Bob Barker Biography
Bob has been painting since he received a Christmas gift - an oil painting set at the age of 12. Immediately he was captivated by what could be achieved with a brush, some oil paint and a few small squares of hardboard; he used to paint on the reverse side because he thought it looked like proper canvas. Childhood memories of the mill his mother worked at as a weaver form the images he paints now; Bob loved the smell of the looms at the mill, talked to everybody in the spinning sheds, the burling and mending room, the winders and tuners, along with his grandmother who was the ‘cha’ lady there. With no formal training Bob has enjoyed painting in many different styles and with numerous subjects, developing and honing his techniques of brush and palette knife.
Although a Yorkshire man born and bred, during his youth Bob spent time in Cornwall. There he met two prominent artists (Keith English & Tom Gower) and spent hours watching them paint. Conversations with them made him believe he could be a professional artist. However, as life went on, marriage, children and a mortgage meant that painting remained as a hobby whilst Bob ran his own video and media company. His daughter-in-law now runs the business, allowing Bob to achieve his lifelong dream of being a working artist. “Nostalgia spurs me to paint by looking back to childhood memories with adult eyes; this allows me to be quite free artistically”
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