Al Barnes Art

Naturalistic sporting landscape painting by Texas artist Al Barnes. The work features a central male figure on an airboat with his dog set against a quiet co...

Al Barnes (1937-2017) Cuero / Rockport Artist Image Size: 36 x 48 Frame Size: 44 x 56 Medium: Oil on Canvas "Mission San Juan Capistrano" San Antonio Mission Biography Al Barnes (1937-2017) IN MEMORIAM: AL BARNES (1937-2015) ROCKPORT, TX. Rockport Center for the Arts mourns the loss of Al Barnes, who passed away Thursday, November 12th, 2015, at his hill country home outside Johnson City. Barnes was born in Cuero, Texas in 1937. His artistic course was set when he moved to Port Isabel when he was an elementary school student. He became enchanted with nautical life when a local ferry captain allowed him to freely ride and steer the vessel back and forth between South Padre Island and the mainland. He sold his first painting in the sixth grade, using watercraft and coastal waters as inspiration in early works. Barnes fulfilled his desire to become a professional artist, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1967 from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduation and marriage, he relocated to Dallas, where he worked as an illustrator, freelancer, and art director for thirteen years. After completing a large mural commission, Barnes was ready for a change. The tide pulled him back to the coast. He nourished his ongoing fascination with the waterfront as a crew member on boats traveling from New England to the Caribbean, Texas to Florida, and Florida to Belize. The clear turquoise waters of the Caribbean and native boats were common themes in many of his works. Informed by his early influences, much of his work originated in his urge to paint water. In a 1977 interview Barnes said, “The different landscapes and people on the coast have always been in my paintings and always will.” Barnes preferred beginning with the ocean or a landscape, allowing the subject to insert itself into the composition. Birds and boats worked themselves into picture plane in uniquely natural ways. Barnes’ artistry and talents were nationally recognized, but while he was inspired by the Caribbean, he felt more at home in the coastal marshes of South Texas. Barnes called Rockport-Fulton home for over forty years. In 1995 Rockport Center for the Arts selected him as the Art Festival poster...