By Lee Ann Leonard
Jamie Babula is a beauty who sees the beauty in everyday things. She captures objects like pennies, silverware and typewriter keys so realistically that people often mistake her pencil drawings for photographs. The Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation selected the Panama City Beach resident as the featured poster artist for its 31st Annual Festival of the Arts but had to note that the four colorful paint dollops she created for the poster were colored pencil, not a photograph.
The festival fixture—she won six of her twelve art awards at the Festival of the Arts—works in several mediums but prefers pencil drawing. “It’s where I started, and I always go back to it,” Babula explains. “My process is typically researching a subject, taking a photograph of the subject and drawing from the reference photo. It’s a pretty simple, albeit long, process from start to finish.
So long that she sometimes pauses and distracts herself with other activities to avoid creative burnout. Her favorite piece took a year to complete. “I’m very proud of a 3-by-3-foot drawing entitled ‘1945: The Day the War Ended.’ It’s a bird’s-eye view of a crowd celebrating the end of the war—a chaotic celebration of peace.” She adds that during that project she took month-long breaks, often playing video games with her family, taking road trips or cuddling with her cats.
The self-taught artist grew up in a rural area with few kids to play with, so, as a child, she had nothing but time to scribble. “One thing I always had was a pencil and a piece of paper,” Babula elaborates. “I was always able to draw. It was the most important thing to me, and it turned into a passion that became part of who I am.” And Babula is equally enthusiastic about others’ art. “Art is such a universally giving gift that even if we don’t create it ourselves, we still get to benefit through someone else’s creations,” Babula says. “If we don’t buy art, we can still admire it. Every aspect of art, from visual arts to music to theater, can be moving and even life-changing.”
The wife and mother, who works from a home studio while listening to music or a comforting TV program, prefers to showcase her work at juried art festivals close to that home. “Art shows are incredibly difficult and take a lot of work,” Babula shares. “The shows I participate in allow me to show people what I’ve been working on and to share my art. I would like to start expanding within the next couple of years to hopefully participate in some out-of-state shows.”
Whether traveling near or far, Babula loves talking to people about art. Sometimes selling one of her pieces during the exchange is the strawberry on top—a berry Babula captured in mouthwatering detail in 2018. Explore her eye-confounding creations on Instagram (@JamieBabulaArt). Art enthusiasts can also contact her about commission work via her Instagram page.
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