ABOUT US:

ABOUT BARBARA GLEASON:

Barbara loves to experiment with color, and can easily get lost in textures - particularly feathers and fur. She paint portraits to explore an individual bird, plant, or animal, exploring that individual, striving not only to express its character, but how it reflects or absorbs light in the environment it lives in, how the light helps give it form and shows its life being lived.

Barbara’s artistic efforts are turned toward trying to convey the beauty, behaviors, lives and habitats of animals and birds with which we share habitats, from portraits of individual birds (including the raptors she knows through a connection with Cascades Raptor Center), to small portraits of animals and pets. Also important to her are vistas of wood and field she knows or ventures to explore, for their ability to heal and soothe the human spirit and help aid well-being.

"“We are nature. What connects us to each other also connects us to the rest of the natural world...When I paint in the landscape, my mind clears of everyday matters, leaving room for my senses to take over. The intuitive dialogue that follows is thrilling, meditative, and sensuous.”

Barbara frequently explores with sketchbook and camera, usually with her husband, Dan Gleason, an ornithologist and fellow colored pencil artist. Painting or sketching on location help her gather source material and to understand her subjects and habitats better.