cleaning the studio...

...and other adventures in art

sempione news

Many thanks to Mauro Bianchini, who wrote an article for the Sempione News about my piece Making My Own Paradise, currently on display at Palazzo Mora in Venice Italy: Sempione News: Mauro Bianchini on Barbara Downs Making My Own Paradise Before I say more, I just...

everyone has a day job

In a moment of surprising forethought and planning when I was in high school, I took some drafting classes because I knew I wanted to study art in college, but I also knew that I needed to earn a living.  Why not do drafting as my day job?  I liked drawing and the...

the endless reworking

Sometimes I think I’ve finished something and it turns out that I’m wrong. The longer a piece sits in my studio, the more chance there is that I will modify it at some point. This is especially true of paintings and encaustic because they are both...

thinking out loud

I have some work in the Take Aways show at Pajaro Valley Arts Gallery right now—I’ve been participating in this show for a few years, and I do a special series for it each year. Because all the pieces for this show are under $300, and the artists are expected to...

another barn in Iceland (and another, and another)

There are plenty of barns in Iceland.  And there is plenty of appeal for me in a barn: a long, low, simple building, a blocky shape dropped onto the landscape with little innate beauty.  Its utility is not obvious from the outside, and any windows are placed too high...