Morose, I stared at the wet pavement. It could have been a beautiful February twilight if the dark clouds cramming the Cascades hadn’t been pushed down the foothills to sag over Magnolia and use my head as a prop. Half the neighborhood had already flown off to sunnier climes, avoiding moldy feet and frolicking infections. I was cocooned in a drizzle of envy.
As I stepped into the Village Bakery for tea, I looked up at a large oil painting, and suddenly it was summer. I was staring through a forest canopy, transported to one of those days where you lay back in sweet grass and watch a kaleidoscope of leaves sway in dabbled light.
I was determined to meet this artist, and yesterday, I did.
Finding out for oneself
Julie Devine came to Seattle to earn a master’s degree in English literature, not art.
“As a kid, I enjoyed sketching puppies; later, I moved on to portraits of dogs and people. My uncle, who worked in charcoal, encouraged me, but at the time, I was more interested in sports: basketball, volleyball, track and then school,” she explained. “When I decided to marry, I was living in Wallingford; my fiancé, in Fremont. But we wanted to be near Discovery Park: trees, water and salty air.… That was 12 years ago. Now, I often walk five miles a day, always looking up at the trees and sky, taking maybe 30 pictures, seeking possible subjects.”
“So when did you start to paint?”
Devine recalled, “One day on the way to work, I stopped and bought paints and canvas. I had the idea of painting a landscape, but instead, I shoved my purchases in a closet and went on with life. I’d never done that sort of work, and I think it troubled me.”
But six months later, Devine did a self-portrait, which she thought was pretty good. “At least it allowed me to get a feel for painting before I took any classes. I think it’s the only way to learn: To be so enthusiastic, you just have to find out for yourself,” she said.
After finishing the portrait, she enrolled for three years at Gage Academy of Arts on Capitol Hill, where she got training in form and rendering, “which is necessary, but you have to know when to use and when to discard structure. If you let it define your work, you can lose your motivation, so I worked on the side as well, wrestling with ideas and techniques…to make my art, my own,” she said.
Devine showed me several portraits she’d completed: one of her little girl as a baby, and another of a good friend here in Magnolia. I was impressed.
“So how did you like Magnolia when you moved here?”
“We had a hard time making friends the first few years, but once our boy, Max, now 11, and our girl, Eva, 7, started school and entered into sports, we formed all kinds of friendships. Then, when the school system dropped their art curriculum, I joined a group of volunteer parents as an art docent.
This year, Devine is responsible for creating the fifth-grade art curriculum and, of course, works directly with the kids. They made African masks out of used, plastic, gallon jugs.
“You should take a look,” she said. “They’re still on the walls.”
I did and was mouth-dropping amazed at the blaze of color hanging throughout the building. Gone were the bare, pea-green walls of my school days, where the only interesting object to stare at was some upchuck the janitor was hurrying to douse with sawdust so he could quickly return our lives to mediocre boredom.
If the teachers and staff are as dedicated and enthusiastic as the art volunteers, those Lawton Elementary School kids are very, very lucky.
Creating the colors
I could see Devine’s hand in the project because of the way she talked about loving colors. I mentioned I once bought a blouse that didn’t fit, just for its unusual color. Devine nodded.
“I was like that. I wanted to wear a color, eat a color, be a color. But I’m past that now because I know I can always create that color on my palette,” she said.
Yes, she can, and despite her busy family schedule, she’s compelled to find the time to capture summer in Discovery Park so winter victims like myself can take a deep breath and bathe in the colors of summer.
Devine’s work will be on display, along with seven other emerging artists’ works, from Friday, April 4, to April 29 at the Simon Mace Gallery in Port Townsend. April 6 will be the art walk when you can meet and talk to the artists.
And check out her blog at juliedevine.viewbook.com.
D.J. DOEPKEN is a longtime Magnolia resident. To comment on this column, write to QAMagNews@nwlink.com.
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