{"id":756992,"date":"2026-06-24T10:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756992\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:25:15","slug":"how-anne-julie-dudemaine-turned-burnout-into-a-career-of-colour-pattern-and-montreal-murals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/756992\/","title":{"rendered":"How Anne-Julie Dudemaine turned burnout into a career of colour, pattern and Montreal murals"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve spent any time on the colourful side of Montr\u00e9al as I have, you’ll have probably already seen Anne-Julie Dudemaine’s work without knowing her name. It’s on the giant Osheaga logo, on a BIXI mural, along Promenade Wellington, and even on a Canada Post stamp. Her work has a way of turning everyday city scenes into something joyful, bold, and unmistakably hers.<\/p>\n

What makes her success all the more remarkable is that none of it was the original plan. Anne-Julie has a degree in Communications and spent years working as an advertising project manager before burnout pushed her to rethink everything. <\/p>\n

“Eventually, I started showing signs of exhaustion and found myself longing for a more creative career,” she tells Creative Boom. “I took some time off to recover, started drawing every day, taught myself Photoshop, and after stumbling upon a video of Lisa Congdon talking about how she became a working artist, I knew that illustration was what I wanted to do.”<\/p>\n

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“A mural concept I’d love to bring to life someday” \u2013 Anne-Julie Dudemaine<\/p>\n

\"Photography<\/p>\n

Photography by Timoth\u00e9e Guzzo<\/p>\n

\"Photography<\/p>\n

Photography by Timoth\u00e9e Guzzo<\/p>\n

More than a decade on, she has built an impressive practice that spans illustration, murals, surface pattern, and, most recently, ceramics. “I get bored easily, so it felt natural to keep exploring new mediums and creative outlets,” she explains. “I also think it’s important, as an artist, to diversify your income sources. It brings more stability and helps you navigate the slower periods that inevitably come with creative work.”<\/p>\n

Colour and pattern play a key role in her work, which is quite the contrast, given she started out using only black and white. It was a trip to Portugal that changed everything. “I fell in love with the traditional tilework and all of its colours and patterns, and I started incorporating those influences into my work. A few years later, I took a job as a pattern designer for a children’s fashion brand and immersed myself in the field. That experience had a huge influence.”<\/p>\n

She adds, “My style has evolved quite a bit over the years, but I feel really good about where it has landed. It feels authentic and very much like me.”<\/p>\n

\"Osheaga.<\/p>\n

Osheaga. Credit: Susan Moss<\/p>\n

\"Montreal<\/p>\n

Montreal indoor mural. Credit: Olivier Bousquet<\/p>\n

Montr\u00e9al also runs right through her portfolio, from the BIXI mural to Promenade Wellington. Anne-Julie says it’s a fantastic city for creatives. “Art is everywhere, and you can really feel that people value and appreciate it. When I started drawing more seriously about eleven years ago, Montr\u00e9al became my first subject. I drew iconic streets, architecture, caf\u00e9s, and everyday scenes from the city. In many ways, Montr\u00e9al shaped the artist I’ve become and continues to inspire me today.”<\/p>\n

Anne-Julie has worked with everyone from Osheaga to Le Devoir and L’actualit\u00e9. Is there a project that felt like a turning point, or one she’s most proud of? “Painting the giant Osheaga logo was definitely a highlight. It was the first time I operated a boom lift, and I was up there on my own, painting forty-two feet in the air. It felt both terrifying and exhilarating, and it gave me a lot of confidence moving forward,” she says.<\/p>\n

Designing an illustration for a Canada Post stamp was also a real bucket-list project. “It’s one of those opportunities you never imagine you’ll get, so seeing it become a reality was incredibly rewarding.”<\/p>\n

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When Anne-Julie is stuck, she loves to make collages. “I have a huge collection of colourful cardstock, and I’ll start cutting and arranging shapes until a composition begins to emerge. Sometimes, though, the best thing I can do is step away from the project entirely and come back to it later. Inspiration has its own timing, and I’ve learned not to force it.”<\/p>\n

For anyone following in her footsteps, Anne-Julie believes the best way to get started is to draw a lot. “It’s a clich\u00e9, but practice really does make you a better artist. But I’d say try not to compare yourself to others too much. It can be incredibly paralysing and prevent you from finding your own voice.”<\/p>\n

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“I’d also recommend diversifying your sources of income,” she continues. “If having a side job helps pay the bills, it can actually give you more freedom creatively. It’s much easier to make meaningful work when you’re not constantly stressed about money.”<\/p>\n

What’s next for Anne-Julie? She’d love to create an art installation somewhere. “The idea of translating my work into three-dimensional forms and creating an immersive, interactive experience is really exciting to me. I also dream of being given carte blanche for a large outdoor mural, something ambitious, colourful, and highly visible that would allow me to fully explore my creative vision.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you’ve spent any time on the colourful side of Montr\u00e9al as I have, you’ll have probably already…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":["post-756992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}