Winters Friend I by Natasha Barnes

Mixed Media on Paper

Size: 1000 x 700mm

Unframed – Price includes VAT

She stumbled upon painting at the age of seven, but instinctively knew that it would consume my life and define who she would become.

Completely self-taught, her journey began with watercolours, transforming the visual contemporary images surrounding her life into works of art – all finding their way to her pallet and the walls of many commercial and private institutions around the world. As with all journeys, the abstract nature of this path soon took hold, and without guidance or persuasion she found herself moving in a completely different direction in a very short space of time.

Her love for expressionism and movement was hard to suppress. She eventually let my hand roam free, creating the many large works of colour, for which I am known today. She considers herself an abstract painter, but over the years she has done many contemporary paintings, still widely available in print through numerous publishers worldwide. She is considered to be one of Africa’s most published artists. Apart from the many unexpected walls that provide homes for my works, she has sold widely all over the world and done numerous corporate and private commissions, artworks for Hollywood and TV, greeting cards, hotels, airport lounges and boardrooms.

She attended several large international art fairs each year and she is co-owner of the Turner Barnes Gallery in the UK. Her career did not begin with art, but instead she holds an international Grande Diplome in Cordon Bleu cookery form the prestigious Silwood Kitchens in Rondebosch, South Africa. She worked as a cookery editor for many years before swapping her spatula for a paint brush. My first book, “The Culinary Adventures of a travelling Cook” is the journey of her art and her food, and the canvas that brought them together.

Today Natasha keeps a studio in South Africa, her home, where she spends a great deal of my day. Doing what she loves most, painting.