Blooming Prickly Pear Cactus
Living the Good Life
Barbara and her husband Chuck moved to Fredericksburg in 2005 after living many years in Louisiana, where she taught art at Baton Rouge Lutheran School. Soon after moving home to Texas, she began painting seriously. She has studied with Ian Roberts, Kevin Macpherson, Jill Carver, Lori Putnam, and (of course!) Chuck Mauldin. Barbara’s work has been accepted in several art events, such as the Women Artists of the West National Show, Contemporary Masters Invitational Art Show in Fredericksburg, the Mountain Oyster Club Art Show, the Plein Air Artists Colorado National Juried Art Exhibition, The Museum of Western Art (Kerrville, TX) “The Party” Art Exhibition and Sale, and others.
Her paintings are characterized by color. “I like to emphasize the color that I see, as a creative and emotional response to the landscape.” She works with a limited palette, using a small number of pigments to mix colors, which results in beautiful color harmony.
Barbara has focused her attention on the Texas landscape, especially on prickly pear cactus. Cactus is fun to paint. It has a multitude of interesting colors, which are an expression of the harshness of the environment and the amount of direct sun. In spring the colors are lighter and more mellow, and the flowers of late spring are a vibrant yellow and rose, sometimes orange. She enjoys plein air work, accepting the challenges of color, design, and the environment (critters and weather). Texas abounds with variety and inspiration; there is always another painting just around the corner!
Her interest in art had always been a part of the fabric of her life. She works mainly in oil, and she also dabbles in pastels, watercolor, church banner painting, wood burning, and mosaics.