Peter Barker was born in 1954 in the Oxfordshire market town of Banbury where, as a boy, he spent most of his days immersed in the countryside, fishing and fervently observing wildlife and the beauty of his surroundings. It soon became apparent that he had a natural talent for drawing and painting. This passion was ignited further by a delightful and timeless book by author and artist Bernard Venables, ‘Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing’, and this became Peter’s bible.
From 1972 to 1983 he was sidetracked by a career as a golf professional, but returned to his inevitable vocation, and has now become a renowned and prolific painter of landscapes and wildlife.
Peter paints mostly in oils, and occasionally pastels and watercolour, and is especially known for his life-like depiction of water, and ability to dash off astounding portrayals of tree foliage and vegetation with a 1”, common-or-garden decorator’s brush.
He has exhibited with the Pastel Society, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and the Royal Society of Marine Artists to which he was elected a full Member in 2015, and has won three awards at these prestigious annual exhibitions: the Frank Herring Award at the Pastel Society in 2006, and the Ranelagh Press award and the Stanley Grimm Prize at the ROI in 2009.
View Peter Barker Paintings
Opening his own gallery has now given him the opportunity to be an integral part of the journey a painting takes from easel to newly appointed residence!