British landscape artist, Rebecca Barnard, was born in 1961 near Saffron Walden in Essex.  From 1982, after a foundation course, she took the opportunity to go abroad for what was intended to be a gap year, but which turned out to be a five year trip, living and working in both Europe and Australia.

On her return, she studied at the Heatherley School of Fine Art, but she considers herself, primarily, to be a self taught artist.  She has, for many years, been exhibiting widely and her work is now collected throughout the UK and abroad. 

Rebecca travels extensively around the country gathering images for painting, the West Country and her native East Anglia featuring highly.  The process of creating a painting has always been as important to Rebecca as the emotion evoked by the outcome.  The work is not primarily about place, but seeks to feast the eye, capturing the intrinsic character and beauty of the English countryside and its changing seasons.   The different moods of the day, all bathed in their own particular light, draw the viewer irresistibly into the painting.

Says the artist; "My art has always been rooted in nature. The innate familiarity to me of the landscapes in which I was brought up, remain the one thing from which all else springs. I love the early mornings, when the light casts the longest shadows and when the peace helps me reflect on what is important for me. I want my work to give back to the viewer, some of that tranquillity and quiet reflection."

Work is featured regularly at Thompson's, Broadway Modern and Cambridge Contemporary Art.