Barbara's Story,

Some artists know their path when they have a crayon placed between their fingers. 

I wasn’t that child.    Rather I signed up for my first formal art class at 40 and haven’t stopped painting nor drawing since. 

My career took me from hospital laboratories to tourism to human resources.  My camera was on the ready between working hours while I lived in Tahiti and in the bush of Alaska.   I captured Polynesian women dancing, Eskimo children on the blanket toss, puffins in flight, and daily life in between.   My extensive work and travel vacations were all about watching and learning and then making connections with foreign people and lands.  

Drawing didn’t come as naturally as photography but I longed to put graphite to paper to document people and their unique features.  What I discovered was how similar we are in shape and form and color was just relative.  You’ll see this in my pet portraits in particular or in the details of the lavender shadows in my landscapes.  

My primary medium is soft or dry pastel which many call “chalk”.   It’s actually pure pigment in a stick with very little binder.  The quality of the pastel brands I choose and the archival papers I paint upon are going to outlast me for many generations.   I think you’ll also find as I have that pastel is the appropriate medium for capturing this texture and rich color.  

I have much more to learn and continue to not only take workshops but learn from my teaching as well.   My work is owned internationally and my studio visited by hundreds during monthly art walks in Pioneer Square, Seattle.

Come visit if you are in Seattle, it would be good to share stories.   Oh and if you run into another pastel artist in your travels, do ask them if they know me.   I keep in touch with a lot of fellow pastelists through professional organizations and art web sites.

Cheers!

Barbara Noonan

Click here for Art Biography in Detail