Julianna J. Franchetti M.A.
Julianna Franchetti studied at Liverpool University, obtaining a B.A. then at Central St Martins, London obtaining an M.A. (Hons).
Following this she worked as an animator for several film companies including Bob Godfrey Films, Halas & Batchelor and Pizazz Films. She worked at Richard Williams Animation Studio in London for eight years as an animator/director and during this time studied with Art Babbit (originator of Goofy and Snow White) She produced many commercials from Dulux and Rolo to National Savings and Listerine Mouthwash and received two Designer and Art Director awards. She also worked for The Discovery Channel, Cartoon Network and on many films for television and cinema including The Beatrix Potter Tales, The Snowman, The Bear and for Disney worked on Fantasia 2000 and Hercules. More recently she completed work on an animated film of Michael Foreman's War Game, which premiered on television and on an animated opera The Cunning Little Vixen shown on BBC2.
Julianna has been featured in the Leisure Painter and The Artist Magazine. She was selected as one of Britain's Painters at the ICA and has exhibited work with The Chelsea Art Society, The Chelsea Arts Club and several local galleries and joint exhibitions.
Julianna now produces oils and watercolours, many to commission. She holds enthusiastic, privately tutored classes in watercolour techniques at her studio in Putney and at Putney School of Art, the Hurlingham Club, Barnes Art Society and Fulham Society of Painters, (see section on classes for more details). She also runs a fantastic painting holiday in Andalucia, Spain, (see holidays for more details).
"I live in Putney, London, and have a studio overlooking the River Thames, a view that features in many of my paintings. I love the movement of the river and spend hours studying its reflections so that I can get a feeling of movement into my paintings. I think this love of motion comes from my early training as an animator when my drawings would actually come to life! Whilst working on films I was often called upon to produce backgrounds or pack shots for films and commercials. The background creates the mood and sets the scene. One particular background for a Disney film made me really think about reflected light. The scene was in the desert and the director wanted three different light sources, the main one from the sun, reflected light from the desert sand and a cold blue light source coming from a nearby mine. This painting, (which can be seen in my commissions section), sparked a challenge to capture reflected light, which is the essence of all my paintings, especially those painted in hot countries. I find that watercolour especially is particularly well suited to capturing the translucency of light. I love the way bright sunlight almost bleaches out detail and keeps paintings loose and vibrant with reflected light turning the bellies of terracotta pots a hot raw sienna and lemons a bright sap green reflecting the leaves around them.
My aim is to capture light, whether painting in bright sunshine or indoors in my studio with sunlight streaming in through the window and when a painting is successful I feel it is like capturing the sparkle of magic!"
Alongside her paintings, Julianna has spent the last three years writing a children's novel for 8-12 year olds. She is presently approaching agents with a view to publishing.