Julie Riker: An Observational Representational Artist

Story by Christina Heintzelman: cheintzelman@benchmarkmediallc.com

Photos submitted by artist

It’s hard to know where to start when writing about Julie Riker’s art as she is a multitalented artist who has a business providing decorative art on walls and furniture, restoration artwork, and representational art paintings often done ‘en plein air’.

Although her canvases are often created in a representational style, she considers herself to be an observational painter saying, “Sometimes I am attracted to an effect from light or abstract shadows that I observe, so the beginning composition may look somewhat abstract, but the finished effect is representational art gleaned from my observations.”

Riker has always been interested in the arts and graduated from University of the Arts in Philadelphia, majoring in illustration. After graduation, she found that the field of illustration had almost entirely moved over to the computer design world. “I came out of college as a dinosaur because my college didn’t initiate a computer driven illustration program until after I had already graduated.” She was fortunate to come home and get a job doing restoration work on the Pennsylvania State Capitol building, working with Albert Michaels Conservation as a member of a team of artists working on the restoration project.

After working for Albert Michaels Conservation for six years she left and opened her own business doing decorative painting in homes, churches, and businesses on both walls and furniture. Her marbling, wall stenciling, and wood grain finishing are in themselves works of art as one-of-a-kind creations. With her work on furniture, for wood grains that aren’t desired by clients, she has an entire repertoire of ideas and styles for customers ranging from old Germanic folk art style blanket chest paintings to MacKenzieChilds style whimsey created on any piece of furniture available. In this genre, she tends to work in acrylics and water-based mediums rather than bringing solvents into someone’s home or business.

During art school, Riker didn’t have the opportunity to paint out of doors and didn’t begin this type of work until after she took a local plein air class. “I love the outdoors; I love the light and shadows, and I do love to travel and paint so this type of painting appeals greatly to me.” She continues by saying that she feels her work has a more painterly realism than hyper-realism because she doesn’t strive for a painting that contains every brush stroke showing everything she observes. The finished effect may be a bit more impressionistic than realistic.

Riker attends juried plein air workshops up and down the eastern seacoast and has garnered a following by also having her work shown there. She is represented by various galleries ranging from Chesterton, MD to State College, PA and locally by Smith Gallery and Fine Custom Framing, located in New Cumberland, PA. She and her art have also been subject matter in “Plein Air Magazine” and “Fine Art Connoisseur.” “Southwest Art Magazine” also did an article on her as an ‘Artist to Watch.’

Recently, Riker was chosen to participate in the 19th Annual Plein Air Easton 2023, the largest juried plein air competition in the United States. It will be held in Easton, MD July 14 through 23, 2023. This is a highly competitive venue and, out of hundreds of entrants from the US, Canada, and Europe, only fifty-eight were selected.

Riker says she has been influenced by the art of John Singer Sargent, considered by many to be the leading portrait painter of his generation, and his use of the economy of brush strokes, rendering a hand in three strokes of the brush. “I also enjoy the work of Andrew Wyeth and his use of strong composition,” she says, mentioning a painting she did in Maine of the Olson House, creating it in the style of Wyeth.

Ultimately Riker states that she paints for herself and is trying to find a truth in an object, “I look for the exact colors, something that someone else might have overlooked, my sense of what I see… my painting is often done using spare brush strokes; it has become almost like a calligraphy for me, and I think part of this is due to the short periods of time you can work when painting plein air. I’ve developed a shorthand that has come with my confidence in my brush work making my work a bit looser.” Riker mentions palette knife work briefly but says that she enjoys using a brush because of its ability to be moved in so many directions and its better flexibility. “I can use one big fat brush in a painting and if I only want to create a dot, I just use one tiny little corner.” it’s obvious that crime DOES pay for the TV audience and production companies.

Riker also says that even though there seems to be a move in local art towards more abstraction and mixed media she intends to work mostly in plein air and stay with her style in observational realism.

You can find more examples of Riker’s work on her website www.julieriker.com; on Facebook: Julie Riker Fine and Decorative Art; and Instagram: @rikerart Also, if you check Julie Riker on YouTube, you will find various videos. Smith Gallery and Fine Custom Framing has done an Art Talk video available on YouTube. Riker’s home studio is available to visit by appointment.

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