Manx artist Julie Collins has four paintings selected to be exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours annual show at the Mall Galleries, London, from April 6 to 12

Her work was selected from more than 1,200 worldwide submissions, where they chose 80 paintings, four of which are Julie’s.

This exhibition is to be opened by Humphrey Ocean RA, on Thursday, April 5.

The exhibition can be viewed online and some of Julie’s work has already been sold.

The daughter of Jill Collins and the late Des Collins, Julie was born and educated in Douglas.

As a young girl she loved art, visiting the Manx Museum and her grandmother, Phyllis Bregazzi, and her great aunts would take her out into the Manx countryside, visiting places such as Ballaugh, Tholt-y-Will and the Claddaghs, all of which feature in her contemporary landscapes.

Julie attended St Ninian’s High school, where she was encouraged by the late Jean Davie to follow her ambition to become an artist and she went on to study art at the University of Reading from 1980 to 1984.

Julie exhibits her work nationally and has received numerous awards for her beautiful paintings. Her ambitious watercolour entitled Alice (in Wonderland was selected for the Sunday Times watercolour exhibition, in London by Sir Peter Blake RA.

The famous art critic Brian Sewell, who wrote for the London Evening Standard, chose her work for the Discerning Eye exhibition in London in 2011 and the following year Julie was selected by the artist Albert Irwin RA.

Frances Carey from the British Museum also chose Julie’s work as part of her selection for the Discerning Eye show in 2009, where Julie received the award and regional prize for best painting from London and the South East.

Julie has been presented with awards at the Royal Watercolour Society, Bankside Gallery, London, in their annual open exhibitions and received first prize for watercolour at the Royal West of England Academy of Art, Bristol in 2016.

In 2017 Julie had a solo exhibition at The Isle Gallery St John’s.

She is represented in the island by the Isle Gallery and Studio 42 Gallery, Port St Mary.

Currently two of her paintings are exhibited at Southampton City Art Gallery in the show entitled Four Seasons.

In 2013 Julie was commissioned to write three Colour Mixing Guides about watercolour, acrylic and oil painting by the publishers Search Press.

The Colour Mixing Guides have also been translated into French, Chinese and Russian to be sold abroad.

Her previous publications include the best-selling Painting Flowers with Impact, commissioned by the publishers, David & Charles in 2005 for the UK and USA.

In 2006 Taschen then translated the book into French, German, Dutch and Spanish and then into Chinese in 2013.

In 2007, her next book, The Colour Mixing Index was published by David & Charles and sponsored by the art materials manufacturers, Winsor andNewton.

She is also a regular freelance art writer for the Artist magazine.

Julie currently lives on the south coast of England and visits the island frequently, where she researches, sketches and paints in preparation for her finished paintings.