About Barbara
My true passion is creating art. Paintings. Someone once told me to make a “daily habit of art” in my life, if I intended to develop as an artist. I have taken this advice to heart. And yet, I have worked in other professions in tandem with being an artist. My other professions were all in the wake of my passion for art. I chose work that fed my soul and did more than just pay the bills. I’ve had three careers that I have been deeply committed to. My first career was as a City Planner and Urban Designer with the goal of creating beautiful and livable places for people. My second career was teaching design and drawing as a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning. In my third career I owned an ecological restoration nursery and consulting business with my husband, Ross Coleman, restoring rivers and wetlands throughout the western United States. I loved my three careers. Working in this way provided me financial freedom to develop my creative process as an artist, while showing my paintings in galleries and shows, both nationally and internationally.
My informal art education started when I was a child, living in France. Our home was in the Fontainebleau Forest, outside of Paris. My father would take me to the Louvre, the Jeu de Pomme Museum and other art venues in Paris every weekend. Living and traveling in Europe for three years as a child left an indelible impression on me. The art, architecture, culture and learning new languages inspired me. It made me want to be an artist. At twenty years old, I moved back to to Aix-en-Provence, France to attend art school. It felt like going home. After returning to the United States, I studied art and architecture, earning a Master’s Degree in Community and Regional Planning. I’ve continued my artistic studies in painting with Kevin Macpherson, Scott Christensen, Ray Roberts, Peggi Kroll Roberts, Jill Carver, and Kathryn Stats.
I live in New Mexico. My husband and I have raised three children. Parenting is its own art form and spiritual practice. Our two daughters and son are adults now: a lawyer, a physician’s assistant in anesthesiology and a budding doctor. Family life has enriched my life and painting in ways I never imagined.