Julie Inman

One of the nicest and shortest romances of my life was with Julie Inman. Here to the right.
She grew up in Colorado then Orange, California. She went to Littleton, Colorado High School and later to Santa Ana College, a junior college in Orange County. Julie is an excellent artist. I only have seen a couple of her paintings in person… one of a huge flag in some garish colors and one of Alice in Wonderland holding a smoking pistol and standing next to the rabbit’s dead body have been with me for years. They were both outstanding pieces of oil painting and the second one was published in ‘Playboy’ but in a news like column in the back of the magazine. She had two of her illustrations published in that column.

Seen here to the left.

I met her where I worked at May Company at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. She worked in the fabrics department next to mine, which was the linen department. I had just finished manager training in Los Angeles when she appeared in the next section. She was cute with short brown-blonde hair, very nice athletic body, and very expressive eyes. She always wore these slinky nylon dresses that just flowed over her body. Over the course of the next few weeks we had started to talk and found we had lots in common. We started to have lunches together and got to be closer friends all the time. 

This is one of her Giclee works.

She now lives in Littleton, Colorado and is still in the arts. She does murals on people’s home walls in a very realistic fashion. She also does illustrations and wonderful small paintings of floral settings.

Julie Inman Biography from 1990

Born in Houston, Texas, the child of a naval officer, Inman has traveled and lived all over the United States. She began drawing at the age of six when her parents gave her Learn-to-Draw exercise books to keep her occupied in the car on one of many cross-country moves. Inman used her drawings of cartoon characters to help her make new friends. Inman began her career as a professional artist at the age of 19, when she sold her first painting. For the next several years, she painted commissioned pieces for Marie Callendar Restaurants and illustrations for book jackets. Inman's skill and technique were finely honed as she completed a painting each week. After becoming a successful portrait artist in Lake Tahoe, Inman ventured to the New York area and worked as a portrait artist for a gallery there. "Throughout my career, I've always maintained that by giving one hundred percent to each and every painting, a mastery of technique and style would evolve. The adherence to this belief has made me grow as an artist." Inman next moved to Southern California. There her style changed dramatically and she discovered her talent for floral studies. Painting with acrylics on canvas, Inman incorporates her sense of classic design with her love of traditional, elegant decor. The results are breath-taking. Her florals transcend the traditional still life. They are not arranged as if by a florist, but naturally and artfully placed so that the viewer is visually drawn into the canvas. Julie Inman currently lives in Osborne, Kansas. The area offers the quietness and solitude Inman needs. "I am very isolated in my work, a hermit crab. My paintings are my connection to the world. I think that on some level, I'm painting a unique kind of portrait. My florals are the portraits of the people that I paint them for. I have an intuitive sense when I meet someone as to what their style is. That intuition about who they are influences the flowers and colors I choose."