Julia Whitehead – Everyday People

The focus on these figure paintings originated with a fascination of the shadows cast by figures when viewed aerially. The beautiful shapes cast on pavements are generally hard to appreciate when life is moving all around but are mesmerising when freeze framed in a photograph. Equally, the patterns made by bodies moving in a crowd or seen from unusual angles, have an artistic quality of their own.

“I enter into a slightly meditative state when painting, especially with the more impressionistic figurative crowd scenes. As in life, each small figure takes on a characteristic of its own and has its own individual relationship to the figures that surround it. People seem to enjoy the paintings as they see something new in them each time they look at them.”

”We are familiar with the scenes of busy, crowded streets but don’t always see them from a different perspective or remove ourselves from the crowd to be able to stand and watch. The shapes, colours, shadows and dynamics of moving bodies whether seen individually or as a group, provide a never ending source of inspiration to me as an artist”