About the Artist
Artist Journey
2026 is my year to finally commit to the art bubbling away just below the surface in me. For many years, other activities and roles have employed my creative side but 2026 is when I fully embrace my artistic nature for myself, developing skills and technical knowledge, exploring different styles and approaches and allowing all that has infused my life like a beautiful herbal tea to come forth and be shared with a wider audience.
August 2024 saw me sign up for my very first drawing class since age 13. Graphite and paper - landscapes with the revelation that I could actually draw. Allowing my body to soften into the contours of the Lancashire Dales for my very first graphite drawing was revelatory and very satisfying. I then followed with the structure and symmetry of Versailles after a recent trip to Paris. A more challenging experience with perspective and mark making. Then came still life and lemons, apples and draped fabric. All new to me, all different and all challenging and exciting.
2025 was the year of collaging as well as drawing as I sought to expand my creative output. Based on Francis Picabia painting Adoration of the Calf first seen at National Gallery of Victoria, Aus, in the Picasso Exhibition in 2023, I sought to explore the relevance of this painting in the current context. Work still continues to this day as I unpack the original painting in this "changed but not changed" geo-political world.
2025 was when I realised my art wasn't just about pretty pictures but about My Voice. The Voice that had no other means of expression but yearned to be heard. Nobody was more shocked than I at the speed of The Day After collage appeared. I knew this part of me needed supporting and developing.
Under guidance from my Tutor Jill McIntosh PhD, at Parnell classes I learned to structure my thoughts, explore contemporary art and build on the knowledge and ideas already in me.
And now......... now is the time to build on the foundations of the past 2 years drawing and collaging, a lifetime of galleries explored and paintings contemplated, of tentative markings, of creative endeavours big and small and to start creating another chapter in the creative journey of Gill Barlow.
Past Careers
Accountant - (really bad at it!)
Marketing Manager (loved it!)
Professional Florist (early mornings aren't really my thing)
Montessori PreSchool Teacher and Mother (back to my early educational roots - my own kindergarten teachers studied Montessori.
Primary School Teacher and Teaching Assistant)
Naturopath and Herbalist
Business Owner
I get bored quite easily - so glad that in this world a resume like this is an advantage not a disadvantage.
Influences
Whistlers Mother - Whistler
The Impressionists
Mondrian
Bauhaus
Salvador Dali - Christ on the Cross, Kelvin Art Gallery, Glasgow
Charles Rennie Macintosh
The Glasgow Boys
Nature
