Julie was born and brought up in the Ogmore Valley, which may be found at the heart of the South Wales mining valleys, north of Bridgend. She has always had an interest in art from an early age, but has not received any formal training past A level. Julie has enjoyed painting as a hobby, drawing inspiration from the landscape surrounding her home. Naturally with her Welsh background, some of the artists whose work has inspired her are from Wales, such as Kyffin Williams, Kevin Sinnott, Shani Rhys James and Bert Evans. Her international influences include Monet, van Gogh and Renoir. Since her retirement as a ward manager at the Angelton mental health unit in 2019, she has enjoyed developing her artistic skills using various styles. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic she has returned to working bank shifts at the hospital to help out due to staff shortages. Currently she has developed a number of Valley and Welsh Reflections mainly through the medium of acrylic. Recently she has had her work featured at Caerphilly Gallery (below), Nolton Gallery Bridgend, Neath Queen Street Art Gallery and Studio 18 Pontycymmer as part of Kevin Sinnott's Lockdown exhibition. In July 2021, she was selected along with 50 other artists (out of 1000's who applied) to participate as a Wild Card Entry in the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year competition at the Eden Project in Cornwall. She is married with three grown up children (Rhys, Gethin & Anna) and four grandchildren (Harrison, Thea, Elijah & Darcy).
