Artist based in Baltimore, Maryland

Julia Gould, Artist in the studio

Tell us about yourself, what's your background?

I knew I wanted to be an artist from an early age. My family is composed of scientists who always found ways to support and nurture my interests. We would frequent museums, and I always had space and materials to spend my time drawing and painting. I still think fondly of the El Greco, Cézanne, Klimt, and Matisse prints my father would decorate his house with.

I also grew up with a garden that rivals any private garden I have yet seen. The plants and animals were a constant wonder, I can’t separate the ‘magic’ of this garden, from the desire to create. Although, naturally, we were not a family of ‘magical thinkers’, I can't seem to come up with a word that better describes the awe and attraction for the ways life presents itself. I think it is the same wonder that I felt towards the seemingly impossible grandness of the dawn redwood tree in my childhood home, that demanded the metaphorical thinking that were the primordial roots of mythology and storytelling. I find no greater meaning than being a part of that history.

“Red Fruiting, The Fall of Adam and Eve”. 24” x 24”, Oil Paint on Linen. 2024

As a child of scientists, I know why that tree grows- but what that tree is, and what it does to us… That is the more felt question. I think about the nature of things, by that I mean its fundamental character: consisting of both its phenomenological existence and the psychology of looking at it. This is such a simple and fundamental link to painting- how something is visualized creates meaning. It seems so natural that the tree is the source of knowledge and temptation in the Garden of Eden, the tree connects all worlds and is the structure of the Norse mythological universe, and that when Apollo chases Daphne into becoming a tree to escape him, the tree become a conduit for his character’s affection and he adorned himself with laurel.

“Meet Me in our Tree”. 4’ x 10’, Oil Paint on Linen and Canvas. 2023

As a young girl, I felt comfortable and confident in art classes through elementary and middle school. I felt like that is where I succeeded in ways that fostered my pride and voice. I then went onto a magnet high school for visual arts; George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology. That is where I was able to deeply explore fundamentals of art making in a remarkably advanced high school program. The program set up the students to compete with masters of painting ( of course we failed, but we did so beautifully and dynamically). The critiques and lessons rivaled those I found in college; I am immensely lucky to have had that experience at such a young age. From there, I made the decision to go to the Maryland Institute College of Art, which further cemented the creative process into my character. Some passions have come and gone, but art making describes the way I think, and would feel lost in the world without it.

Left: “Sphinx Vase III”. 40” x 30”, Oil Paint on Linen. 2023
Right: “Sphinx Vase II”. 16” x 14”, Oil Paint on Linen. 2023

"I think it is the same wonder that I felt towards the seemingly impossible grandness of the dawn redwood tree in my childhood home, that demanded the metaphorical thinking that were the primordial roots of mythology and storytelling. I find no greater meaning than being a part of that history."

“Creekside Lovers II”. 72” x 58”, Oil Paint on Arches Oil Paper. 2022

What are you currently working on and where did the inspiration for it come from?

I am currently working on a 5’ x 5’ painting of a tree. The point of view is from under the tree, as if the viewer is positioned where the trunk should be, so that the composition is being swallowed by the center. It is directly in response to the fig tree in “The Bell Jar”, by Sylvia Plath. I was struck by the poem when I first read it, and copied it word for word in my sketchbook. Then I wrote my version of it.

Left: “Daughter on Dry Land”. 40” x 30”, Oil Paint on Canvas. 2023
Right: “Lover’s Pool”. 40” x 30”, Oil Paint on Canvas. 2023

I found that my version was glutenous in comparison to hers, and that gave me the inspiration to make a hungry painting. The “tree as the place for decisions” is shared. I have my own decisions in the form of temptations, which my tree will depict and bear in the form of fruit. So far, the “fruit” are other paintings of mine depicted through a glass orb. The painting is acting as a source for me, bringing symbolic passages from other works together to reassemble them together narratively. So far, the tree will depict a trophy cat bearing its teeth, fornicating beetles, snakes consuming each other, as well as fruits and flowers with scavengers and pollinators trying to reach the subject despite it only being an image in the orb. I am currently working on choosing more imagery for the fruit, clarifying the color and light relationships, and deepening the value structure in order to flesh out this painting.

