Meet Elizabeth Barlow

We recently connected with Elizabeth Barlow and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth, appreciate you sitting with us today. Maybe we can start with a topic that we care deeply about because it’s something we’ve found really sets folks apart and can make all the difference in whether someone reaches their goals. Self discipline seems to have an outsized impact on how someone’s life plays out and so we’d love to hear about how you developed yours?

People often say to me “you are so disciplined.”

They are referring to the fact that I go to my studio and paint six days a week, Monday – Saturday. (When I’m up against a looming deadline, I may paint on Sundays too.)

But I really am not disciplined. I am devoted.

I don’t use willpower to head to the studio each day, I use desire. I long to be there coaxing something of beauty onto the surface of my canvas. I would rather be there – even when I am struggling with a painting – than almost anywhere else because I am devoted to my calling to be an artist.

Devotion is a response of the heart — discipline is an action of the will. I am devoted to my husband, our family, my meditation practice. I am disciplined (sort of!) with my workout schedule.

For years in San Francisco, I had a day job and could only get to my studio on weekends. But I rose every morning at 5 am so that I could spend an hour drawing or painting on a drafting table in the corner of my tiny studio apartment.

Devotion is answering to the call of love. I love my art practice so much that I choose to be there for it – day by day, year by year. It anchors me and feeds me – as do my marriage, our family and my meditation practice.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am an oil painter and live and work in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. My studio is in a 120-year-old church in the center of our town. I paint hyperrealistic, larger-than-life flowers to reveal the transformational power of nature and beauty. In my Flora Portraits series, I elevate flowers as potent symbols of the power of re-emergence that exists within all living things. With the support of my daily meditation practice, I have found that painting is a transformative practice that allows me to slow down, look deeply and develop a deep reverence for all living things.

In 2023, my paintings were featured in the two-person exhibition Flora Fauna at the Monterey Museum of Art. My work is held in many public and private collections and is represented by Andra Norris Gallery in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have a busy schedule of private commissions and exhibitions, and am grateful every day that this is my purpose and practice in life.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

As an artist, I believe that three qualities have been key to my journey:

Devotion. I feel called to be an artist, and I am devoted to my art, so I make it a priority in my life.

Trust: I had to learn the truth of this quality over time. When I was a younger artist, I sometimes despaired when a painting didn’t work out as I had hoped. But now I trust that when I am struggling with a part of a painting, it doesn’t mean that the painting is a failure. I trust (and know from experience) that if I stay with it, look at it another day, muse and dream about it, the path forward will be revealed to me.

Routine. Being a painter is similar to being a ballet dancer, or concert pianist or jazz musician — or chef or farmer. It is the day-to-day work, no matter how tired you are, that yields growth as an artist. There is a misconception that artists do brilliant work when inspiration strikes — but the opposite is true. The great work comes when you show up at the easel (or the piano or the garden), and do the work as best you can, day after day after day. Pablo Picasso said that inspiration will find you — but only when you are working.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

I often re-read the book “Life in the Studio” by the great potter Frances Palmer. In it she shares how she has stitched together the beloved threads of her life — making ceramics, gardening, cooking, family, entertaining — into a rich and beautiful tapestry. How does she do it all? She used to knit sweaters and learned that a garment is made not by a superhuman effort, but by patiently knitting “row, by row, by row.” And so, she says, the art pieces for an exhibition get made, the dinner is prepared, the garden is weeded, the children are grown, the friends are treasured. A row is a row is a row.

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Image Credits

Photos: Rick Pharaoh and Tiffany Walker

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