Julie Davis

Julie Davis was born in Galveston, Texas, and was raised in towns across West Texas from El Paso to Abilene. She grew up drawing and creating and earned degrees from Baylor University in education and law. After she and her husband started a family, Davis worked as a freelance writer and explored black and white photography, photographing the landscape and her daughters, and learning much about composition and light in the process. In 2007, she had the opportunity to study oil painting and quickly learned that it brought all her interests and skills together—her adoration of the outdoors, drawing, photography, writing, even law--all of it had a place in making art. She studied with some of the preeminent landscape painters in the country and continues to challenge herself so that she might elegantly demonstrate her respect for our landscape on canvas. Davis and her husband live in Austin and have three adult daughters.

A Signature Member of OPA, AIS, and AWA, Davis has been juried into OPA, AIS, and AWA national shows. Her plein air work earned Best of Show in the 2023 American Impressionist Society Wet Wall Competition at the Small Works Showcase by Judge Anne Blair Brown, in the 2019 American Impressionist Society / Southwest Art All-Member Central Park Plein Air Paint Out in New York City by Judge Kevin Macpherson, and in the 2013 and the 2014 Kerrville Outdoor Painter’s Events in Texas. Most recently, she earned an Award of Excellence at the OPA Masters show from judge Scott Christensen. Davis teaches online and in-person workshops when her schedule allows. Davis’ work can be found at Davis Gallery in Austin, Texas, Mockingbird Gallery in Bend, Oregon, and Mary Williams Fine Arts in Boulder, CO. Davis is active on Instagram at @juliedavisstudio.

“Our experiences with the landscape are as unique as each of us. When I go outside with my plein air gear, I’m looking for locations that draw an emotional response from me. I try to build a painting that communicates an authentic reflection of my reverence for and my individual expression of our environment. I love the pursuit to understand a place that painting outdoors requires. The land always has a story to tell, and there is beauty in that. I do my best to understand the story within every subject I paint.”