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Q: What’s on the easel today?
“Stalemate” in progress, soft pastel on sandpaper A: A large pastel painting with the working title, “Stalemate.” For this one I went back and looked at some of my older 35 mm negatives. I selected...
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Q: When and why did you start working on sandpaper?
Raw sandpaper A: In the late 1980s when I was studying at the Art League in Alexandria, VA, I took a three-day pastel workshop with Albert Handel, an artist known for his southwest landscapes in...
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Q: Why do you need to use a photograph as a reference source to make a pastel...
One of Barbara’s reference photos A: When I was about 4 or 5 years old I discovered that I had a natural ability to draw anything that I could see. It’s the way my brain is wired and it is a gift!...
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Q: Have you ever worked outside?
Reproductions of “Cardinal Rule” (top) and “Blue Ego,” originals are soft pastel on sandpaper, 30″ x 38″ A: As a pastel artist I’ve never worked outside – with so many pastels, it’s just not practical...
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Q: Your pastel-on-sandpaper paintings are very labor intensive. Do you...
Works in progress, soft pastel on sandpaper, 58″ x 38″ A: For many years I always worked on one at a time because I have only one or two ideas – never more than that – about what I will make next....
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Q: How many pastel paintings do you have in progress now?
Work in progress A: Making pastel-on-sandpaper paintings is a slow and meticulous process. I work full-time in my studio so that in a good year I can produce five finished pieces. Typically two are...
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Q: Do you have any unfinished pastel paintings?
Barbara’s studio A: It has been roughly 20 years since I started a painting that I couldn’t resolve and finish. This may or may not be a good thing. It could mean that I am not experimenting or...
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Q: What historical art movement do you most identify with?
Barbara’s studio A: I’d have to say that I identify most with surrealism, although my work does not exactly fit into any particular art historical movement. When I was first finding my way as an...
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Pearls from artists* # 345
Barbara working on an interview. Photo: Maria Cox *an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are...
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Q: When did you start using the sandpaper technique and why (Question from...
The start of a new pastel-on-sandpaper painting A: In the late 1980s when I was studying at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA, I enrolled in a three-day pastel workshop with Albert Handel, an...
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Pearls from artists* # 495
*an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on. Murch: …There’s a wonderful quotation from...
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