"The contrast between bleak anonymous rows of houses and cheerfully unaware cherry blossom in ‘Blossoms in my Street’ immediately caught my eye. Even before I read Juli’s own words, I related to the painting on a personal level. 

 

Throughout lockdown I have kept a diary, weaving vibrant photographs from my county walks through the depressing anonymity of Covid figures, the statistics that reduce our loved ones to a list of daily mortality rates. The result mirrors Juli’s painting: a striking dichotomy: the beauty of nature sustains us; no matter how bleak things get behind closed doors, spring blossom will always give us hope, they put a smile on our faces and a song in our hearts!

 

The trees in ‘Blossoms in my Street’ are so full of colour and hope, I often find myself just sitting smiling at them. Juli’s, almost pointillist, technique creates a real sense of movement, as multicoloured petals flutter down like confetti, warming the bleak houses from the outside in. "

Sarah