Julia Whitehead

Open Society - contemporary figurative crowd people landscape oil painting

2021

Born in Hertfordshire, England in 1969, Julia Whitehead studied Illustration & Printmaking at Cambridge. Under her maiden name of Hawkins, Julia’s work has been published and distributed worldwide as fine art prints, greeting cards and textiles. Having taken time out from commercial work to enjoy raising her family, Julia’s artistic direction has evolved. Her continued success as a commercial artist has been partly due to her ability to create new styles, and to approach a wide variety of subject matters. Julia currently works primarily with oil on (mostly) large canvas. Her work focuses on figurative themes, in particular crowd scenes. Originally more abstract, her art initially focused on the shapes and shadows that people make when they are grouped en masse, before developing into her current, more naturalistic style. Julia says -“We are familiar with the scenes of busy, crowded streets but don’t always see them from a different perspective or remove ourselves from the crowd to be able to stand and watch. The shapes, colours, shadows and dynamics of moving bodies whether seen individually or as a group, provide a never ending source of inspiration to me as an artist.”