"Barbara often uses the warmth and excitement that natural light brings to a landscape setting. She achieves this drama with the use of high color and value contrasts."

Barbara Jamison's passion for art first developed during the 12 years she lived in New York City as a young businesswoman. Studies at The New School and frequent visits to museums and gallery exhibitions captivated Barbara's interest in the visual arts. After the New York experience, she traveled extensively during 13 years of living in France, Switzerland, Italy and England. "After living in Rome, I felt compelled to study clay sculpture, often doing figurative work". But Barbara's love of color was just too strong, enticing her to start work in pastels. After 2 years of pastel studies at Queens University in Charlotte, she made the transition to working in oils. Her explorations in oil paintings have been supported by studies with Andy Braitman at Braitman Studios.

Barbara Jamison strives to capture the drama of everyday landscapes by using striking color contrasts. She often uses the warmth and excitement that natural light brings to a landscape setting. Barbara achieves this drama with the use of high color and value contrasts. She often uses bright under-paintings to make oil paint 'pop' when using opposite and contrasting colors. Other times, Barbara uses black under-paintings to contrast with brightly colored oil paints.

To support the imposing drama of Barbara's landscapes, she usually works on larger canvases, thereby maximizing the impact of her work. Barbara often paints with a combination of palette knives and brushes to achieve a variety of textures in her works. Barbara Jamison captures the excitement of her landscape work by utilizing her exceptional physical energy during the process of painting. "I think about a painting 4 times longer than I actually paint. When I have a vision of what I want to bring forth onto the canvas, my pace of painting is rapid and sometimes frenetic, as I try to capture the natural beauty and magic of that landscape setting."

Barbara's painting has been greatly inspired by the landscapes of the North Carolina mountains. "The drama of the altitude changes and variety of colors in the Blue Ridge mountains is breathtaking. I strive to capture the essence of that moment which captivates the soul".

Barbara's art has been heightened through joining the "Tumbleweed Painters Group". This is a group of 11 professional painters in the southeast, who travel together, share painting expertise and in November '09 will have their first group exhibition. See www.tumbleweedpaintersgroup.com for further information.

Barbara was born in Rye, New York. She pursued a BA at Georgetown University and an MBA at Columbia Graduate School of Business. Her business career started in Manhattan, but soon took her to Rome, where she was General Manager of American Express' Travel businesses for Italy. She then moved to London where she was Vice President of Amex' Marketing for Europe. Barbara's travels, in combination with her constant reading and studying about new artists and methodologies, has fuelled her artwork. She now lives in Charlotte and Cashiers, NC with her husband Jim and two sons Kyle and Blake.