Local artist’s work on display in Westlake

By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

A sample of Barbara Wood's art

Her art has appeared on book covers and in magazines. Her paintings hang in offices, sitting rooms and over fireplaces in the homes of former presidents, four-star generals, movie stars and royalty.

Best of all for local residents, the artwork of Thousand Oaks resident Barbara A. Wood is on display this week at a Westlake Village gallery.

Wood’s paintings are a celebration of color. At the age of 5 she fell in love with the power and majesty of color after finding cobalt-blue marble. The myriad of blue tones fascinated her, and from that moment, she was hooked.

Women also figure prominently in her work. And for good reason: the Ohio native was reared by her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

When Wood finished high school, she studied to be fashion designer, winning a scholarship to a New York design school. While there an instructor noticed her fine arts skills and recommended she change her major. So, she transferred to an art college.

Later, Wood married and moved to California, completing her art studies in the Los Angeles area. By that time, the family included three children. Caring for a growing family while juggling student responsibilities wasn’t easy, but Wood persisted.

"If you love something enough then you find a way to do it," she said.

An artist for three decades now, Wood has never had another job outside the art world. When times were tough, she taught art classes for children and painted portraits.

But Wood soon soured on the latter when, after pouring her heart and talents into the portrait of one woman, she was asked to alter the painting, essentially giving the woman "a face lift on canvas."

Wood’s pieces for the most part are light and flowing. But among the pictures of dancing ladies and contemplative men are a couple that are noticeably different.

"Artists are like movie stars," Wood explained of the two paintings featuring subjects with skeleton faces. "They get stereotyped ... so I wanted to do something off the wall."

Added her husband, Sid, with a quick smile: "I’ve never seen her do something like this before." The two will celebrate 26 years of marriage on Valentine’s Day.

Sid said he knew nothing about art until the day Wood stepped into his life. She opened up a new world for me, he said, adding that’s he’s better for it. Sid is her business manager.

Clearly, Wood is a talented and experienced artist, but the journey to a finished work of art often is arduous. Even she finds a blank canvas intimidating.

To tame it, she applies a wash of color to it before painting. And Wood says she’s been known to spend hours painting, only to eradicate it later with turpentine and start over.

But that’s all part of the process, she said. This has to be done in order to get to where you want to be.

"Just like life is a journey, painting is a journey," Wood said.

Is there such a thing as bad art?

Wood said it’s more about a lack of knowledge; knowledge about feelings and expressing them.

People should see beyond the moment, she said, and take time to notice the extraordinary in ordinary things. That’s what makes children’s art so terrific; they freely use color according to their feelings, she said.

Wood’s paintings will be on display through Feb. 12 at Artagraphix, 2806 Townsgate Road in Westlake Village. Her work can also be seen and ordered online at www.graphicswow.com.