Welcome to my Glacier Country Landscapes website.

Featured here are some of my recent paintings of landscapes in my backyard, Glacier Country of Northwest Montana. I'm pleased that two of my paintings were recently accepted into the juried show, Catch the Vision: Emerging Artists, at the Hockaday Museum of Art, Kalispell, Montana.

Please enjoy!

Barbara M. Taylor

Artist Statement

I love to paint!  Less than two years ago, as a recently retired professor from Minnesota and newcomer to Whitefish, Montana, I followed my life-long dream to draw and paint. I sensed that I couldn’t “even draw a stick figure,” but I decided to give landscape painting a try.  After a year that included classes, workshops, lessons, and lots of practice with watercolors, I dabbled with oils.  Over the past ten months, aided by several additional workshops, lessons, and lots of practice, I have found that oil painting of landscapes really excites me. Except when I am hiking, I paint almost every day from my third floor studio with mountain views in every direction.

I love to paint landscapes because it’s a way that I can connect with the beautiful natural world that surrounds me. I look at things differently now. As I experience the great outdoors, I get excited by the glorious shapes, lines, colors, and contrasts of light and shadow that I never really saw before.

Awed by the beauty of nature, I attempt to capture this beauty as I paint landscapes that have moved me.  I primarily paint from photos I take when hiking, and for additional inspiration, I look at the sky, clouds, mountains, trees, meadows, light and shadows that surround me at my home. I start with a value sketch to get a feel for where I am going, then draw on canvas, and paint in layers.

I plan to continue to learn and improve as an artist.   Through my art, I also hope to share with others some of the excitement and wonder of nature, especially the beautiful vistas I experience, in this “Last Best Place.”