FINE ART Helen Barrack
A native of Pembrokeshire, born and brought up in Llawhaden I had a very happy childhood filled with daisies, gypsies and buttercups.
At age seven on St David’s Day we were asked to paint the Welsh flag and that was the first time I had a painting hung on the wall in school. It was then that I knew I could paint but had no encouragement from my family. I was told by my father at age fourteen, “You can’t earn a living by painting pictures.” I remained top of the class in art throughout my school days.
I married at age 23 and we bought our first house and worked hard to pay off the mortgage. I worked in the Accounts Department of the Pembrokeshire Executive Council before it became Dyfed at which point my first child was due; I now have two children and three grandchildren.
After bringing up my children to school age I started to attend Art Classes with Theo Whalley at the Further Education Centre in Haverfordwest. It was the first stepping stone to my work being shown at exhibitions.
Recently I’ve attended a short course with David Tress, and a seven week course with Aberystwyth University studying “Abstracting the Landscape” where I felt out of my depth for the first time in an art class, however I soon got the hang of it and as a result I have found my own style of painting and am enjoying creating new colour combinations and shapes.