Barb Northwood
born Vancouver, BC, Canada, Sept. 24, 1962
Canadian artist and writer.

Barb is a self taught artist. Her major influences are Vincent Van Gogh—a relative of her adoptive father and Canadian west coast artist Emily Carr.

Barb has always been able to draw but did not connect her ability to draw with being an artist. Her early artistic endevours included illustrating and producing hundreds of lapel button designs, illustrating her daughter’s school newsletters and doing years of avante garde arts and crafts with her preschool.

At the age of 26, Barb’s health suddenly became a life changing issue. Among other things, Barb has a very aggressive form of arthritis.

Age 27 was a defining time for her. Her marriage ended, turning her into a single mother. She had serious health issues and was unable to work. This is the time she decided that she wanted to be an artist and began to refer to herself as one.

Now, at the age of 46, after finishing a five year course of chemotherapy for her arthritis, it seems like her health may be stable. However, there is severe damage will not go away and she is in constant pain. Due to multiple allergies, an ongoing search for effective pain relief has been unproductive. Fortunately, she is able to take one of the latests drugs for neuropathic pain and that is helping.

She maintains that the arthritis left her with a number of gifts. One was the opportunity to stay home with her daughter as she grew. Another is the time to write and to paint. She has used that time effectively. She has an active online presence and has built up a considerable body of paintings. Now, with over 70 canvases all over North America, Barb is becoming more public about her art, her peace building and her philanthropic activities.

You can read about her personal journey in her on-line journal Its just all about me. She has been writing there for several years. She talks about living a life with constant pain and her journey. (She posts pictures of her art in progress here as well) Barb is also a prolific writer on spirital matters and has been a moderator for several boards on MSN.

She also has taken a keen interest in myspace and has a Barb’s Art myspace page which she spends a lot of time on. It also has her journal (but only going back a few months) and it has a lot of comments and thoughts both from her and in response to her art and her words.

Barb has a deep sense of appreciation and gratitude for having all of the blessings in her life and believes deeply that the goodness of life is for all.

She believes that if there were more kindness in the world, there would be much less suffering. Through art, writing, peace activism and her everyday actions Barb works to create more kindness and less suffering for everyone. She sees her actions rippling out throughout the world and believes that if enough people choose kindness – the whole world will light up!

Her art has always been a source of giving. She has given away many canvases to friends, acquaintances and people she thinks would benefit from a painting. She also has a history of donating canvases to worth causes and to support fundraising for people in need.

Several of the paintings shown in this web site were donated and/or funds raised will go directly to support people who can use it.

This web site is an outreach on her part to be able to reach further and help more people.