Left: “Branch Climber II”. 20” x 16”, Oil Paint on Linen. 2023 Right: “Branch Climber I”. 20” x 16”, Oil Paint on Linen. 2023

Innovation does not only happen in the field of technology — it occurs everyday in a creative practice. What do you do for inspiration?

Finding meaningful ways of spending my time outside of art making is probably the most important inspiration for my practice. I practice Jiu jitsu and weight-lifting, which brings me back to my body. I find that tactile feelings are important to my work and wellbeing. I also collect plants, mainly orchids. They are meaningful both in terms of visual stimuli and habit. I enjoy caring for them, and using plant maintenance as a break from painting in my studio to clear my head.

Left: Observational sketchbook study of a bridge. Water soluble wax pastel. City Park, New Orleans.
Right: Observational ink sketchbook study of a rock formation with cormorants. Monterey, California.

Conversations with my artist friends are necessary as well, I like bouncing ideas off them and getting feedback from people with a shared goal. I visit museums and conservatories, garden, read, and go on walks. On these walks I’ll collect natural forms that I may use in paintings. When I am feeling stuck, the inspiration is out there- I just have to walk outside. Also, sketchbooking is an integral part of my practice, and I use it to collect hermetic thoughts that often inform the next painting.

Sketchbook drawing of two bathers from imagination. This drawing began the process of making “Creekside Lovers”

“Creekside Lovers”, ink wash on paper, 7’ x 18’. This painting is a post-intimate moment, questioning simultaneous feelings of shame and glee, as well as intimacy and loneliness. This expanded with additional sheets of paper as the narrative developed.

Where do ideas start for you? In the studio or being in the world?

Regular drawing from life and imagination is a large part of my practice. I take my sketchbook with me everywhere I go, and it is filled with drawings of anything that piques my interest at the time. Most of my paintings are from a combination of life, photo references, and imagination. Photo references are very useful, but they are a double edged blade. It's detrimental to stay too loyal to them; when I feel like I'm getting sloppy or dense, I go back to observation and imagination.

Left: Preparatory sketchbook drawing done for my painting “Red Fruiting, The Fall of Adam and Eve”. It depicts a detail from the painting “Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man” by Rubens, distorted through a glass orb.
Right: Photo reference of a still life used for “Red Fruiting, The Fall of Adam and Eve”. Glass orb, polyphemus moth, stag beetle, roses, devil’s tomato, phalaenopsis, psychopsis, horse chestnuts, zinnias, irises, and fir bark.

Most of the clarity in my ideas happen in the studio. Upon finishing a painting, I am usually left with more questions than answers, and those questions structure the next painting. They act as a string of ideas that build off the previous. When I find myself somewhere dry, I go back further; to ideas in an older work that I feel I have more to build with.

“Crawler”, monotype print on Hahnemuhle, 22” x 30". I try to let my oil paintings show my drawing hand. I think of how light works in monotype to inform this idea.

How do you make your work, does it start with a sketch? 

Most of my work starts in my sketchbook, usually in the form of writing. From there, I draw. The process of writing and repetition helps me distill information and ideas down until I can find the content. I’ll sketch out ideas and work through compositional options. Once I have something with some substance for me, I’ll usually do a photoshoot to materialize the composition I've imagined.

During the photoshoot I focus on how I want the light to act, make color decisions, and play with the staging of my elements. After I have some images I usually go back to my sketchbook, and then to the canvas. When issues arise in a painting, I again go back to my sketchbook to weigh my options.

Left: Vine Charcoal study of moths. Thinking of mirroring, repetition, and symmetry.
Right: “Eve : Serpent”, Monotype print on Hahnemuhle, 11” x 9". Eve and The Serpent sharing the same face. Inspired by a ceramic sculpture of Adam and Eve by the workshop of Giovanni della Robbia, hanging at the Walters Art Museum.

