Julie Morstad

Canadian artist Julie Morstad has such a gorgeous portfolio of her illustrative work online, you simply must take a peek to see it! And the good news for those who like her work is that she has a small shop where you can purchase a special print for your home. If you have children, or are young-at-heart, you may also enjoy the various books she has illustrated, you find them here.

Her work is surreal and therefore quite imaginative, a bit creepy even, with lots of animalization which we're seeing a lot in the art world, don't you think? The line between her human characters and animals is blurred and there is a lot of symbolism - emotions are shown through physical objects more than the facial expressions. Her characters lack facial expressions don't they? But the objects around them seem to be showing what their faces are not. It is so interesting to study her work and to create your own idea of what she could be trying to share through it.

I found an amazing write up over at the Sans Everything, a blog on politics and culture with some art posts from time to time, about her artistic style. I swear, it's one of the best blog "art" reviews I've ever read. The writer is just incredible in his description -- you can read it here to see what I mean.

(images: julie morstad)