Barbara Eliason has always been an artist.  She was tutored by her 5th and 6th grade teacher in the basics of oil painting and fell in love with the process.  She received numerous awards for her work as an elementary school student.  In high school, she was picked to do posters and small art projects for activities the school was doing and she drew horses all the time.  College supplied several art classes and a still drawing class to further her education, but since she was not an art major, she had to concentrate on getting her degree in elementary education and the art went by the wayside.

Barbara taught for four years, moved to Montana and tried to obtain a teaching position in Great Falls, however, there were many more job seekers than there were positions, so she was hired as a loan department secretary in a bank.  During her employment with the bank, she painted miniatures and small paintings to sell to help make a living.  As she advanced in banking, she no longer had time to paint.  Thirty five years and a successful career later, she retired as a Vice President from her bank and began teaching herself to oil paint all over again.

In the last ten years, Barbara has worked to improve by painting each week, taking classes at the CM Russell Museum from Todd Connor, preparing for and executing a one-woman show, “To Mine Eye” on September 5 2014, selling most of her paintings in one night.  Her art was shown at the Winston Gallery and Montana Mosaics for two years with good results.  She recovered the remainder of her paintings from the galleries to prepare for showing in art sales city-wide.  Most recently, she showed her work at the Colors of Fall Art Show on October 26 and 27, 2018, with reasonable results.  In March of 2019, Barbara showed her art at the Western Heritage Artists show and had wonderful support from her patrons.  At present, she is most comfortable painting in a realistic, representational style and will accept photographs to paint horse portraits, or landscapes on a commission basis.  She has completed ten commissions to date for satisfied customers.