I like to start my paintings with washes from light to dark, working in layers of color that fill the negative space. This process is learned from my printmaking and ink wash experience where the lightest points of the image are preserving the white of the matrix I'm working on. I like to do this because it creates structure quickly while allowing the transparency of the oil paint to retain its luminosity. I generally work like this for most of the painting, then I will then go back with opacities in order to create passages of more nuanced rendering of form and light.

Perhaps my ‘style’ is the combination of the preferences listed below.

• I hold every mark to a certain standard of shape and movement, and try to let my marks say more with less.
• I feel successful when I can describe an area in one concise mark.
• I consider how every mark looks in relation to the gesture of the mark next to it, I don't like when the paint meets in a dry or awkward fashion.
• I generally work with fatty paint and work wet into wet within a passage.
• I work with a wide variety of brushes, but I use Angle Brights, Flats, and Filberts the most.
• I work areas of high chroma before low chroma
• I prioritize preserving high chroma translucent passages at the expense of form to a degree, but not to the extent of value structure.
• I tend to avoid white paint, and never use black paint.
• I prefer circling compositions with long diagonals
• I generally work near life size to the imagery depicted.
• I choose warm lights and cool shadows.
• I allow the image to break logic only when I feel the break is important to the narrative
• I believe beauty is important

Studio view

Many artists live by their routines, do you have your own studio or work ritual? What does that look like for you?

I like to start my day with the gym, and when I get to the studio I start by having coffee, and staring at the work from the days before. It takes me a bit of time to mentally warm up before getting productive. During that time I may sketch, complete small tasks, or research in my sketchbook.

When I'm painting, I always have my headphones on. I have multiple playlists categorized by mood. I go between listening to music and listening to formulaic long running crime dramas for background noise. I can get easily distracted and like long uninterrupted breaks. I find that my best work is done after I’ve already been painting for hours, so I try to block out long periods of time at my studio. I also keep other activities in my studio for when I need a break; maintaining my orchid collection, stretching, and playing darts are good distractions.

Studio view

Who are your biggest influences?

The lists below consist of some names I think of often while painting.

For sublime content and decisions, leading to a mysterious place…

• Victor Man
• Auguste Rodin
• Marin Majic
• Isabelle Albuquerque
• Kiki Smith
• Odilon Redon
• Elizabeth Glaessner

For their drawing hand in paint; for the expression of the mark making, value decisions, as well as mark economy…

• Doménikos Theotokópoulos
• Oskar Kokoschka
• John Singer Sargent
• Angela Dufresne
• Emma Webster
• Robin Frances Williams
• Peter Paul Rubens
• Kyle Dunn
• Doron langberg
• Jennifer Packer
• Diego Velázquez
• Kathe Kolwitz
• Paula Rego
• Tamara De Lempicka
• William Holman Hunt
• Rachel Rauch
• Vincent Desiderio
• Edouard Manet
• Jenny Morgan

For their use of color to inform space and mood...

• Louise Giovenelli
• Kyle Staver
• Lisa Yuskavage
• Pierre Bonnard
• Inka Essenhigh
• Paul Gauguin
• Dominique Fung

Studio view

Are there books or films that are an important source of inspiration?

Three texts that continue to bounce around my head…

“Ficciones”, Jorge Luis Borges- for the disorienting and mysterious… but all the while truthful.

“The Symposium”, Plato- for challenging, creative, and powerful questions to the Nature of Love.

“Metamorphoses”, Ovid- ancient myths that still address contemporary relationships in and through Nature.

Scenes from the studio

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?

One of my mentors from MICA, Tony Shore, said something during my thesis defense that sticks with me. He said to doubt your ideas after you make the work, not before.

What is the best advice you would give to other artists?

To keep a sketchbook, and use it.

Portrait of the artist

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Stay up to date with Julia Gould
Instagram @julia_Gould.art
Website Gould-Art.com