Artist Statement

I search for beauty and try to capture moments of inner peace and meditation in my artwork.

In the still life paintings I look for guidance from many painters of the past: Chardin, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Titian and the Spanish and Dutch Baroque still life painters.

 I also create portraits and figures that explore the psychological aspect of the individual.  

In my series of life-sized monochromatic paintings I have focused on the inner life of children and teenagers.  I try to record the moments of contemplation in a child's otherwise overly active world of sports, video games and instant messaging.

Many of the plein air studies are views of my childhood stomping ground in Southeast Missouri's rolling foothill of the Ozark Mountains.

--Julie Barbeau