Hello everyone! I’m Julia Sol, and I’m excited to have you join me here at Julia Sol Studio! As a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades (master of some), I have many passions and I’ve created this blog to unite my favorite things and hopefully explore them with like-minded people.
As a digital artist and language enthusiast, I’m eager to share my experiences, tips, and stories with you all. And as a proud cat lover and self-proclaimed Mother of Cats, I won’t be able to stop myself from adding cat-inspired content on top of everything! After all, cats are such great subjects for art and they can be very helpful in language learning 🙂
In this first blog post, I’d like to introduce myself, the topics and purpose of this blog, and offer a glimpse into my life journey. Curious to learn more? Keep reading!
Who am I?
As you can guess, my name’s Julia 🙂 I’m a traditional and digital artist currently living in Armenia. I’m also a polyglot, a (sort of) writer, embroiderer, collage maker, crafter, and… I’m sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.
I like cats, coffee, learning languages, creating stuff, and, probably most of all, — trying out new things, taking on various challenges, artistic and not, getting into new projects.
As an artist, I haven’t found my style yet — and I’m not quite sure I want to have just one. I’m always curious about new things — which is probably one of the few constant things about me and my art.
The Artist
Short version: it’s been winding, uncertain, and somewhat chaotic – but definitely a lot of fun 🙂 Read on for the details!
I’ve been doing some form of art ever since I remember myself but I never considered myself an artist until recently. As a kid, I did a lot of things that “kids are supposed to be doing”, like drawing and various crafts. I guess I never showed any special talent – at least not enough for my family to encourage and foster my artistic pursuits.
As a teen, my main creative outlet was poetry. Most of it was incredibly cringe stuff about my crushes — but by the end (I stopped writing poetry almost completely at around 18) I was not too bad – at least, rereading some of the later poems doesn’t make me want to facepalm myself to death. If you’re feeling adventurous, drop a comment and I might share a poem or two from the ones I’ve written in English.
During this time, I also wrote short stories and plays — most of them just as cringy, although there are a couple of plays I still quite like 🙂
Most of my drawing at that time and in my early 20s, while at the university, was doodling all over my notebooks but I also experimented with different media, like trying out pastels or using adhesive paper to decorate my desk.
At one point, my mom called one of my projects “kindergarten stuff”, which kind of made me not want to share my art with her – and I rarely do these days.
In my early-mid 20s, I also did photography. Honestly, it was partly because everyone was getting DSLRs back then and doing it, but I also really liked it. One of the projects I did was taking a photo a day for a year, which was a lot of fun.
Even though I did many “artsy” and creative things, art kind of remained in the background all this time, until maybe about my late 20s — although, again, I can’t really pinpoint a moment when this changed. Or can I?
One of the things that I can definitely call a turning point was a local art school holding an online sketching marathon — which I joined (also drew with alcohol markers for the first time and spent a bunch of money on Copics) and which I LOVED.
Since then, I started taking art more seriously, taking courses, watching tutorials, and practicing more and more — and for about the last 3 years it has been one of my main — I don’t even want to call it a hobby, as it has become a huge part of my identity.
At the end of 2021, I got a digital tablet as a present and dove into digital art — and I have been loving every minute of it since ^_^ For an impatient, slightly chaotic person (aka me), the flexibility of digital art (and the fact that every action is reversible and experimenting is so easy!!!) has been really freeing and inspiring.
One of my recent interests in art is surface pattern design. I’ve only begun to learn, but I am thoroughly enjoying making various patterns. Who knows, maybe soon you’ll be able to buy some stuff with my patterns on it 🙂
So, here I am. I might have missed a few things in this account but it is hard to remember everything — and some things will most likely be their own posts in the future 🙂
The Language Lover
My language-related journey started very early, when I was around 4-5 years old. At some point, Dad brought home a couple of tapes with English songs and accompanying books – quite a rarity in what was then the Soviet Union – and I played them over and over again. So much that I still remember bits from some of the songs! There was also a cartoon about Muzzy and English courses for kids.
I don’t remember much from that time but I do remember having fun learning English, and that probably was the key. I am very much convinced that it is much easier to succeed in what we love, and I absolutely love learning languages. So much, in fact, that I eventually decided to make this my profession.
