About

Barbara brandenburg

Barbara Brandeburg discovered her passion for painting after retiring from her career as an author of quilting books. Inspired by the story of Grandma Moses—whom she originally believed began painting at 65—Barbara joined the “painting a day” movement and began creating small plein air works. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she invested in a studio easel and quickly fell in love with the process of painting indoors as well. Growing up in a large, creative family in California nurtured her artistic spirit, and today she lives in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley near her grandchildren, who have happily followed her example and taken up painting themselves.

Barbara’s work celebrates the rural beauty she calls the “Mild West”—weathered barns, quiet pastures, pioneer trails, and sweeping mountain vistas of the Tetons and Wasatch ranges. She tells these stories through thin layers of oil paint, often pushing, pulling, and rolling her brush in unconventional ways to capture atmosphere and movement. Many of her subjects begin with drives through the countryside, camera in hand, searching for the scene that stops her in her tracks and makes her think, “I can’t wait to paint this.” And as she later learned, Grandma Moses didn’t begin painting until 78 and continued until 101—so Barbara feels she still has plenty of time to catch up.