About
Julie Johnson Oliver is an award-winning screenwriter, artist, photographer, and author. In a long circuitous route to becoming an artist, Ms. Oliver began painting in 2002 while living in Friday Harbor, Washington. She studied briefly with watercolorist Kristie Gjesme and premiere American oil painter Michael Workman, but she is largely self-taught. Her passion lately has turned from landscapes to figurative work in oils; ink and watercolor; and pyrography.
She says, "Serenity can be found each day, even in a chaotic world. Nature's smallest details are rich with beauty, and life's ordinary moments are full of joy and peace. I believe that every individual and all of nature was born into physical existence after first being created spiritually. The truth of our earthly experience is not found in chaos; the core of our being is the spirit of perfect design and peaceful order. My challenge is to give life to my paintings and photography like I do to my stories, and to reflect the spiritual values I cherish. When the piece is finished, I hope the viewer or reader will feel something good and uplifting and embellish it with feelings from their own heart. Because I'm a storyteller first and an artist second, I try to suggest narrative in my artwork. Art should invoke feeling, and so I like art that tells a story, that makes me feel good, that makes me think, that calls me to a higher plan." Ms. Oliver is very grateful that her artistic path includes visual art. It's true that a picture is worth a thousand words. What a great adventure to create life on canvas!
Julie's first published book - a collection of humorous essays entitled I've Been 16 for 34 Years - a BoomerTweener Memoir is a mix of memoir, humor, and inspiration. It's a book for baby boomers who feel too young to be old, too old to be young. Her recent writing projects include family journals, grandparent journals, and a coming-of-age YA historical novel about a teenage girl and her dog and their life-and-death adventures during WWI.
Julie is just a woman who has stories in her brain that have to come out. She's the author of poetry, magazine articles, stage plays, and screenplays. A graduate of BYU in law enforcement and justice administration, Julie has come full circle back to her first love - the arts. As an alumnus of TheFilmSchool in Seattle, she continues writing feature-length screenplays.
"I was born under a Russet potato on the windswept plains of the Snake River Valley in southeastern Idaho. I saw stories in the billowed white clouds floating every day across brilliant blue skies. As a small child, I was inspired to write after listening to pioneer stories narrated by my grandparents; after feeling the humor and strength of my parents; after daydreaming on the back of my first bay pony; after reading my way into big towns, big jungles, big dramas; after playing dress-up as some mesmerizing new girl, ; after loving the wild acres we tamed to produce food for the world; after admiring the endurance of high desert farm families; after seeing God's hand in all of it."
Julie is committed to drinking more water every day, catching a twenty-pound salmon, and sharing art that uplifts because Second Adulthood should be lived with joy. She has four married children and sixteen beautiful grandchildren, whom she adores. She lives with her husband in Utah. Their animal population has shrunk and now only includes two cats and one dog, roaming deer on the patio, garter snakes in the flower beds, and no more moles, voles, or gophers thanks to the cats.