Featured Artist
Julie Reby Waas

I was born and raised in New Jersey and currently live in Miami, Florida with my husband. I have 3 adult sons.​ I have been drawing since I was a little girl. I would mindlessly draw on the margins of papers during class, during meetings, while on the phone or anytime I ​wanted to relax. Throughout most of my life, I never thought of myself as an artist. I thought of myself as someone who liked to draw, but never as an artist who liked to draw.

I have been a practising attorney ​in Miami ​since 1986, so that was my identity. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I began working from home. And while I was on Zoom I usually would be drawing while listening to whatever deposition I happened to be attending. Then, in February 2021, I decided while listening to a deposition that, instead of using my pens and paper scraps to draw on, I would buy some acrylic paint pens and art paper on which to place my drawings. So over the next couple of months, I created several small pieces and showed them to my husband and some close friends. They encouraged me to start a website and sell my art. So, in the Fall of 2021, my website and my Instagram went live. Soon after that, I ​began receiving invitations to exhibit from several galleries, and have exhibited my work in London, New York, Innsbruck, Miami and at the Placrylic Art Fair in the UK. Now, 17 months after I launched my website and Instagram, I have embraced the identity of an ‘artist’.

I use a variety of acrylic and oil-based paint pens, as well as watercolours, in my pieces. My pieces tend to be on the small side, with my favourite size being 12” x 12”. I particularly enjoy working with metallic paint pens and metallic watercolours, as they provide a wonderful contrast to the matte paint pens and watercolours and enhance the brightness of my pieces. I use bright colours in all my pieces because they inspire joy. Although I have worked on stretched canvas, my favourite surface is art paper. Once my pieces are complete, my favourite way of framing them is in a floating glass frame.

My art process is very intuitive. I maintain a list of titles of pieces I would like to create. The title of the piece is the starting point from which I create the design. I first draw the outline, which happens quickly because I follow my intuition and just let my hand create the shapes. Sometimes I use a compass to create circles, or stencils to add details, but most of my work is free-flowing patterns I create. After the outline is created, I decide colours or patterns that I will use, as I fill in the design. It is a very fluid process and I never know how the piece will turn out until it is completed. ​

​Through my art, I want to inspire the viewer to see their own journey through life​, strong like a vine, colorful and patterned like each phase of life​, and coming together to form a whole made up of complex but beautiful pieces. I feature vines and geometric shapes throughout my work. The vines represent strength. In many ways, all our lives are like vines that continue to grow in strength despite the obstacles we all face in our lives, undaunted by the path ahead. Another feature of my work is patterns which appear like puzzle pieces. Life is a patchwork of puzzle pieces. Every piece represents a time, event or season of your life. Some represent joy, some represent sadness or difficulties. Each has its own pattern, tone and beauty. As you are going through life, you may not see how the pieces fit together. When you look back, however, these pieces come together to form a beautiful tapestry of life. 

My inspiration ​comes from my heart. I’ve been creating similar drawings since I was very young. As a young child, I often visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and so I would say that I have been influenced by other geometrically inclined predecessors like Piet Mondrian and Joan Miró. When I draw, I am transported to a happy place where inspiration flows, and bright colors fill my world.

It only is after the work is completed that I have the opportunity to truly see where my intuition has taken me. I’m always surprised, and pleased, at how the colors and patterns work together to form an and bright and colorful whole and feel like each piece is a child of my heart. Because I have a full-time job as a lawyer, I can only devote a couple of hours each day to my artwork. As a result, most of my pieces will take several weeks for me to complete. But I look forward every day to the time I spend relaxing while drawing and creating brightness.

more. www.intuitiveabstractart.com