BARBARA NEVILLE

"I am happiest when painting scenes from nature because the outside environment provides the very best compositions"

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Henry David Thoreau captured my artistic focus when he said: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

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Unlike painting inside still-life scenes that are artificially arranged and static, outside scenes are in a constant state of change that inspires the creative aspect of my mind.  The broad range of colors in nature challenge my abilities and keep me striving to interpret and reflect the powerful angles, textures, and lighting in my paintings.  Although I have spent years studying and listening to the advice of various artists, I find that my best work is accomplished when painting outside in solitude.  Only then can I readily absorb the pure guidance of nature unfiltered by other people.  

Most of my creative process is done in my head. After spending precious time outside contemplating the subject of my next painting, I find that the painting is mostly finished before I make a mark on my canvas.

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Barbara Neville is a native of Wilmington, Delaware where she currently resides.  She attended the University of Delaware in Newark Delaware and Moore College of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.