mediums “to keep the playfulness” that she needs. “I am envious of the freedom in which children create. I believe their freedom comes from focusing on whom or what they are creating, not how,” she says. “Though
I am always working on the how through workshops, studio visits, reading and videos, I find that what really pushes me forward in my art is who or what I am painting.”
Wileman adds, “I paint stillness, or maybe a better way to describe it is a moment in time. Joy is my focus whether it is a landscape that has a special feel, a pause in the bloom of a flower, or even an emotion in an abstract. I enjoy painting for others and finding that joy in their memories. Portraits bring out my best, I think, because I am focusing on the person along with the special, candid moment or memory that their picture represents. When I began painting my secret goal was to be able someday to paint Amy, my lifelong friend’s daughter who died at age 12. Reaching that emotional milestone keeps me motivated to keep working on the how and finding joy in the who and the what.”