Acrylic Paintings by Barbara McCauley

McCauley returned to painting after a hiatus of over thirty years, during which time she devoted herself to writing, mainly poetry, teaching, and raising her only daughter. The return was a happy one.

Born and raised in Connecticut, her move to New Mexico brought out a totally different palette from what she had used as a young woman in New England. The clarity of light, the brilliance of color, the sharpness of shadow and the warmth and femininity of the Spanish architecture inspired a whole new vision, one filled with joy and mystery.

This view also infused her figures which she began in the year 2000 with a series of small canvasses of the female figure centered in contemplation within a dark and undefined background. Both landscape and figure paintings have evolved over the years, but continue to be filled with light and a beautiful use of color.

The work she did during the first years she returned to painting were abstractions based on the New Mexico villages. These became the landscapes, more fleshed out using both representational and abstract approaches. In the last year, she returned to painting more abstactly. These paintings partake of both her figures and landscapes in the qualities and concerns mentioned above. There is no mistaking the presence of the natural world, but brought to its essentials rather than realistically articulated.