Charine Barber
"Genuine Art Studio"

Langford, BC artist Charine Barber and has been a creative individual for her entire life. Charine excelled in art classes all throughout her school years and has been a collector of local artists works for over 20 years. During a very traumatic & trying time in her life, as well as an undiagnosed health problem Charine took up painting in 2011 to help her find some peace and clarity. She found painting to be very therapeutic & it helped her relax & take her mind off of her health and other concerns. After several years of painting, being mostly self-taught, Charine took a painting course in 2015 by the late portrait painter Mary Jean Brown. This course helped her develop her skills, discover new techniques & it also helped her build her confidence as an artist. Charine has always admired an abstract representation, but until early 2018 Charine painted mostly portrait style paintings. In 2016, on the encouragement from a friend, Charine opened Genuine Art Studio, a small studio in the Cowichan Valley where she could work on her art in a bright and peaceful environment. Charine recently moved this studio back into her home due to her health & the fact that it is easier for her to work from home.

In February of 2018 Charine was introduced to fluid painting. She has always loved abstract work, but as a very detailed person she just couldn’t find a way to let loose enough to create abstract pieces. When she started flow painting, it allowed her to create abstract works more easily. In flow painting, the paint is not fully controllable & there is an element of chance combined with chemistry & vision. Finally Charine was able to create expressive abstract works. Shortly thereafter, Charine started working with resin & then discovered that there was a new geode inspired art movement & she was completely hooked. As a child Charine was obsessed with polished stones, sea-glass and semi-precious stones and she is a very spiritual person who loves the healing powers of crystals, so it was a natural fit for her. Charine has a strong following from around the world and her work is collected and displayed throughout the Victoria area and in the USA.

Charine’s Geode inspired pieces are done on treated birch canvases or freeform cut boards. Charine starts to build layers from fire-glass, acrylic beads & other types of glass, gravel & sand to build texture & to create the appearance of the crystal rock formations found in nature. Charine then starts adding layers of resin mixed with professional paints, glitters, pigments & alcohol inks. The process of making one of these paintings can be lengthy. Each layer of resin cures for around 24 hours before the next layer & then the next and so on. Paints & pigments are sometimes moved around with a heat gun before the epoxy has cured. The resin is torched to remove any bubbles caused by the two-part epoxy. Typically there are 3-5 layers to create the look & depth that Charine desires in her paintings. Charine then attaches real quartz healing crystals, semi-precious stones and agates and she then draws on lines with professional paint pens. When the final look is achieved, Charine finishes the piece with another 1-2 layers of clear resin for that beautiful mirror like shine. Some of Charine’s larger pieces are in excess of 35 pounds due to the multiple layers of resin.