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Q: Are you close to finishing any pastel paintings?
“Absence” not quite finished A: I’m putting finishing touches on a small one, “Absence,” which is 26″ x 20″ unframed. It depicts paper mache figures that I bought some years ago in Oaxaca and Mexico...
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Q: What are you working on now?
A: I am continuing with the “Black Paintings,” a series started a few years ago. Compared with “Domestic Threats,” these paintings are stripped of everything – walls, furniture, rugs – except the...
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Q: Do you name your characters?
Lola in “He Urged Her to Abdicate,” soft pastel on sandpaper A: No, normally I don’t, but there is one notable exception. Lola – I could hardly call her any other name – is a red-dressed,...
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Q: When you set up your figures to photograph, do you create a story?
“He Just Stood There Grinning,” soft pastel on sandpaper, ” 58″ x 38″ A: I always did so with my “Domestic Threats” paintings, but not with my current work. As I set up a group of figures to...
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Q: What first intrigued you about Mexico?
“Myth Meets Dream,” 1993, soft pastel on sandpaper, first painting that includes Oaxacan figures A: In the early 90’s my husband, Bryan, and I made our first trip to Oaxaca and to Mexico City. At the...
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Q: Are there any final photographs you would like to share from your Mexico...
Museo Nacional de Antropoligia, Mexico City Museo Nacional de Antropoligia, Mexico City Teotihuacan Teotihuacan Mexico City Museo Templo Mayor, Mexico City Mexico City Mexico City Comments are...
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Pearls from artists* # 91
Mexico City * an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on. I’m struggling a lot financially,...
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Q: Would you speak about your first trip to Mexico?
With an amate tree at Chalcatzingo A: In the early 90’s my late husband, Bryan, and I made our first trip to Oaxaca and to Mexico City. At the time I had become fascinated with the Mexican “Day of...
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Q: What’s on the easel today?
Work in progress A: I am working on a large pastel-on-sandpaper painting that features two figures found in Mexico City in March – the fish-face mask and the lying dog – and an angel ceramic thing I...
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Q: What’s on the easel today?
Work in progress A: I continue to work on “Motley,” a large pastel-on-sandpaper painting that features two folk art pieces I found in Mexico City in March. Comments are welcome!Filed under: An...
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Q: What’s on the easel today?
Work in progress A: I am in the early stages – only 3 or 4 layers of pastel applied so far – on a large pastel painting with the working title, “He and She.” The figures are two favorites – a...
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Q: You often speak about the Mexican and Guatemalan figures in your paintings...
A Chinese-influenced figure Barbara brought home from Mexico City in 1999. “Answering the Call,” 58″ x 38,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 2000 “Scene Fifteen: Living Room,” 26″ x 20″ soft pastel on...
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Q: What’s on the easel today?
Work in progress A: I am in the very early stages of a large pastel painting. I have never painted any of these figures before and they originated in different parts of the world. The bird (left) is...
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Q: What’s on the easel today?
Work in progress A: I continue working on a large pastel painting that combines some of my finds from Oaxaca and Mexico City, Kandy (Sri Lanka), and Panajachel (Guatemala). Comments are welcome!Filed...
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Q: What’s on the easel today?
Work in progress A: I am working on a large 38″ x 58″ pastel painting that depicts figures found years ago in Oaxaca and Mexico City. This painting doesn’t have a title yet. Comments are...
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Q: Why did you first decide to depict Mexican folk art in your work?
“Myth Meets Dream,” soft pastel on sandpaper, 47″ x 38″ A: As a Christmas present in 1991 my future sister-in-law sent me two brightly painted wooden animal figures from Oaxaca, Mexico. One was a blue...
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Q: What was the first folk art figure you brought back from Mexico?
Mask from Oaxaca A: In Oaxaca I bought a large carved wooden dragon mask with a Conquistador’s face carved and painted on its back. My intent was to depict the dragon in a subsequent “Domestic...
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Q: When did your love of indigenous artifacts begin? Where have you traveled...
Mexico City A: As a Christmas present in 1991 my future sister-in-law sent me two brightly painted wooden animal figures from Oaxaca, Mexico. One was a blue polka-dotted winged horse. The other was a...
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Pearls from artists* # 410
Mexico City *an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on. Faced with the disparities between...
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Q: What country’s artistic style influenced you the most over the years?...
Barbara’s studio with some of her Mexican and Guatemalan folk art A: Undoubtedly, I would have to say Mexico. As a Christmas present in 1991 my future sister-in-law sent two brightly painted wooden...
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