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About​

Barbara Olsen, a Colorado-based artist, lives and works in the foothills of the Front Range. Her interpretive style, often pushing color and reality, has been influenced by exposure to structure and design through her education and careers in art, retail, and technology. Barbara utilizes water-based and mixed mediums and explores the themes of discovery, time, and transition in many of her works.

​Affiliations

Barbara is a signature member of the Colorado Watercolor Society, the Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Society and a juried member of the Arizona Watercolor Association. She has exhibited in Canada and the United States and has received numerous awards and recognition for her paintings. Her work appears in two book series: Splash (16) The Best of Watercolor and Incite (3 and 4) The Best of Mixed Media, both published by North Light Books. She has also illustrated two book covers: My Love Affair with Bruges and Carla and Antonio, written by Margaret Olsen and published by Balboa and Friesen Press.

​Insight

"My earliest creative memory is of drawing squares while I spoke on the telephone as a young girl. I would draw an X inside the first square, connecting opposite corners. Then, I'd draw another square alongside it in the same manner. I 'built' an endless number of these arrays comprised totally of squares, each one divided into four equal triangles. This type of pattern-building fascinated me and the innate allure that I felt toward drawing lines, repeating shapes, and organizing and dividing space continues to inform many of my creations today."
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Awards and Recognition

© 2008-2023 Barbara Olsen