A Machynlleth artist who was turned down by the Royal Academy 20 years ago is to have her painting featured in their summer exhibition.

Julie Jones, 50, was in “total shock” to hear that her painting ‘Our Dream Home’ would be featured in the ‘world's largest open submission exhibition’, having painted for 30 years.

Her painting will hang next to 1,200 other works of art, print and sculpture by famous artists and members of the public.

Julie said: "Whilst the paint marks imply a façade of a mysterious old house in the country and surrounding forms, I intended that the flowing paint could seem to be able to dissolve this apparition at any point."
Julie said: "Whilst the paint marks imply a façade of a mysterious old house in the country and surrounding forms, I intended that the flowing paint could seem to be able to dissolve this apparition at any point." (Julie Jones)

Julie said she is thrilled to be part of history as part of an exhibition which has run since 1769, adding: “I’d applied once before years ago in the early noughties and hadn’t got in and since then had focused on other exhibitions and projects.

“I’m fairly used to rejections when applying for artist opportunities as large scale as this due to the competition, so this was a total surprise.”

The painting will be displayed at the Royal Academy in London from 18 June to 18 August.

Julie paints both outside and in her studio, with the featured painting displaying raw brush strokes showing her an interest in “an economy of brush marks to convey a sense of place”.

Julie said: "I’m fascinated by the memory of place and nature and how this informs our individual and collective psyche. The painting expresses my love of eroded surfaces and my interest in using the flow and layering possibilities of paint to build a sense of atmosphere and drama, referring to my local environment, finding the unfamiliar in the familiar, and poetry in loss."
Julie said: "I’m fascinated by the memory of place and nature and how this informs our individual and collective psyche. The painting expresses my love of eroded surfaces and my interest in using the flow and layering possibilities of paint to build a sense of atmosphere and drama, referring to my local environment, finding the unfamiliar in the familiar, and poetry in loss." (Julie Jones)

Julie, from Liverpool who moved to Machynlleth in 2008, said: “‘Our Dream Home’ is a painting that emerged amidst a period of flux and change in my life.

“I became curious about the very idea of home, and the ways ideal visions can transform into something darker or vanish in an instant.

“This could include ideal lifestyles such as the dream of living communally and growing from the land, and how we are all often made to re-evaluate our hopes and dreams.

“I wanted to capture the way fleeting light can bring about a sense of the uncanny and to indicate an abandoned space with some signs of a previous life lived.

“I also hope that viewers find their own stories within the painting.

“I wanted to process personal feelings yet create something emotive and mysterious to others, which felt cathartic to me.”