Barbara Ernst Prey

Watercolorist Barbara Ernst Prey is inspired by vibrant colors throughout history—such as those found in medieval manuscripts and stained glass—as well as by twentieth-century abstract expressionists like Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, incorporating them into her paintings. “Color, light, composition, and design are the armature for the painting and hold the subject and narrative. My paintings may not seem abstract, but if you look at them, you will see underneath is a design which is very abstract and ties everything together,” she says. She holds the distinction of painting the largest known watercolor, a nine feet by sixteen feet commission at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

Source: Creative Maine Magazine