Hazel Barker

Hazel Barker started her career in art at the age of eleven, when she won 1st prize in a national road safety poster competition. Her art teacher introduced her to oils and this led to her headmistress commissioning a landscape in oils for her family home in Scotland.

She went on to study art at Guildford and Reigate Schools of Art and on leaving started painting portraits on commission.

She worked in a design studio for a while before starting a family. This effectively slowed down her career, although during the following years she found time to paint.

She now lives in Sussex, painting commissions for galleries. She has taken up watercolour in addition to oils, and her recent exhibition of English and French Landscapes was very successful.

Her work, whilst retaining a sound figurative base, makes use of vibrant colours and elements to explore the patterns found in the natural, agricultural and built environments. This approach has proved particularly successful in depictions of Mediterranean and West Indian landscapes, and she has produced many strikingly original paintings during visits to France, Spain and Barbados.

Her work is present in private collections in the U.K., Norway, Sweden, France, Holland, Spain and North America.