Julia Fish Thompson lives and creates art in Zionsville, Indiana. She won a handwriting award in fourth grade and took her first calligraphy class in community education at age 15. Since then she has always had a home studio and has not been able to stop! She graduated with a BA in Design in 1991 and married David Thompson that same year. Julia and David went from Utah to New York City before settling in Indiana in 1997. They have four dynamic children.
Julia leads a full and busy life as a full-time mom and part-time artist. When her youngest child started attending school all day, she joined the Calligraphy Guild of Indiana where she continues to enjoy learning and serving with a wonderful group of lettering artists.
Years ago, Julia tried lettering directly on a wall and began receiving requests from people to put quotes or scripture verses on the walls of their homes. Sometimes they wanted images to go with the lettering, so she joined Indy Decorative Artists, a chapter of The Society of Decorative Painters, to learn painting techniques and rub shoulders with great mentors. She originally wanted to learn European folk styles, but just started taking everything available including watercolor, oil, acrylic, and colored pencil.
This exposure to a wide range of media and styles has led Julia to interesting commissions outside the usual wedding or certificate work (the bread and butter of calligraphers). She paints and letters on walls, furniture, dishes, and random objects like footballs and quilts. She also engraves at Saks Fifth Avenue, personalizing fragrance bottles and anything else in the store. Recently, Julia decided to create works on paper for fine art reproduction, so prints are available of some of her pieces. Julia loves trying and learning new things, and continues to take workshops and classes.
Julia’s work has been published internationally; most recently she was commissioned to design and paint a chair that appeared in The Decorative Painter magazine. She also has taught calligraphy to children and adults in community and seminar settings.
Julia is available for your projects, large or small, simple or complex. She can personalize just about anything. She will travel to paint on location.
