Hello and welcome to Softwind Studio!
My name is Barb. I’m married to my best friend. I do “creative stuff “ (paint pictures, paint bathrooms, lay tile, remodel rooms in my home, and on the rare occasion hang drywall). I’m a dog mom. I live on a beautiful lake. I like to kayak and garden. Recently, my husband built me my dream studio. Totally awesome (both the man AND the studio)! I immediately named my studio “Softwind Studio & Tea Garden”. (Let me explain the “Tea Garden” part. I am growing my own Chamomile and expanding to other tea plants (Camellias) to see how that goes. I mean, who does not want their own tea garden?)
I’m a California girl by birth, but moved to the awesome state of Virginia a number of years ago. Though “art” is not my day job, it is in my blood and has been all my life, starting with my grandmother and mom. Theirs are some awfully big shoes to fill. Not because they had large feet, but because they were both amazing artists!
For many years, I set art aside and focused on my regular “9-to-5” job. (Who gets to work at 9? Must be nice!) But, between my husband building me my dream studio and my girlfriends inspiring me to get back to my artistic roots, I have been reassessing my priorities a bit.
I’m also a firm believer that no matter what age we are we can pursue our dreams. We can reinvent ourselves. I keep a quote from my dad on my work computer: “Enjoy life!” That can mean something different to everyone. To me it means, don’t waste my life being stressed about “the small stuff”. It could also mean, do what I love doing…now! The older I get the more I think about the next part of my life. Perhaps my eventual retirement from the 9-to-5 job will be the start of the art career I’ve always wanted.
Wow! Now I’m really getting philosophical!
Artistically, I’m inspired every single day when I look out my back door at the beauty of nature that God has created. I feel totally blessed! I cannot help but want to capture the feeling of what I see and how it moves me, in the form of a watercolor or an oil painting…or an abstract created using good old house paints. They are all fun!
