Stede Barber

I think that beauty is all around, all the time, though it sometimes takes a conscious desire to perceive it.

Sunlight warming my shoulders, a breeze ruffling my hair, magic hanging over the mountains and mesas all open my Spirit. That is why I paint nature. I am in love. Art gives me access to my center, a way of coming back to my Soul where I feel at peace, whole, alive, and somehow bigger than my everyday self. I am living a luxurious life as I bridge my art into creation.

Ari, my handsome black dog, has spent most of his adult life in my studio and out walking and painting with me. While I paint, he roams. Eventually he finds a place in the sun... or on a hot day, in the shade... to rest. While I travel the inner realms of painting colors, feelings, and vision, he watches and guards my peace.

It surprises me that something so personal, restorative, and private as painting is also something meant to be shared. I love inviting people to look at my work, watch their responses, and talk about their experiences. As someone tells me what they see and feel, I often realize that we have gone to the same place. And it is a wonderful place meant to be shared again and again.