Crowley..The Not So Demonic Demon

Watching Good Omens for a second time...and mostly because for Halloween I wanted to dress up as him.  I happened to notice his snake tattoo was in a shape of a Zen sign for the path to Enlightenment.  I noticed it because my one of my smaller dragon designs was based on it.  I wondered if there was a meaning for that.  Crowley is supposed to be evil..but he just seems to think on his own, he even stands out from the others, in that he has a lot more imagination than the other demons (ok so the others have NO imagination whatsoever)


I painted that on and didn't have anyone to help me but that's pretty much Crowley's tat.  Crowley was an interesting character to fall in love with...yes he's a DEMON!  But what is there to love...here is a list.
Damn cool car!  and I'm not a car person but that Bentley was awesome!
QUEEN!!!  I mean yeah, I love the band too so WHOO HOO Crowley you have taste man!!
He helped Aziriphale a time or two from just getting paint off of him to getting him out of the Bastille when dopey Azi got a hankering for crepes and went to France ....during the feaking REVOLUTION!! 
He only does half of what he is told by his superiors...he wasn't all too keen on the world being ended, so he can't be all bad.
He LOVED his car...no spoilers on that one but the ones who have seen the  show KNOW what I am talking about.
He kept a very important book even when he thought his best friend was dead.
Crowley makes a very good Nanny LOL
He's clever, he takes chances and risks...he asked Azi to get him HOLY WATER.
None of the other demons really appreciated his ingenuity anyway.
Crowley is really our own dark selves if we ever wise up to owning that.
In all honesty if I could stand to sit under a needle I'd get a tat like Crowley's..besides, the serpent has many more meanings in many cultures besides just evil.

Art Is Life

That is my new studio...it's the laundry room in my house but enough space to create my place.  I work with all kinds of media and kind of go overboard with my personal projects.  I struggle with trying to keep my focus and getting things done before moving on to the next idea..but at least I am never out of ideas.


Art Is Life
What else shall I do
with all the pain and tears I see
as we go on living, or at least trying to
Disaster after disaster, plagues us all
What makes life even worth living?
What makes up for all the loss?
Think of what is hurting the most.
Let your eyes and hands do the work.
Piecing things together, working ..creating
grab a little something here, something else there.
and in the end you have before you your own creation.
as well as your own answers
to life's many blues.
Julie Akeman

Rise Up

RISE UP
Rise up whether it'd dark or dawn.
Get up and move not matter how withdrawn
Rise up and shine, even if you fake it
It will be the only way to just make it
Other days will be bad, better or even worse
Live your life even if you want to curse.
Just rise up and make that bed
Rise up because you are not dead
Move just a little more, towards your goal
Even though your life feels like one dark hole.
Rise up and you will see
that inner strength really becomes thee
Rise up, Rise up and shine
Because others need to see, it's your Time.

Julie Akeman



Art by Julie Akeman

The Fine Art of Healing

Having had a divorce after trying so hard to make things work I was exhausted, angry, my mind was fuggy...that was the best I could describe it at the time.  I work only part time at a library that I feel the safest to work at, I couldn't leave it and besides there are not a lot of jobs in this small midwestern town I live in.  I am an artist so I turn to my art to help get me through.  I came up with this masterful idea of collecting my many favorite pieces that have gotten broken do to my kids never keeping their hands off my favored objects.  I bought an old printer's tray and just a few weeks before the Art Show was to start in my town I got my pieces to tell a story...I didn't know exactly what story I was telling till I figured out it was about broken and reforged relationships..the piece was called What We Do With the Lost, The Broken and the Found.  It is also a first collage piece as well as the first time I encased in resin.  I also added items that represent the town I lived in.  I was pretty stressed over the final part of the piece, making the resin, but it all came out perfectly..even my 17 year old trans gender son said it was beautiful and I often get more snarky criticism than praise from that kid. 

