Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Schilling.
Barbara, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Art has been a constant thread throughout my life. I have always been creating, studying, and working to
grow as an artist. For 35 years, I had a career in art restoration, which gave me an intimate understanding
of materials, techniques, craftsmanship, and the ways artists throughout history used paint to
communicate their vision.
Throughout those years, I continued developing my own artwork, exploring my personal voice and
deepening my understanding of color, composition, brushwork, and emotional expression. When I retired
from restoration, that transition opened the door for me to fully devote myself to my own painting career.
Today, my work combines the technical knowledge gained from decades of restoration with a more
intuitive, expressive approach. I am less interested in simply recreating what I see and more interested in
capturing the energy, emotion, and deeper story beneath the surface
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My path as an artist has definitely not always been a straight or easy one. For many years, I was raising my two boys as a single mom while also working full time. Like many working parents, my own dreams and creative goals often had to take a backseat to the responsibilities of everyday life.
But art was always a part of who I was. I continued painting, learning, and creating whenever I could find
the time. Even during the busiest years, I never let go of that need to make art and continue growing.
Looking back, I don’t see those years as lost time. They shaped who I became as both a person and an
artist. The experiences, challenges, and resilience developed along the way became part of the emotional foundation that now informs my work.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a contemporary impressionist painter whose work explores the emotional language of landscape.
Rather than depicting a specific place, I seek to create an experience through color, brushwork, light, and
design. I am inspired by nature, memory, personal reflection, and the unseen emotional currents that
shape our lives. My paintings often balance recognizable landscapes with symbolic elements that invite
deeper interpretation.
Much of my recent work has focused on an ongoing Dream Series, a body of paintings inspired by my own dreams and translated into landscape imagery. Rather than illustrating the dreams literally, I use paths, water, weather, trees, birds, and shifting light as metaphors for internal experiences such as resilience,transformation, uncertainty, healing, and freedom. These paintings exist somewhere between observation and introspection, inviting viewers to bring their own stories and emotions to the work.
This exploration has also become the foundation for an upcoming book project, The Language Beneath the Landscape, which examines how artists use visual elements to communicate emotion and meaning.
Through both my paintings and writing, I hope to reveal the ways landscape can serve not only as a record of place, but as a reflection of our inner lives.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Some of my favorite childhood memories come from growing up on a farm. It was a quiet, simple life, and I spent a great deal of time alone, surrounded by nature. The fields, woods, animals, changing seasons, and open spaces became a constant presence in my life. That solitude gave me time to observe, imagine, and notice the small details around me — the way light changed across the landscape, the feeling of the weather shifting, and the quiet beauty of ordinary moments. I think those early experiences shaped both who I am and the way I see the world as an artist. Even now, I am drawn to that same sense of connection with nature. Much of my work comes from trying to capture not just what a place looks like, but the feeling, memory, and emotion it holds.
Pricing:
- 4000
- 300
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.barbaraschilling.com
- Instagram: barbaraschilling7205
- Youtube: @BarbaraSchilling
