Clik here to view.
Q: What does your creative process look like when you are ready to begin a...
Preliminary sketch A: My working methods have changed dramatically over the years with my current process being a much-simplified version of how I used to work. In other words as I pared down my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about your process? What happens before you even...
Barbara in Bali (far right) A: My process is extremely slow and labor-intensive. First, there is foreign travel – often to Mexico, Guatemala or someplace in Asia – to find the cultural objects –...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Q: What was the first painting you ever sold?
“Bryan’s Ph.D.”, 11″ x 13 1/2″, soft pastel on sandpaper A: I believe my first sale was “Bryan’s Ph.D.” I made it in 1990 as one of several small paintings created to improve my skills at rendering...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Q: How can you tell with certainty when a pastel painting is finished?
“Poker Face,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 38″ x 58″ A: For me a work is finished when to add or subtract some element causes the composition to diminish or somehow weaken. It’s mostly a matter of where...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Q: Do you work with a particular audience in mind?
“Shamanic,” 26″ x 20,” finished A: In general I would answer no, I have no ‘specific’ audience in mind. But I DO consider the audience in this sense. As I put finishing touches on a pastel painting,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Q: What’s on the easel today?
Work in progress A: I’m at the beginning on a small (26” x 20”) pastel painting. The subject is a jaguar mask I photographed in La Paz. This is painting number eleven in the “Bolivianos” series....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Q: Can you give us your current elevator pitch?
Discussing Bolivian masks with Nika, Photo: David De Hannay A: Here it is: I am a New York visual artist, blogger, and author. For thirty-four years I have been creating original pastel-on-sandpaper...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Q: What are your favorite subject(s) and media? (Question from “Arts...
Barbara’s New York Studio A: Here’s the short answer. I work exclusively in soft pastel on sandpaper, using self-invented pastel techniques that I have been refining for thirty-five years. Since...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pearls from artists* # 516
Mask photographed at MUSEF, La Paz, Bolivia *an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on In...
View Article
