Artist Serves This Visual Feast

Michael Barfield wants to not only paint you a picture, but tell you a story.

On his blog, http://thisvisualfeast.blogspot.com/, the St. Charles artist combines a love of art with a love of writing. Each painting that he posts is accompanied by a written commentary that gives a personal insight into the artist's mind.

"The commentary is pretty important. Some people who follow my work say they enjoy the writing as much as the images," Barfield said. "I wanted to give more of a behind-the-scenes look at what I did this week. It's gotten a big response. People are following it."

A native of Iowa, Barfield came to Missouri to study at Truman State University. His original major was architecture. "I got sick of the math. Burned out," he said.

So he turned to art. "It really got into my blood in college," Barfield said. "I've been painting nonstop since college."

Barfield earned a degree in fine art and eventually settled in St. Charles. "I came here to move to the big city. Only planned to stay a little while, but it's been 30 years."

In addition to being an artist, Barfield has worn a number of other hats over the years--musician, graphic designer, writer.

Currently, he paints in his home studio. "We have a building outside the house. It's the first time I've had a place dedicated to a studio in a couple of years."

Six months ago, Barfield began his current project. His goal is to craft five paintings a week and post them online with commentary. "It doesn't always work out that way," he said, citing health issues and other distractions that can throw off his schedule.

The pieces are small, 5-by-7 or 6-by-6 inches, and take four t0 six hours to complete, depending on the subject. "I wanted something to restrain me," Barfield said. "At that size, I can concentrate on the image, how complex or simple it is."

Barfield's medium of choice is acrylic. "The dry time is faster. I love oils but I'm pretty impatient," he said. "Acrylic is a lot more direct, quicker, I can make changes faster."

Once he began posting the work, he contacted people to let them know it was up and offered to sell the pieces for $50 each on a first-come, first-serve basis.  

"I've done a little over 100 paintings and 80 of them are gone," Barfield said.

Subjects range from a bird on a tree branch to candy in a jar. "One of the things I wanted to paint were things I'm drawn to emotionally," Barfield said. "There's a tie to the past, a memory from childhood. Subjects can be food, toys, antiques, wildlife--anything I tie to emotionally."

A recent post, titled "Food for Thought," features four paintings of doughnuts he brough home after he noticed them while passing by a pastry case at a QuikTrip. The doughnuts brought back memories from childhood and college.

"Dad found a place that sold grocery bags of donuts for a buck or two. So breakfast for a long time was tired donuts Mom steamed over a pot of water. If you got there first, it was best. The donuts on the top of the pile were decent tasting. But if you were late, one of those bottom-of-the-steamer fritters were soggy. Donuts and pastries were something I was glad to have, but I was not a fan," he wrote.

Barfield plans to continue the project for the foreseeable future. "I see the project as a way for me to spend time with an object and learn how to paint it," he said. "The small pieces help me learn for the larger pieces."

Barfield's work is also available at his website, http://michaelbarfield.com/.