Soozie Barker

Soozy Barker is an experienced published artist specialising in producing contemporary mixed media art works designed to enhance interior design themes within private homes and corporate environments. She keeps her work in touch with trends and fashions within the art and interior design world. Exhibiting regularly at major art fairs keeps her in tune with client's needs and expectations.

Soozy's absorbing and atmospheric landscapes challenge our perceptions of reality. They lead us into the dream-like world of her imagination often creating moody, foggy landscapes and ambiguous seascapes. She takes inspiration from visits to marshlands and river estuaries whilst literature and poetry also provide sources of inspiration.  In particular, her "Search for the Convict" series was inspired by the Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" with it's haunting and dramatic descriptions of the Hackney Marsh.

The silver-toned Baltic Coast also fascinates Soozy. “St Peter–Ording on the north eastern coast of Germany has an eerie stillness, the sand and tidal flats can only be differentiated by the metallic sheen reflected off the water." My latest work is based on the snow covered sands and the icy sterling sea. I love using metallic paints; the way the light reflects off the paint particles is so beautiful." she says about a recent series of work.

Her painting process engages her fully and stimulates all of her senses. "I often listen to quite somber music when I paint the darker seascapes and marsh lands, I find the emotion influences the way in which I see the colours and apply the paint. It's important for me to heighten my senses while I'm painting; I believe that my energy is transferred to the piece and therefore the viewer. A painting must have a soul, a story and for me the most important feeling which is nostalgia. One must relate to a piece to fall in love with it."Her technique requires hours of blending, pouring, flicking and splashing often using more than 20-30 brushes and various palate knives, oil paints, gold and silver leaf, mixing and thinning mediums, metallic acrylics, spray paints, and paint stained pieces of wood to use as edges.

This is however not in vain, since she managed to gain recognition in the art world. She has completed over 100 commissions and sold countless individual pieces which are hung in private and corporate collections throughout the UK and all over the world.