Juli Adams says, "I carry a sketchbook with me because when I am trapped in a situation where I might become bored, I have my book."  It's not because she feels like drawing all the time she says, "It's more that I just can't sit still."  She says she sometimes gets tired of drawing and, often, she'd rather be "doing housework or vacuuming my car" but this prolific artist perseveres and that's good news for fans of her awe-inspiring works. 

Her subjects hark back to big-eyed 1960s images of artist Margaret Keane, but these are no doe-eyed children and kittens.  Her works are darker and more reminiscent of contemporaries like Joe Sorren and Mark Ryden.  "The critic in my head is saying 'who wants to see that? This is child's play. You must get serious about this. Art is serious business,'" says Adams.  And then she says, "the little crease on my brow gets deeper."

She describes her studio as being "the size of a shoe" but adds, "it is a perfect little room to create in."  And create she does.  She is driven to it.  She says she keeps working to go after "what is in my guts" whether it's funny or disturbing.  "I don't believe in artist's block," says Adams. "Working, for me, is a process. It demands that I pay attention to myself and to the world." She then adds, "What other kind of job can possibly be that for me? None other. Ever."

www.juliadams.com