About The Artist
Barby Schacher | Western Art Pastel Artist
Barby Schacher is a pastel artist who specializes in Western Art and Wildlife Art.
Most of the inspiration for her artwork comes from growing up on a small cattle ranch and living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with its gorgeous, wild scenery and abundant wildlife.
Today, she primarily paints what she is most familiar with from those “early years” such as cattle, North American wildlife, and especially horses.
Barby is a member of CGA – Cowgirl Artists of America – Signature Member, WAOW – Women Artists of the West – Associate Member, and APA – American Plains Artists – Associate Member.
Equestrian Art, Western Art & Wildlife Art
Experience, Accomplishments and Awards
In 2012, after many years, I started drawing again with graphite pencil on paper. The following year, I was honored to have some of my graphite drawings published… a few as a Featured Artist in Artsy Shark and another one in Strokes of Genius: The Best of Drawing.
A few years later, I began painting with pastel pencils on Pastelbord. Eventually, I entered some of my pastel paintings in the WARA Western Art Roundup Association’s year-long western art competition and was awarded the 2019 WARA Championship Belt Buckle in the Dry Medium category of the 2019 Western Art Rodeo Association competition.
Since then, I have also been very honored (and thrilled!) to receive awards for my pastel paintings such as the McCalla Award for People’s Choice at the 2020 Mountain Oyster Club 51st Anniversary Western Art Show, the Art of the West Award at the 2021 Women Artists of the West 51st National Exhibition, and the Publisher’s Award of Excellence – from Western Art Collector magazine during the 2022 APA – American Plains Artists Annual Juried Exhibit & Sale.
The Creative Process
Ahhh… the FUN part! Drawing has always been a passion… as enjoyable to me now as riding horses was way back when. I’m basically a “self-taught” artist having no formal training. Instead, in addition to what I truly feel is – above all – a God-given talent, like so many artists, I’ve developed my own artistic style through hours of practice, lots of “trial and error” and by observing and experimenting with the techniques of other artists I admire.
Growing up around horses and cattle has given me an edge, in a way… it allowed me to become extremely familiar with their anatomy, characteristics, and their unique personalities… and, YES, they each definitely have their own, unique personality!
That early experience is what enables me to paint them very detailed and accurately, capturing emotions like the curiosity of a baby calf or the love and bonding between a mare and her newborn filly in my pastel paintings today.
I love detail and spending lots of time meticulously creating my pastel paintings in layers. I use very sharp pastel pencils which enables me to paint detailed, realistic pastel paintings. I also use crystal clear reference photos as a guide for my artwork that I’ve chosen because of the wonderful and challenging detail.
Another top consideration for choosing reference photos is the amount of contrast between the light and dark areas in the piece that can add so much drama or interest to a finished pastel painting.
In addition, the combinations of colors that I feel complement each other in ways that create an overall eye-pleasing pastel painting are very important to me. And last but certainly not least, creating artwork that has special meaning (whether personal or in general) and art pieces that have a “story-to-tell” are my personal favorites!
Barb’s Western Art
- 6071 Bead Lake Rd.
- Newport, WA 99156
- Ph: (509) 671-2606