About Barb

“More freedom to paint how I feel!”

I began my art journey around 2012, when I started taking watercolour classes, and over the next eight years I painted several commissioned paintings and entered several exhibits, including my first solo show at the Coast Collective Art Centre in 2019.

In March of 2020, amid the pandemic, I completed a 12 week online art course called the Creative Visionary Program headed by artist and teacher, Nicholas Wilton, founder of Art2Life. That led me to find Louise Fletcher, a UK abstract landscape artist and creator of the Find Your Joy online course I took in 2021. These internationally renowned artists/instructors not only helped me solidify my understanding of the principles of art, they also helped me to open up to what I find meaningful in my art and in my life—as Nicholas once said to me in an online conversation, “You were ready!” Isn’t that so true, how often we don’t see the thing that is right in front of us, because we’re not yet ready to see it?

I began using materials in a new way – diving into the realm of intuitive abstract mixed media. I found that this new way of creating allowed me much more freedom to make art—creating more from how I feel, rather than from what I think (ie.when using a reference). This has been a turning point in my emerging art career and I’m having the most fun making art!

I’ve shown my new work in many local venues, including the Sooke Fine Arts Show 2021 & 2022, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s TD Paint-In on July 15, 2023. I became a member of the Gage Gallery Artists Collective in October of 2022 where I show my work, participate in gallery activities and currently sit on the Marketing Committee. I am grateful to have had a solo show, “Abstract Engagement”, at the Gage Gallery January 23-February 11, 2024.