Colour has always been central to Rachel Barber’s creative life.

Before becoming a full-time artist, Rachel worked as a florist in Auckland for ten years. Arranging flowers developed her instinctive understanding of colour, balance, shape and composition—sensibilities that now flow naturally into her paintings.

For the past six years, Rachel has devoted herself fully to her art practice from her home in Mangōnui, Northland.

She is a natural creative who finds equal pleasure in arranging forms on a canvas and nurturing plants in the garden. Time spent gardening and connecting with nature provides an ongoing source of inspiration, keeping her closely attuned to organic shapes, movement and changing colour.

Rachel’s painting process is highly intuitive and colour-driven. Rather than following a rigid plan, she allows each work to evolve through layers, responding to the relationships that emerge between line, form and colour.

Her distinctive style is flowing, energetic and lively. Marks move across the surface, colours overlap and details appear gradually, creating paintings with a strong sense of movement and visual discovery.

Rachel creates from her own inspiration and also enjoys working on commissions, translating a client’s ideas, preferred colours or space into an artwork that remains unmistakably her own.

Her aim is to create vibrant, layered pieces that reward repeated viewing—works that continue to offer new shapes, connections and small details long after they first enter a room.

Because the most engaging artworks never reveal everything at once.