Julie Payne is an artist who works primarily in drawing media, creating figurative and abstract compositions that have a subdued and delicate bearing. The artist has academic training in architecture and sculpture, and many of her drawing works incorporate elements or references to three-dimensional constructions.

Payne’s studio, pictured above looks like a bright and clean drawing studio – from this perspective I can’t see if there are any windows, or where the studio is situated, but it looks as though there’s probably a fair amount more space behind the artist and her table. It looks as though the artist is working on carpeted floors, which is interesting for a dedicated studio space. Thin, large sheets of paper are affixed to the walls, and I would guess that Payne works on several at once.

The artist is drawing with her feet – not something you see every day, even in an art studio. The artworks that she’s producing look very abstract, focused more on the mark-making, and the process of sketching out ideas and working through the process of creating a form.

The table behind Payne seems to hold a wide array of drawing materials – pencils, charcoal, conté, and the like. The table itself appears to be wrapped in a similar thin paper as what the artist has tacked up on the walls. A clever idea – the artist would never have to search for a sketchbook or a piece of scrap paper to begin sketching.

Payne’s works have dealt with a variety of different subjects, but the artist’s style always seems to celebrate negative space and the different marks that can be achieved through different media. In some recent works, the artist looked at paintings from Old Masters, distilling them into a collection of motifs and references that she then expressed through drawing.

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