In 2009, I graduated from the Moscow State Linguistic University with an honors degree in Theory and Methodology of Teaching Foreign Languages and Cultures. It sounds a bit too posh, and I must admit, I haven’t been much of a linguist since then. But I did teach English for about 15 years until I thoroughly burnt out and decided to change my career – I’ll probably make a separate post about it someday.
In addition to my education and teaching experience, I have a huge experience in studying foreign languages. I have been learning English since I was five. I began to learn German at the University from scratch. I have learnt quite a bit of Spanish by myself, and I am currently learning Armenian.
I don’t know as many languages as some polyglots, although I have studied a few other languages, but I believe I have a vast and invaluable experience in the field of learning foreign languages, which I want to share – maybe not in face-to-face classes at the moment, but there are other ways to do it!
I used to have a blog about language learning in Russian (my first language) that’s not available anymore and a YouTube channel for English learners – it still exists and you can check it out; I’m even thinking about reviving it and continuing to post videos someday.
I’m still thinking over different ways of sharing my knowledge – there will, of course, be blog posts with tips and useful resources, but I may come up with something else – and feature it on this site, of course, for you to see.
The Mother of Cats
I have 5 cats. It’s not as many as some awesome Instagram accounts I have seen, but for many “regular” people I have definitely crossed over into “crazy cat lady” territory – although my being married ruins the stereotype a bit.
The cats are Alice, (f, 14), Tosha (m, 13) and Fenya (f, 13) – they are Alice’s kids, and all three of them are ginger, Odin (m, 5), a one-eyed tuxedo cat, and Kosya (f, 6), a soft pastel calico. Alice, Odin, and Kosya used to be strays.
I’m doing my best not to launch into each cat’s story of how we got them or various tidbits about the cats – that could honestly feel volumes, and this is quite a long post already! If any cat lovers are reading – drop a comment below, and I’ll share more about cats in the future.
My love for cats has naturally always influenced my art: cats are one of my main topics, and some of my best and most successful works feature cats.
At the moment, I’m planning (and hoping to start very soon) a large cat and summer-themed project involving various drawings, prints, and patterns. I will definitely share behind the scenes here – and if any of it becomes available for sale you’ll be the first to know!
What to Expect from This Blog
Alright, now let me give you a little heads-up on what you can expect from this blog. I’ll be diving into the worlds of arts and crafts, language learning, and, of course, cat-themed content (because who doesn’t love cats, right?).
I’ll be sharing all sorts of resources, tips, and experiences related to my interests. Oh, and did I mention digital products and services? Yes, I’ll be creating and selling some of those too! Stay tuned for updates on that front, as I’ll be sharing my process and experiences with you along the way.
To sum it up, this blog is going to hopefully be a delightful mix of art, languages, and cats, with a sprinkle of shameless self-promotion of my products and services XD I’m stoked to have you on board, and let’s make this journey a fun and inspiring one!
Feel free to reach out and share your thoughts, questions, or ideas, as I’d love to connect with fellow art enthusiasts, language learners, and cat lovers. Let’s do this!
Final Thoughts
Huge thanks for reading thus far! I’m so glad to have you hear and I’m hoping you join me on my creative journey.
Don’t forget to follow my blog and get in on the action through comments and social media. I’d absolutely love to hear what you think, any questions you have, or if you’ve got ideas or requests for future blog posts. After all, this blog is all about creating a cool community where we can share our passion for art, languages, and our furry friends.
So, let’s begin this creative journey together, and please don’t hesitate to reach out anytime. I’m looking forward to getting to know you all and exploring the fascinating world of art, languages, and all things cat-related with you. See you around!
Note: This blog post was written with a little assistance from ChatGPT, an AI language model by OpenAI. The text is mostly me, but the AI helped me build the structure of this blog and prompted me how to write some of the parts (it’s really awesome for when you’re stuck!). I also used Grammarly – does it count as an AI? – to help me proofread and edit the text.
Julia Sol Studio 
Hi Julia! Thank you for sharing your story and introducing us to your passions. I think it’s amazing that you have such a wide range of interests and skills, from traditional and digital art to language teaching and cat-loving. My question for you is, how do you manage to balance all of your different creative pursuits and find time for each one? Do you have any tips for someone who wants to explore multiple artistic areas but feels overwhelmed by the possibilities? Looking forward to reading more of your posts!
Mr. W
http://www.primarytinting.net
LikeLike
Thank you for the kind words and thoughtful comment!
It’s an awesome idea for the post, I will definitely write about it some time soon 🙂
LikeLike