Featured Artist Barbara Brown

Explore the mysteries of forest places through the work of painter Barbara Brown, who captures the wild landscape in all seasons. Visit her website to see more.

 

 

I am passionate about sharing, through my work, the love I feel for the forest. Living in a cabin in the wild mountainous southeastern region of British Columbia, Canada, in the Slocan Valley, I have been walking the forest here as a daily practice for 28 years now. It inspires me and heals me. It reconnects me to my roots and it uplifts my spirit. And it is these boons of the forest that I aspire to bring to those who see my paintings.

 

 

The beauty and the wonder found in the woodlands has me enraptured. I seek to evoke, as best I am able, these feelings in others that they might too experience this magic.

 

 

I paint in oils on canvas. My style is fairly realistic, with a lyrical quality, and with the impression of a fair amount of detail. But into each painting I include an otherworldly aspect that can take the work into the realm of Magical Realism. I weave in some feature of symbolism, or sacred geometry, in an attempt to get at just what it is in the scene that has so enchanted me, and to bring it to light. This mystical imagery is sometimes obvious, sometimes hidden . . . always spellbinding.

 

 

I also am always striving to achieve depth in my paintings. I want to take the viewer deep into the woods with me that they might lose themselves there and experience the wonder and some measure of the healing that the forest imparts.

 

 

Another magical characteristic of the forest is its wondrous ability to both enliven and soothe us simultaneously—to provide both solace and revitalization to the human soul. I hope those who see my paintings feel this too.

 

 

I write as well. Each painting has it’s own story, which I have published in two books: SYLVAN REFLECTIONS: Wanderings, Paintings and Ponderings from the Forest, Volumes I & II. Full of poetic musings on nature, human nature, and the connections between them; the books are a compendium of nature lore, woodland imagery, tales of my encounters with wildlife over the years, mindfulness practices and favourite quotes.

 

 

Each book also includes a companion film that I have produced. They take you on a deep, meditative dive into the gorgeous forests of the Slocan Valley, exploring the wisdom to be gleaned from time spent in the wild woods.

 

 

It is my deepest desire that my work fosters nature connection in a world that is so badly in need of it. In reconnecting with nature we will get back in touch with our own true nature. For we, of course, are ourselves nature and we are disconnecting from her at our peril.

 

 

Hoping to reignite feelings of reverence and awe for the natural world, I am on a mission to inspire falling back in love with our mother Earth. In doing so, we will take better care of her.

 

Barbara Brown invites you to follow on Facebook and Instagram. 

 

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