Julie was born and educated in West Yorkshire and moved to London for a career working in the care profession. Living with a chronic lung condition, Julie was forced to give up a job she loved-working with sick children. Julie was determined to do something with her life and after such a demanding job she found that she had spare time she didn’t know she had to pursue her love of creation within the natural world.

My inspiration coming from nature led me to study botanical art with the Society of Botanical Artists. I graduated in April 2012 with credit.

Not only has Julie’s botanical art helped her develop a more positive outlook to life, she has found a talent that she didn’t know she had and it has opened a new chapter in her life.

Julie was recently set another life challenge and recently finished intensive treatment for breast cancer. Again Julie turned to her artwork to help her escape from her health issues.

Art has now been recognized as being beneficial as both participation and creating an environment for healing. There is now an overwhelming body of evidence demonstrating that participating in the arts and having access to artworks can dramatically improve clinical outcomes for both mental and physical health.

Julie finds that her artwork certainly helps her escape from health issues; escapism to a safe place. Julie works mainly in watercolour. In February Julie was awarded Associate Membership to The Society of Botanical Artists.  In 2015 Julie was accepted to exhibit with the RHS and then she was accepted as a full member by the SBA in 2016.