Who is that Linda Barnicott anyway?

 

I hope you enjoy the show!

 

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Best kept secret unleashed...

A lot of people ask me when and how I started painting Pittsburgh. I can not believe it was so long ago now -- September 1989.

When I was a very young girl, I loved to draw people's faces. There was something about the eyes that spoke to me. Some people say the eyes are the mirror of the soul. I loved drawing portraits, being quiet and shy, it was my way of communicating with those I loved. All I knew at the time was whenever I gifted someone with a portrait, they would smile and be happy. The feeling of making someone happy made me want to do another portrait and another.

As I grew older, people would give me tips for painting their families and friends. After I married my wonderful husband Tom, those dollars would help pay for something for our apartment or to go away.

I had made a relationship with the owner of Kustom Korner Gallery and would sit in front of the store and paint portraits. She would mat and frame them. One day, her husband asked if I would paint a streetcar in a downtown scene. He said even if he didn't think it would sell, he would put the original in the window of the gallery after it was done.

I decided on painting the corner of Kaufmann's because it was my old bus stop and being fairly new to Pittsburgh, I was realizing for generations everyone met under the Kaufmann's Clock.

The best kept secret?

I had never painted a building in my life.

People many, but buildings, not a one. Fortunately for me, I lived next door to my first mentor, Gary Dimmick ( he was passed on to Glory at the young age of 49). Gary would spend hours with me teaching me perspective, so that Kaufmann's wouldn't look like it was falling down. He was a great teacher, and I am happy to say I now have over 50 pieces in print.

I love painting memories of Pittsburgh and now across country. I am very blest to still hear stories of how my work has made someone happy.

I would love to hear your story of a place that I have painted and what makes it special for you.

Television magic

Watch as my painting magically transforms from sketch to finished product.

First Steps to Documenting the PA Route 6 Artisan Trail

This was written this morning by George Nowack in response to our conversation yesterday afternoon. He can say it much better than me.

Friends, 

I am delighted to share that Linda Barnicott has started the “homework assignment” which I suggested she follow. As indicated in the February, 2011 PA ROUTE 6 ARTISAN TRAIL NEWSLETTER, Linda will be following the Trail and creating original artworks representing various scenic/historic aspects of the Trail. All this is one part of the overall vision to develop the rich cultural and historical aspects of the entire region.

George P. Nowack

PA Route 6 Aritsan Trail Coordinator 

excerp from the newsletter....

THE TRAIL GETS A PAINT JOB

Nationally known artist, Linda Barnicott has chosen to capture, as her next series of paintings, various spots along the PA Route 6 Artisan Trail. Barnicott, best known for her nostalgic scenes of Pittsburgh, and most recently her rendition of Conneaut Lake Park’s Blue Streak, has captured with pastels, places which tug at the memories and heart strings of all who view them.

Her rendition of the Kaufmann’s Clock in 1989 started her on the road to notoriety. She was the official artist of the 1996 Three Rivers Regatta and since 1998 has been commissioned by the American Cancer Society of Greater Pittsburgh to create the painting used on their annual Christmas Card. Recently, she has teamed up with Wendell August to create ornaments of her Pittsburgh scenes, with three new designs minted each year from 2010 through 2014.    

Taking some well-deserved time off, Linda has begun work on what she calls “Plein Air Landscapes.” She has volunteered to produce a group of paintings depicting spots on Pennsylvania’s Artisan Trail, which will become a traveling exhibit, hosted by the hubs on the trail and eventually being exhibited in other states.

Linda is the first among a group of Artists who have volunteered their time and talents to develop the concept of a dynamic and all-inclusive documentary of the cuture, heritage, and Arts which flourish along the Trail (first mentioned in last month's Newsletter.

Follow her journey in the monthly newsletter of the PA Route 6 Artisan Trail.

 

I am new to blogging

I am new to blogging, but I have a story to tell, actually I have quite a few stories to tell and I hope you will join me on my journey as I get to know this tool and use it to tell them.

I am a Pittsburgh artist and in a few weeks I will start a quest to travel across PA Route 6 and document our lovely state in soft pastels. I have a year to finish approximently 20 paintings for a show next summer in Conneaut.

If you have any favorite places you would like me to stop at and possibly paint, please let me know.

Thank you.
Linda Barnicott