Welcome to my world of Artistry, Craftsmanship, Authorship the world of Music and Housewifery.

My name is Julie. I hold a degree in Fine Art. I do not paint. The high point in my career was a woman who asked what I did and then asked what kind of art I did. Blessings on the woman. Most people ask if I paint and when I tell them I am a black and white artist utilizing pen and ink as well as pencil, they lose interest. I have won county fair ribbons for my art and had one piece in the State Fair of Minnesota. The judge was into toilets that year and, alas, I did a figure. I have also been in two shows at Bethel College where I hold my degree. It is just recently that I think I have found my niche in color. Welcome to the world of colored pencil. It is exciting and the colors flow together in a way I did not know was possible.

I should explain that I was trained in oil and acrylic painting. I even sold a painting at a sidewalk street fair for $15.00. It seemed like an enormous sum to me. I was later told that you should never price things under $35.00. I have discovered watercolors through adult education programs. It has possibilities I think, but I don't think that it will ever bring the reality to the pieces the way my pens, pencils and crayons are starting to do.

The mark of a good art teacher is one who creates possibilities and encourages you to go for it. So if you meet me on the street and ask what kind of art I do, I may tell you colored pencil and we will all be happy.

I have two covers out. One was the cover for "Time of Singing," a Christian poetry magazine The other is my husbands chapbook "St Cloud Cafe and Motor Inn." I am the artist for the back cover.

I have been a knitter since junior high school, a crocheter since high school. I have taught adult education classes in both knitting and crochet and currently I have been teaching counted cross stitch. I hold numerous ribbons from the county fair with the highest being a first place. However I have found even a ten place ribbon can also have a thrill that can't be expressed. This past summer, I added a dream. I returned home from the State Fair with two third place ribbons and a second place ribbon. Now I am heading for the blue.

I have had poems published. I have an article out that is currently being considered for an anthology. As it often goes in the world of writing the editor lost her first publisher and is searching for a second. My writing started in Junior High with the encouragement of a good instructor. However, even she could not get me to understand Haiku. I continued in High School and took the lone creative writing course that my college offered me. Perhaps it is at that point that my writing became more an inner thing. A personal piece that I did for myself but only published once in a while. It happened because the professor said I could be good if only I had the grammar. Nobody ever told me how to find the grammar. In the last year, my writing has taken a turn and I am looking to send it out. I think it is ready to meet the public. I also have a great blessing. A husband who is an author and is willing to share the secret of grammar with me.

I come from a musical family and played the clarinet through junior high and when I got sick of it, I was told my mother had sang in the choir so I couldn't. However I did sing in the church choir since grade school. Thus my clarinet career continued through high school. It did not follow me to college because I was sick of auditioning for last place if I was lucky. I now am learning the piano and the recorder. It is like being transported to a place and time that you can reach only when the music reaches out to you.