Julie Chapman adored horses, but she never had one as a kid. She loved math, science, and art, so it’s natural that she got an engineering degree after which she went to work for Hewlet Packard in northern California. There she finally got into horses, and competed in 3-day and dressage events for many years. Despite marketing at HP and long hours in R&D, she never stopped drawing. In 2003, her art won the Arts for the Parks Grand Prize ($50,000). This kicked her in the butt in many ways, so she moved to Montana, and she became a full-time artist. Julie already knew and loved Glacier and Yellowstone for wildlife reference material, but she discovered the joys of Montana’s small-town summertime rodeo (drama! color! horses in action!). She recently made her first trip to the Holy Grail for wildlife artists, Africa, and fell in love with the diversity and beauty of the animals there. She enjoyed exploring African subject matter in her paintings and scratchboards. Her work has evolved to something with a more contemporary edge – sizzling streaks of color, abstract backgrounds, and big loose knifework and brushwork. Her influencers include Carl Rungius, Bob Kuhn, Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Schmid. She counts herself lucky to have worked in collections and museums in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Canada, and to be invited or juried into a number of national and international shows every year. She also feels honored to be represented by an amazing coterie of galleries in the United States and abroad. The framed Julie Chapman art are also available through many outlets in the United States and abroad.