About Julie Wilson
I am a landscape and wildlife artist from Northern Ireland where I am surrounded by beaches and mountains that are perfect for romps with my dogs and provide the perfect backdrop for my art. Even in rainy (and increasingly stormy) Ireland, I am drawn to painting the stunning landscapes and wildlife around me.
My inter-disciplinary practice combines painting, print-making and photography, but I work predominantly in soft pastels. My studio paintings and prints are informed by plein-air charcoal, pen and ink and watercolour sketchbook studies as well as reference photographs that I have taken.
My art is both expressionist and observational and is informed by my values.
It inspired by my passion for the environment and nature, and explores themes of memory, belonging and emotion. I aim to recreate, not only a strong sense of place, but also what it feels like to be in that place. With every painting I try to unpack and recreate my emotional response to the subject and to explore the impact it has had on all of my senses, not just visual. I am particularly drawn to light-play on water and in the sky, for which the landscape of my native County Down is a recurring inspiration.
Since first visiting Svalbard in 2022, much of my work has also focused on polar regions and I want to use my art to highlight the beauty and environmental significance of the Arctic and as a call to climate action. The polar regions are our last wildernesses and are critical to the wellbeing of our planet and the species that live on it, including us. It is vital that we protect them. My work explores the impact of climate change both in Ireland and in the High Arctic and has sought to draw the connections (geographical, historical and environmental) between my home island of Ireland and Svalbard. This work inspired me to collaborate on a 2025 exhibition of my work entitled “High Latitudes” and my work and the inspiration behind it has subsequently featured in Irish national media.
I am a member of the Polar Artists Collective and am involved in the Irish artist community, where I am the current President of the all-island Pastel Society of Ireland. I exhibit regularly with both these groups and am grateful for the opportunities they offer to support other artists; to promote the amazingly versatile and often overlooked medium of pastels; and, importantly, to shine a spotlight on the wonder, awe and fragility of the polar regions.
For me art is something that grounds me. It captivates me; takes me away from all external pressures and allows me to lose myself in the process, whilst often challenging me to push beyond my comfort zone. It forces me to think about each element of a painting, whilst allowing me to think about nothing at all; and it’s made me look at the natural world around me with a whole new level of awareness, for which I will always be grateful.
I hope you enjoy my work and find something that triggers a memory or a sense of place or peace.
Julie
Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton
Julie Wilson Art 