And here is me with my winner, my first Best In Show.  I will have to see about getting an up close shot and spend some time explaining the pieces and why I did it that way..granted mostly I just went with my gut, and the understanding of the significance of the work dawned on me.  It was a strong feeling of healing when I did this piece because I put all my hurt and brokenness and my regrets and past pains in it, but good memories are in there too.  The  guy who was the judge is also our towns new art teacher for the community college here, and he was going on about how this piece fascinated him and how he loved the title..I had other works in oil paints there but this was my winner so I might try it again now that I am comfortable with using resin.  This was the most happiest moment of my life here, I was so proud and I hope to come up with something great for next years show.

November 2 of 2019..it has been quite a few years since my last post...things have happened..major things..a furious fight with my now ex husband, divorced last year,  been moving on and remaking my life.  My grandmother had died last year, which is sad but for quite some time she has been expecting to go, especially since my grandfather went first..she left money to her offspring, including my dad and he used it to buy me a house.  Happy in an older home though I really think I should sage it...not so much haunted as there is just something left over.  And now I am trying to get my blog up and running again and trying to figure out what it's going to be all about...besides art.  I do want to include some writing and feature some of my other writing and artists friends both real life and online..I just got on here tonight to see if it's still existing.

Christmas at the Akeman's 2015

Missour State Pen Painting

From the Begining  HOW I DID MISSOURI STATE PEN

My trip to the Nick Groff Paranormal Tour of Missouri State Pen was amazing to say the least

My experience in the gas chamber led me to this work

It felt very HEAVY in there let me tell you.  I plopped myself down in one of the seats there and I really didn't want to but it was something I wanted to do, just when I got there I was being set upon by something.  I didn't see any ghosts or hear anything but by God I felt it there and when I tumbled out I had to sit on the bench that was outside and hold my head in my hands.  My husband James watched me the whole time and he asked me if I was breathing ok.  I do have breathing issues but I was fine, just oh my god what the hell WAS that you know.  NOW I know what Ghost Adventures was talking about when being overwhelmed by Spiritual Energy.  Even felt like crying when I was in there.  Felt the dread of the last moments of death, heavyness in the pit of my stomache and I have never felt like that before.  Felt pressed in.  After that we went back to Gen Population but went up a few floors when I said I had to get out.  My husband took me out and I sat on the steps outside just trying to shake it off.  One of the Groff Tour guides was there and we told him what was going on with me.  Eventually I shook it off.  Was able to finish the night but I did feel like leaving but hell no.  A Hall was cold as hell, serioulsy I was shaking and that place was cold in the afternoon, but the thing was the cold would shift, perhaps that's normal there but some others thought it might be a spirit on me, don't know.

Here is the series of WIP on the Front Entrance of MISSOURI STATE PEN

Here on Gesso board I started with drawing it down in charcoal, then I would paint the ground in Titanium White which helps in covering mistakes and drawing problems, once I start painting things come together better.  I did a 'cartoon' and outline drawing based on the design on the shirt I got from there.

I didn't copy the design just used the shape as the 'bones' for the drawing.

I started painting in the windows first,  when I started this I didn't have a set plan, this was a work that evolved on it's own, and I listened to Nick Groff's Spiritual War CD though the work, really helps to stay focused on this.

I wanted texture to the blocks of stone for this so when I did the titanium White I laid it on thick and let it dry. this is why I took so long doing this, that and the fact I have a family with four kids to take care of.

At one point I saw that the windows on the top were too dark, they were hard to see even with the red around it so I added Zinc White which is transparent when dried and that added to it's ghostly look.  When I paint these kinds of places I am going for the sense of the spiritual energy of the place.  I wanted to do red around the bricks cause this place is known as the Bloodiest 47 acres.

To experiement I added a bit of magenta to the lower square windows and blended with the zinc white and that added to it's spookiness.

Yeah almost done here, was very excited about that.  this piece is 24 by 36 (inches) and I was ready to get it done.

And there it is, done, I am planning A Hall on an 11 by 14 but I have other artworks I am working on in my sketchbooks and my brain.  I'm busy, LOL so I hope you like this.

I think it's awesome how on the outline of the place it has like this spooky glow.  The pictures are good but to see it in person is sooo much better.  This is done in 3 point perspective, quite a challenge for me.  Here is the original photos of the place.

Yeah I really had a artist vision with this place.