Jules Burt squints to get a closer look at the girl’s face. A few minutes earlier, the framed canvas was on an easel, but now, Burt is holding it with her left hand, steadying the bottom of it on her leg.
“She needs a little touch-up around the eyes, don’tcha think?” she muses aloud, as she adds some eye-liner with a black marker. “Mmmm-hmmm. Yep. Much better.”
A harvest table completely covered from years of paint splatters and drops sits in the breakfast nook of Burt’s Walden Lake home. A few feet away, another table holds dozens of colors, brushes and other supplies. It’s 10 a.m., and the morning sun is bright and alive in this, her makeshift studio. The unmistakable melodies of The Temptations’ classic, “My Girl,” play on a nearby radio.
For the past two months, Burt has been working on the largest commissioned order of her long and celebrated career. She was tapped to paint 11-by-14 portraits of all 53 contestants in the 2014 Miss America Pageant. Using photos, she created the pieces in what has become her famous style — bright colors, wide, exaggerated eyes and, of course, her signature pursed lips. She also covered each frame in rhinestones. After all, they are beauty queens.
Burt shipped the majority of the girls to Atlantic City last week, and this week, she left for America’s Playground, as well. She’ll present the pieces to each contestant Sept. 12, during a party following the preliminary rounds.
“I’m sad to see them go,” Burt says of the pieces. “But, I’m super excited to see them in Atlantic City. It will be worth getting all my glue-gun burns.”
FUN FINE ART
Although she’s a Plant City native, Burt never competed in any pageants herself. But, with her father, Royce Burt, serving as principal of Turkey Creek Junior-Senior High School and her mother, Jeanie Burt, working as a teacher and counselor at Plant City high School, Burt spent plenty of time around party dresses, fancy hairdos and sparkly accessories.
“They took me to all the Homecoming dances, and I got to see all these beauty queens all dressed up,” Burt says.
Those images, along with her memories cheering on the contestants at the annual Florida Strawberry Festival Queen’s Scholarship Pageant, wouldn’t surface again until the day Burt opened her jewelry shop, Jules Jewels, in Atlanta.
“I needed something to decorate the walls,” Burt says. “I painted my first six ladies on my 30th birthday. … That’s when I became an artist.
“This is just what was in my head,” she says of her beauty queen theme. “This is what came out when I picked up the paint brush. I used to doodle them for my niece.”
Although they were meant originally as decorations for her store, the paintings quickly became Burt’s claim to fame. Not too long after the shop opened, a couple came in and purchased all six original ladies.
Then, when Atlanta hosted the 1996 Summer Olympics, Burt’s paintings snagged the national spotlight and earned features on TV and newspapers such as USA Today. She sold a piece to the vice president of 20th Century Fox, which led to Burt’s biggest break.
Burt’s “Fun Flower,” “Glamour Queen” and “Eight Cups of Coffee” pieces were featured for seven seasons on the NBC sitcom, “Friends.” She’s also provided designs for “Veronica’s Closet,” “Jesse” and “Charmed,” and her work has appeared on the “Today Show,” “Dateline NBC” and “Access Hollywood.”
Celebrity collectors of Burt’s work include Elton John, Madonna, Katie Couric, Alyssa Milano and more.
All this from a Plant City gal addicted to glamour.
“It’s fun fine art,” she says. “It makes you feel good. If I can make somebody put on a smile for a minute, then that’s worth it.”
HOME SWEET HOME
Burt returned in 2001, to Plant City, to help take care of her mother. She settled in Walden Lake and says her home is a perfect creative space. Since her return, she’s contributed pieces to the contestants of many local pageants, and she’s also expanded her offerings to include furniture painting and room renovations.
She also founded the Jules Burt Foundation and launched the popular High Heel Hike, which helps to raise money and resources for autism awareness.
Today, she works with an assistant, Dawn Michael, who helps with scheduling, deadlines and other business necessities. That frees up Burt to concentrate fully on her painting.
“I’m a plastic surgeon, a beautician, a hairdresser,” she says. “Sometimes, they need some surgery. I squint my eyes to make sure the colors pop the way I want them to. It takes a lot of squinting in my business.
“It’s still fun for me,” Burt says of painting her ladies. “It’s fun to watch them come to life. And I’ll keep doing it — as long as I am able.”
Contact Michael Eng at meng@plantcityobserver.com.