Elizabeth Barlow
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Website
www.elizabethbarlowart.com
Social Media
Instagram
Youtube
How would you describe your work?
I am a contemporary realist painter, using flowers as messengers and meditations on beauty, hope, renewal and transformation. The flowers in my paintings use beauty as a lure — to get us to pause for a moment and awaken us into the wonder of the present moment. They tell us stories about the power of quiet, of strength within seeming fragility, of hope, grace, resilience and renewal. They can be our teachers and transform our lives, if we will slow down and listen.
What inspires you?
This is such a good question because like all artists I am inspired by so much in this beautiful, complex world of ours. I am inspired by flowers, whose beauty seduce us in to pausing in our busy-ness and awaken into the preciousness of this moment, now. I am also inspired by other artists — ballet dancers, jazz musicians, classical musicians, composers, poets, novelists. I believe that being an artist is a sacred calling, and I am inspired by how others respond and put that call into daily practice.
Can you speak about your process?
I am a slow painter by practice and by intention. Each painting is made up of many layers of glazed oil paint on fine stretched linen.
For each of my Flora Portraits, I first take hundreds of images of the flower I wish to paint. I always photograph the flower in the early morning or late afternoon light — I love the golden light and violet shadows of that time of day. From those images, I use the Procreate app to create a composition that pleases me — often combining dozens of images for a single flower in the composition. (I love using Procreate, because I can use the Apple Pencil to move images around in my composition — it feels like drawing and is so fun.)
Next, I do a very rough sketch in graphite on my stretched linen canvas. And then it’s time to paint. For the first layer, I paint all prima using just the oil paint and perhaps a tiny amount of linseed oil. Once this first layer is complete, I add many glazed layers, which increase depth, and add luminosity to the piece.
My paintings are made up of countless hours of silent (sometimes intense) dialogue with the painting. In these hours, time speeds by and I am lost in shapes, colors and values. Sometimes when I end a painting session, I feel as if I have been in a trance and must snap myself back into the “real” world.
Woven into each layer of oil paint on my canvas is a thousand micro-moments of emotions – of exhilaration, clarity, uncertainty, regret, discovery, calm and joy. Eventually, the painting stops “speaking to me” and I know that it has become itself and is ready to go out into the world.
How did you become interested in art?
I am the child of an artist father and a gardener mother. I grew up in a house filled with art (by my father's and others), and surrounded by a flower garden. From my earliest memory, we visited art galleries on our travels and went to my father’s openings at local galleries. And my mother’s beautiful garden was always at the center of our family life.
I always drew as a child and dabbled in watercolors But I was creative in other ways too, and first wanted to become an actress (college) and then a writer. Then one day while living in San Francisco, I was sitting on a bench looking at the Bay, and this clear thought came to me: “I want to paint sky.” I phoned my father and said that I wanted to start painting. He replied: “Wonderful. You have talent. But you need to begin to study and take classes.” And that is exactly what I did.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?
There are so many! And the list shifts constantly, as I discover new inspirations, or rediscover old ones:
Georgia O’Keeffe (of course!)
Vermeer (who doesn’t love him?)
Mozart
Suzanne Farrell
Mary Oliver
Stephen Sondheim
Ann Patchett
George Balanchine
A few favorite quotes:
“It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention…this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.”
~ excerpt from Mary Oliver’s poem “Praying”
“And as with prayer, which is a dipping of oneself toward the light,
there is a consequence of attentiveness to the grass itself,
and the sky itself, and to the floating bird.
I too leave the fret and enclosure of my own life.
I too dip myself toward the immeasurable.”
~ excerpt from Mary Oliver’s “Winter Hours: Prose, Prose Poems and Poems”
What advice do you have for younger artists?
When I began seriously taking art classes, my father gave me some wonderful advice. I was taking figure drawing classes, and he said “Always sit by the best artist in the room.”
As all artists know, the most confident artists usually sit at the front in classes. People who are less confident sit at the back (where no one can see your easel or sketchpad). I think my father meant that I would learn by sitting next to the best artist in the room (which is true). But I also believe what he said has a symbolic meaning. Instead of shrinking and hiding in the back, we should own our talent and take our place at the front of the room — even when we are just beginning and our skill isn’t yet developed.
So, I gulped and always sat next to who I considered the best artist. I learned from them hugely, but I also honored my own talent and unique voice, even when it was still developing. I still practice this attitude today — trying to “sit by the best artist in the room.”
Any more thoughts about art, creativity, or anything else you would like to share?
People often say to me: “You are so disciplined.” (Because I go to my studio and paint six days a week.” But I am not disciplined, I am DEVOTED.
I don’t use willpower to head to the studio each day, I use desire. I long to be there coaxing something of beauty onto the surface of my canvas. I would rather be there – even when I am struggling with a painting – than almost anywhere else because I am devoted to the practice of making art.
Devotion is a response of the heart — discipline is an action of the will. I am devoted to my husband, our family, my meditation practice. I am disciplined with my workout schedule and paying my bills on time.
For years in San Francisco, I had a day job and could only get to my studio on weekends. But I rose every morning at 5 am so that I could spend an hour drawing or painting on a drafting table in the corner of my apartment.
I suppose that devotion is answering to the call of love. I love my art practice so much that I choose to be there for it – day by day, year by year. It anchors me and feeds me – as do my marriage and my meditation practice.
