Barbara Glover, one of 11 co-owners at the Artists Guild Gallery, was kept busy earlier in her life raising her family and teaching, which she did for 42 years before retiring. Although she has always been creative, from fingerpainting with children to dabbling in fine art, it wasn’t until her retirement that she truly was able to devote time to the canvas.
“There really wasn’t time. The good news is it’s like riding a bike. You can always go back to it.”
One of five children, Glover grew up in Stamford, Conn., with siblings that she says were smart and athletic – traits that she feels she didn’t inherit. When her mother recognized her daughter’s creative abilities, she encouraged her to do what she loved – art.
“We would sit and draw together,” says Glover. Then in seventh grade, she began taking oil painting lessons with two of her friends, who both went on to become successful artists.
Other than art, teaching was her first love, and working with academically gifted children allowed her to use her creativity every day.
“We dissected eyeballs and made cameras,” Glover recalls.
After retiring, she and her husband were anxious for “travel and adventure.”
“I was interested in photographing beautiful and remote locations. Both my husband and I wanted to experience small towns, the food, wine and people,” says Glover, noting that a trip to Lake Como, Italy, was pivotal.
“The romance of travel and my passion for painting are the driving forces for me to create.
My hope is that my paintings allow you to step into a magical place, giving you peace and tranquility,” she explains.
“I found my passion in the process of painting rather than just trying to create a finished product. I became one with the paint. I was hooked. I never thought that it would be so invigorating. I’ve always enjoyed artwork, but I never thought of it as a career. It was just something for fun.”
She became even more serious about painting when her grandchildren came along, and was especially motivated after learning how expensive it was to have a painting done.
Delving headlong into the craft, she took a lot of workshops to learn as much as she could.
“I want something pretty that makes you feel good when you look at it. I wanted paintings in my home and to surround myself with things that make me happy.”
She knew she was onto something when her daughter and son-in-law hung a painting Glover had done for them.
“It doesn’t get any better than that,” she says, beaming with pride.
Preferring to use bold colors to express her “impressionistic view of the world,” oil has always been her medium of choice.
“You can play with it. Any mistake can be corrected, and you can change it at any time,” she says.
Glover paints using a variety of tools, even her fingers, hands, and body.
“I love the feel and texture of the paint. I am one with the paint. I’m pretty much covered in it. If you’re clean when you’re done, you’re not doing it right.”
After experimenting with cold wax, she found she enjoyed that too.
“It’s like painting with butter. I sometimes roll color out with a roller, put different layers on top, and melt through,” Glover says. “It just kind of swirls.”
She also likes to contrast darks and lights through the skillful use of layering and texture, a technique that is particularly handy when painting the sky, reflections, and water.
“I find joy in capturing the emotion, movement and depth of a scene. The sky isn’t a solid color. There’s nothing solid about it. When you melt the wax, it has a way of magically swirling together. It’s like magic being one with the sky,” she explains.
“That’s how you get modulation in the background. Mixing oil and wax is my strategy for making things feel better. There’s more depth to it.”
For someone who doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty, Glover says all of her household chores have to be finished before she can focus on a painting.
“I need to be at peace. Then, I might paint for seven hours at a time. I get really lost in the process. It’s truly a passion.”
Adding that “artwork is personal,” Glover says she only paints things that she loves.
“Whenever I do a commission, I say up front, ‘I paint so that I’m happy with it. I can’t paint to try to please you. If you like my style, wonderful. If you don’t like the finished product, you’re not allowed to have it.’”
She also numbers each one of the paintings and enters details about them in a notebook.
“They’re like my children,” she says, adding that she’s completed more than 630 paintings.
While she generally works from photographs, Glover says that her paintings are romanticized, often taking something from a photograph and building the painting from there.
“I’m not into drawing that much. I work from a photo, and I love to change things as I paint.
The only reason to paint something is to add something, take away something, or make it more emotive,” she explains.
She enjoys painting nature and places she sees while traveling, and a particular favorite subject of hers is painting children at the beach; she first shoots videos of them to capture their “natural movement.”
However, she prefers not to depict faces, choosing instead to paint them from behind because she wants the finished work to be “emotive.”
Glover’s work can be seen at the Artists Guild Gallery on 14th Avenue.
