About
Julie Davis was born in Galveston, Texas, and was raised in towns across West Texas from El Paso to Abilene. She grew up drawing and creating and earned degrees from Baylor University in education and law. After she and her husband started a family, Davis worked as a freelance writer and explored black and white photography, photographing the landscape and her daughters, and learning much about composition and light in the process. In 2007, she had the opportunity to study oil painting and quickly learned that it brought all her interests and skills together—her adoration of the outdoors, drawing, photography, writing, even law–all of it had a place in making art. She studied with some of the preeminent landscape painters in the country and continues to challenge herself so that she might elegantly demonstrate her respect for our landscape on canvas. Davis and her husband live in Austin and have three adult daughters.
A Signature Member of OPA, AIS, and AWA, Davis has won awards in OPA, AIS, and AWA national shows. Her plein air work earned Second Place at the 2025 Oil Painters of America Wet Wall Competition in the National Show in Bradenton, Florida, by Judge Todd Casey, Best of Show in the 2023 American Impressionist Society Wet Wall Competition at the Small Works Showcase by Judge Anne Blair Brown and in the 2019 American Impressionist Society / Southwest Art All-Member Central Park Plein Air Paint Out in New York City by Judge Kevin Macpherson. In 2023, she earned an Award of Excellence at the OPA Masters show from judge Scott Christensen. Davis teaches online and in-person workshops when her schedule allows. Her work can be found at Davis Gallery in Austin, Texas, Mockingbird Gallery in Bend, Oregon, and Mary Williams Fine Arts in Boulder, CO. Davis is active on Instagram at @juliedavisstudio.
“Our experiences with the landscape are as unique as each of us. When I go outside with my plein air gear, I’m looking for locations that draw an emotional response from me. I try to build a painting that communicates an authentic reflection of my reverence for and my individual expression of our environment. I love the pursuit to understand a place that painting outdoors requires. The land always has a story to tell, and there is beauty in that. I do my best to understand the story within every subject I paint.”
Honors and Awards – 2019 to Present
2025 Landscape Honorable Mention, Oil Painters of America 34th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Bradenton, FL 2025 Second Place, Wet Wall Competition, Oil Painters of America National Juried Exhibition, Bradenton, FL 2024 Plein Air Salon, December, Honorable Mention, Landscape
2024 Plein Air Salon, October, Best Landscape and Best Building, Judge Ned Meuller
2024 Honorable Mention, American Impressionist Society Small Works Showcase, Andersons Fine Art, St. Simon’s Island, GA 2024 Impressionist Honorable Mention, Oil Painters of America National Exhibition, Wichita, Kansas 2023 Award of Excellence, Oil Painters of America Masters Show, Illume Gallery West, Philipsburg, MT 2023 Award of Merit, American Impressionist Society’s 24th Annual National Exhibition, Somerville-Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE
2023 Judge, Driggs Plein Air Festival, Driggs, ID
2023 First Place, Wet Wall Competition, American Impressionist Society Small Works Showcase, Judge Anne Blair Brown, Knoxville, TN
2023 Award of Excellence, Oil Painters of America Wet Wall Competition, National Exhibition, Charleston, SC 2022 Juror, American Impressionist Society’s 2022 All-Member Online National Competition
2022 Award of Distinction, American Impressionist Society’s 23rd Annual National Exhibition, Mary Williams Fine Arts, Boulder, CO
2019 Best of Show, American Impressionist Society/Southwest Art All Member Central Park Plein Air Paint Out, New York, NY
Publications and Podcasts
2025 Artful Minds Podcast with Michael King
INSIDE ART, December 13, 2024, “The Quiet of the Landscape”
Plein Air Magazine, Dec/Jan 2024, Why Small Works Work for Both Artists and Collectors
Aart Podcast with Chris Stafford, S1E4
Western Art & Architecture, June/July 2020, Making Their Mark: American Women Artists
Plein Air Magazine, June/July 2020, feature: Her Own Private New York
Southwest Art, September 2017, Editor’s Pick for Artists to Watch
Selected Exhibitions and Juried Shows -2019 to Present
2025 Oil Painters of America, Western Regional Juried Exhibition, Illume Gallery West, Phillipsburg, MT 2025 American Impressionist Society, 26th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Cassens Fine Art, Hamilton, MT
2025 Oil Painters of America, 34th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Herrig Center for the Arts, Bradenton, FL 2025 American Impressionist Society’s 9th Annual Small Works Showcase, Fallbrook Art Center, Fallbrook, CA 2024 Oil Painters of Americas, Western Regional Exhibition, Phippen Museum, Prescott, AZ
2024 American Impressionist Society, 25th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Rockport Art Association and Museum, Rockport, MS
2024 Oil Painters of America, National Juried Salon Show, James R. Ross Fine Art, Indianapolis, IN 2024 American Impressionist Society, 8th Annual Small Works Showcase, Anderson Fine Art Gallery, St. Simons, GA 2024 Oil Painters of America, Oil Painters of America’s 33rd Annual National Juried Exhibition, Mark Arts, Wichita, KS 2023 Oil Painters of America, Western Regional Exhibition, Brushworks Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT 2023 Oil Painters of America, The Masters of OPA Juried Exhibition and National Show, Illume Gallery West, Philipsburg, MT 2023 American Impressionist Society, 24th Annual National Juried Exhibition, Somerville-Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE 2023 American impressionist Society, 7th Annual Impressions Small Works Showcase, The District Gallery, Knoxville, TN 2022 American Impressionist Society, 3rd Annual All-Member Online Exhibition
2022 Oil Painters of America, Western Regional Exhibition, Southwest Gallery, Dallas, TX
2022 235 Smaller Works Show, Whitefish, MT
2022 American Impressionist Society, 23rd Annual National Exhibition, Mary Williams Fine Arts, Boulder, CO 2022 Landscapes – Studio, The Salmagundi Club, Skylight Gallery, New York, NY
2022 En Plein Air, The Salmagundi Club, Rockwell Gallery, New York, NY
2021 113th Annual Thumb-box Exhibition & Sale, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2021 American Impressionist Society, 22nd Annual National Juried Exhibition, Gallery 1516, Omaha, NE 2021 Oil Painters of America, Western Regional Exhibition, Marks Arts, Wichita, KS
2021 American Women Artists National Online Juried Show, Lifting the Sky: Elevating the Works of American Women Artists 2021 American Impressionist Society 5th Annual Impressions: Small Works Showcase, Reinert Fine Art, Charleston, S.C. 2020 Oil Painters of America Virtual Salon Show, OPA
2020 Oil Painters of America Virtual Western Regional Exhibition, Illume Gallery of Fine Art, St. George, UT 2020 American Impressionist Society’s 21st Annual National Juried Exhibition, Illume Gallery of Fine Art, St. George, UT 2020 Oil Painters of America 29th Annual National Juried Exhibition, RS Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX 2020 Making Their Mark: American Women Artists at the Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, GA 2019 Smaller Works Show, Frame of Reference Gallery, Whitefish, MT
2019 American Women Artists Lifetime Signature and Master Members Show, RS Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX 2019 20th National Exhibition of the American Impressionist Society, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY 2019 American Impressionist Society, 3rd Annual Impressions Small Works Showcase, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petosky, MI