I learned to paint with an artist while I lived in Honduras in 1984.  Benigno Gomez, a prestigious national painter from Honduras earned his Masters in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy.He shares  the company of Picasso and Miro because his painting was also made into a stamp by the United Nations. I spent a year and a half painting alongside Benigno and he taught me an intuitive technique that has given me a lifetime of paintings,a forever-fountain of ideas.

When I returned to the States in 1985, I took classes in ceramics with Bill Shinn and Bob Nichols and life drawing with Marti Fast at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California.  My ceramic Kachinas were sold at the A Gallery in Palm Desert from 1995-97. Recently retired, I took classes again with Bob Nichols 21 years later and am selling these works at The Gala Gallery in Nipomo. 

I returned to painting when I met Robert Burridge in 1996.  He was named one of the Top Ten Emerging Artists by the Los Angeles Times in 1995 and his awards have soared since.  Bob has been my mentor and friend ever since. In 2000,   I began selling my ceramics at Gallery Los Olivos in 1993 and later juried in to sell my paintings in 1997.            I taught classes for the him at the Art Methods and Materials Show at the Pasadena Convention Center and continued for 10 years teaching my own classes on painting intuitively and painting in the styles of Klee, Miro, Gaugain and Matisse.

I consider myself an"Outsider Artist " because I do not have an art credential nor have I gone after awards and shows to have an impressive resume.  I paint for the exploration and relaxation this creative activity brings me. My work has been chosen for local magazine covers and event posters. I am honored to be a part of the top-selling artists at Gallery Los Olivos in the Santa Ynez Valley, just on the other side  of the mountains from Santa Barbara.

I love to teach others how to paint from their own intuition.  I am good at spotting what needs to be done to those unfinished paintings you thought were losers.  Contact me for private lessons for you and your friends.

In 2016, I retired from teaching elementary school for 32 years and am now a full-time artist and part time student earning my AA in Fine Arts at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California.

See more of my work on Facebook at Contemporary Art by Julie Herse-Fish