Meet jules gissler

We recently connected with Jules Gissler and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jules, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I have felt there is no other choice than to keep going down that yellow brick road of life. There will be obstacles, heart ache, & disappointments, but there is also much joy, feelings of accomplishment, and wonderful surprises that you could never imagine, unless you continue on your path. At one point, when I felt I was going in circles, someone told me instead of looking at my pretend mountain that I felt I was climbing, to look behind me and see how far I’ve come. I try remind myself of that if I feel I’m at a standstill. Sometimes a standstill or block is ok. It might make me think a little deeper about where I am, regroup, and take a different route.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My art and writing is how I connect with others. My style is primarily whimsical, bringing a humorous, joyful feel to my work. You can see this best in some of my pet portraits. My animals are animated, never looking straight ahead, to add to their personalities. I also create true-to-life pet portraits using a mix of watercolor, gouache, colored pencils, and/or charcoal.

In addition to pets, I’m known for my larger, figurative paintings of quirky women, florals, desserts, and abstracts. I have also painted a few landscapes. I love mixing materials. My art has a mix of one or a few with sequins, gouache, charcoal, colored pencils, acrylic paint, ink, and hand-torn deli sheets for collage and texture. I also give most of my
subjects a name, and a quirky title, or short story, which is written on the canvas.

Last year, I collaborated with designer Michael Grey for Birkenstock, which he sells on his website: https;//www.mgsandalfactory.com/collections/julie-gissler. I also painted Professional Basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury, Brittney Griner , for a live auction for the American Cancer Society. This year, I would like to collaborate with others for a national project with my whimsical furry kids. Maybe a mix of my furry kids and my hand-painted collage flowers for children’s hospitals. I also would like to do something with my quirky women and their stories. Of course, it would amazing to see my art on products in a cool shop like Anthropologie. I also would like to do more landscapes. I feel very lucky to have my interests in so many different areas, and mixing it up with a combination of mediums. Maybe a book?

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think people would always tell me to focus on one thing, but if that’s not you, there is a reason why you can’t enjoy doing several things. For me, I think it makes me even more creative. Just go with the flow of your heart, not your head. Trust your own opinion. It’s good to bounce things off of others, but in the end listen to yourself, you know what you want or need. Approach things or ideas with the question “Why not?”. Why not try this medium, or this subject, or this collaboration. You don’t want to have regrets..

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I would like to collaborate with someone with my furry kids, quirky women, and my collage flowers on a more national level; children’s hospitals, or home decor. I also think it would be fun to have a book with my women and their short stories, maybe put them on a dishes for Anthropologie, or a shop that carries fun dishes. Another collaboration I would like to pursue, is my book, “Getting Your Magic Back”, that I originally self-published through Kickstarter several years ago. It continues to sell. I only have a couple of hardback copies left. I would love to get it published to reach more people. I wrote it for people going through a divorce, but I have had others reach out to me that have had an addiction, a serious illness, or were in an abusive relationship, tell me how much my book meant to them, so I feel it’s purpose is not done.

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