Julie Battisti

Julie Battisti paints fine floral and cloudscape paintings in oil on linen
Bio

Julie Battisti is a contemporary painter whose work is a nuanced exploration of the fleeting beauty of life, captured through delicate floral portraits and atmospheric cloudscapes.

Working primarily in oil on linen, Battisti renders her natural subjects with meditative precision. Her florals, blooming in larger-than-life scale, offer a vision beyond botanical studies; they are luminous, exquisitely detailed creations, where each petal seems to pulse with life.

“I am interested in trying to capture and recreate shapes and textures subject to change, subjects that will naturally decay and devolve with time. As I paint, life moves forward—my children grow, days pass, and the painting itself evolves until it becomes a fixed moment in an ever-changing world. I am one of those people who does tend to rush things, I talk quickly, I often don’t look where I’m going because I’m in a hurry, but in my studio I am able to be slow and deliberate.

In a world where some days it feels everything moves too quickly: flowers bloom and wither, phones ring, clouds dissipate; an artwork has the ability to stand still.”

– Julie Battisti

 

Battisti’s meticulous attention to detail depicts the temporal fragility of flowers, preserving nature’s subtle shifts within the stillness of her canvas. Initially working from photographic explorations, Battisti sensitively enlarges each floral subject on the canvas in expressive compositions where finely textured translucent petals capture and release light, the large scale of each flower head offering an invitation for full immersion in the sublime beauty of her vision.

Similarly, Battisti’s cloudscapes offer a poetic escape. The absence of a horizon line invites the viewer to lose themselves in an ethereal expanse, where layers of colour shift from soft greens and blues to opaque whites that urge the foreground forward. Each cloud appears as though caught in a moment of transition, an arresting snapshot of time in motion. Achieving a sense of depth through a refined palette and emotive brushwork, Battisti brings a sense of immediate presence and timelessness to her fleeting subject matter.

Battisti was born and raised in Melbourne, where she first discovered her passion for painting during her school years. She wholeheartedly embraced this passion at The Australian National University, completing a double degree in Visual Arts and International Relations. Battisti balanced a corporate career with her art practice while living in Melbourne, before relocating to New Zealand in 2017, where she now paints full-time. Beyond the studio, she hosts The Creative Kind podcast, where she speaks with artists and creative professionals about their experiences and insights. Battisti’s works have been exhibited throughout New Zealand and Australia, and are held in private collections internationally.

Parnell Gallery has represented Julie Battisti since 2018.

Julie Battisti paints fine floral and cloudscape paintings in oil on linen