Elizabeth Barlow is a contemporary American artist. Represented by Andra Norris Gallery in Burlingame, California, she hangs in both public and private collections and is exhibited in museums. She came to painting flowers in particular since moving to Carmel-by-the-Sea, in California, where the landscape so moved her that she found this new subject. Elizabeth Barlow is primarily a still life artist, but considers her flora paintings as portraits. Today her portraits are realistic but created in the great portrait tradition.

What Elizabeth Barlow has to say about flowers and beauty in general is also fascinating. What role does beauty play in contemporary painting? The artist posits that in contemporary life beauty is sometimes perceived as something banal. With her paintings, she wants to call on us to see beauty and pay attention to it because it changes the way we go through this world by slowing down and looking at things deeply. Elizabeth Barlow's next exhibition will be titled Flora Borealis, and will run from 23 September - 23 October 2023 at Andra Norris Gallery. Alethea Magazine had the honour of an interview:

15. Juli 2023

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Name: Elizabeth Barlow

Occupation: Artist

Residence: Carmel-by-the-Sea

Education: Art Students League of New York, UC Berkeley Extension, Master of Arts, History, University of Virginia, Bachelor of Arts, University of Utah

"When I speak of beauty, I am not talking about prettiness or perfection. I am talking about the meaning that lies within beauty. I believe that beauty serves a great purpose."

You write that flower portraits are a call to turn to beauty, which can also change the way you walk through this world.

In contemporary life, beauty is sometimes perceived as trite. When I speak of beauty, I am not talking about prettiness or perfection. I am talking about the meaning that lies within beauty. I believe that beauty serves a great purpose. A peony, unfolding its heart to the world, asks us to pause, to linger, to perceive. When we take the time to truly look at a flower, our busy minds, filled with endless to-do lists, become calm. I paint portraits of flowers because their astonishing beauty is a gift that awakens us from the sleep of busyness to the wonders of this one, perfect moment.

"When I paint one flower, I am honoring that beautiful specimen, but I am also painting the entire world. "

Why do you see flowers as portraits rather than still lifes?

When I am painting a particular flower, I am very mindful that I am painting a precious individual. Each dahlia, or rose, or anemone that I paint is a wondrous, unique being. Just as you are. We are all special and different, yet we are all citizens of the same species and the same planet. Separate yet one. When I paint one flower, I am honoring that beautiful specimen, but I am also painting the entire world. 

How did it come about that flowers in particular became your favourite subject? 

My husband and I moved from San Francisco to Carmel-by-the-Sea, this beautiful coastal California town, in 2017. I left behind the stimulation of the vibrant city, and was suddenly immersed in a world of mists, twisting cypresses, rose gardens and the ocean’s roar. I found a studio in a historic church, and I walk to work there every day. I walk past charming cottage gardens and each day I am seduced into stopping and looking closely at a rose or bougainvillea or clematis. That is why I paint flowers: with their beauty and their scent, they seduce us and lure us back into the miraculous present.

©Elizabeth Barlow

What do you find your daily inspiration in?

It’s a long list! My early morning spiritual reading and meditation practice with a cup of green tea prepares my mind for a day of calm creativity. Throughout the day, I am very conscious of the kind of news, social media and energy I take in. I prefer to feed my mind and spirit with hope and kindness and grace. I try to observe but release the negative and cultivate what enriches me. I surround myself with books about artists who dedicate themselves fully to the service of their art, whether they are painters, poets, playwrights, musicians or dancers. I recently finished a biography of George Balanchine, and am now reading a new biography of John Singer Sargent. Georgia O’Keeffe is one of my great muses for her art and her life; she is the embodiment of an artist with a purity and singularity of vision and purpose. 

"I come into the studio each day and ask what it needs."

When do you know that a painting is complete? 

Since my paintings are layered with many small details, they take weeks to complete. As I am nearing the completion of a painting, I come into the studio each day and ask what it needs. It responds by showing me an area that wants subtlety or definition. Eventually, I walk into the studio and the painting stops “speaking” to me; it requires nothing more from me and is ready to live on its own in the world.

"The tech industry is transforming the culture of the Bay Area and many arts institutions are embracing that change."

What is the art scene like in the San Francisco Bay Area?

The art scene in San Francisco is diverse in style and geography. At any one moment, you can find an exhibition on John Singer Sargent at the elegant Legion of Honor museum to a show of minimalist abstraction at a scrappy little gallery in a seedy part of town. I love this about San Francisco! Most importantly is that galleries are in diverse locations, not just in the center of the city. You can now cross the Golden Gate Bridge or the Bay Bridge and find wonderful galleries all around the Bay. The gallery that represents my work, Andra Norris Gallery, is in Burlingame, a city near Silicon Valley. The tech industry is transforming the culture of the Bay Area and many arts institutions are embracing that change. I’ll be having an exhibition there alongside artist Susan Manchester called Flora Borealis, on view September 23 - October 23, 2023.

How did you arrive at your incredibly precise painting?

As artists, I believe we all have natural gifts: for color, gesture, etc. Observation and lingering over subtleties come naturally to me. But our natural gifts are only a small part of being an artist. The rest comes through training and practice. My father was a talented and successful realist painter, so I learned from watching him and being coached by him. In my art studies, I worked with great painters who pushed and challenged me. But my greatest growth has come from my dedicated studio practice. I work six days a week and I treat my time at the easel as a sacred devotion. My painting process involves many layers of transparent oil paint, and my work evolves and grows because of my practice of showing up at the easel every day.

“Is this the best that I can offer right now? How can I deepen my work?”

How long was your path, for example, to find a gallery owner or to exhibit in museums?

In some ways, it’s been a long path, but in other ways it’s been short. Very early in my career, the gallery that represented my father’s work asked to begin showing my work, too. I appreciate that this was an incredible gift and I am always grateful for that opportunity. That “foot in the door” to the gallery world gave me confidence but also challenged me to question my art and take it to new levels. There is nothing like showing with other artists I admire to prompt the question: “Is this the best that I can offer right now? How can I deepen my work?”

Last year, the Monterey Museum of Art offered me the opportunity to be part of a two-person exhibition called Flora Fauna. I spent a year creating new work for that exhibition, and those paintings felt like a joyful culmination to all the devoted work I have given to my art. Of course, now that the exhibition is closed, I am already asking myself, “How can I go deeper, grander and greater?” 

©Elizabeth Barlow

©Elizabeth Barlow