"New Hope" © Fawn McNeill 2015 Painted this a couple of years ago, but didn't get to post it because I couldn't get a good image of it. I wanted to make it available in prints, so I tried again. (This painting includes a unique custom frame.) I actually took pictures of this calf peeking around a tree. The mother was a little farther away. Took a lot of nice images of different cows and bulls as well. Next, I sketched out some ideas before drawing this composition onto the canvas. I added water and mist to the background for that foggy morning haze that is so common around here. The flowers add the feeling of spring, a time for new life and hope.

"Cool Down" I have worked on this painting a little every day this week. I have had so many interruptions that I wasn't sure I would ever finish it! I got up early this morning and stole a couple of hours! I was studying the effects of the light and of the wind. I kept trying to show both. Florida gets miserably hot, and then the wind picks up and the rain clouds roll in. The animals head to the barn. But just before the sun hides behind the clouds there is a wonderful array of contrast on everything. That is what I was trying for, but I didn't capture it until this morning.

"Christmas Snow" © Fawn McNeill 2018 I recently embellished this painting by adding glitter paint, and metallic paint. I used professional materials. I have done three of these, and each one is different. Daytime or night, a path or a pond, and of course the Christmas tree shape, size, and/or placement. This one has lights coming down, reminiscent of a hint of Northern lights, and a suggestion of a frozen lake or pond. This is also a fun lesson sample for the children's art class. I encourage my students to add their own ideas, like snowmen, wildlife, or sunset colors.

Fawn Barr is a local artist who has been sharing her knowledge and skill with Okeechobee for the last 40 years.

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OKEECHOBEE — Wildlife and nature artist, Fawn McNeill Barr, recently received an invitation to showcase her work in an exclusive event at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Orlando.

Barr has always had a love for drawing and painting and filled notebook after notebook with her efforts when she was a young girl. However, she never felt she was any good at drawing and destroyed her art more often than she kept it. Teaching herself in a time before YouTube, Barr relied on books to help her hone her skills and saved every penny she was ever given so she could buy another book.

An abused child, Barr said she used art as a way to escape and said she is inspired by God’s creation. She explained she has always been drawn to realism in her art and loved nothing more than to recreate something found in nature. Barr began selling her artwork before she graduated from high school and, by age 21, was teaching others how to draw and paint. Seventeen years later, her college art classes opened her eyes to different styles, her favorite will always be realism.

After graduating with honors with a degree in art and painting, Barr was able to teach in Florida public schools. She did this for 27 years in various galleries and public schools. She opened her own gallery but was forced to close it during the pandemic. Afterward, she taught classes at the Okeechobee Main Street’s Art and Culture Alliance and at the Treasure Coast Plein Air Artist’s Association.

A former colleague, Wayne Clay, who once owned Affordable Art and Framing, now works for the Ritz-Carlton. He began trying to talk her into showing her art there utilizing his  new art program, but for several reasons, Barr has not been as active in the art world as she was in the past. Her husband, who is 20 years older than her, has some health problems. In addition to this, one of Barr’s sons is battling cancer, and her priority is to be there to help with the grandchildren or with anything else they need help with. In addition to these things, she tore a tendon on her right hand, had five cysts and an infection in the bones of that hand. For more than 10 months, her hand was in a splint and a sling.

Clay continued to call and write to her though, telling her this was an opportunity she should take advantage of. He said first, he would like to showcase her work in the hotel’s boutique. In the art world, showing in a boutique is frowned upon, she explained. It is considered devaluing your work. However, at this point in her life, she wanted to have somewhere to show her art. She said stepping into the world of boutiques was not new to her. She utilized this method during Covid, putting her artwork in Unique Boutique, here in Okeechobee. For this venue, she did some smaller, mixed media, fun pieces. “It was great for me at that time. When you aren’t showing or selling, you get discouraged. With everything going on in my life, I needed that.”

In addition to showing her work in the boutique, Clay also asked her if they could show her work in the Members’ Club. There, they would rotate artwork every three to four months and would have a meet and greet with the artists. It would be a solo exhibit.

Hesitant at first, she realized the opportunity to meet new people was one she could not pass up. She took about 12 pieces to him for use in the gallery, and he accepted all of them. Included in this number was a Christmas tree painting, and it sold almost immediately. “It was just a fun, metallic paint, just a fun painting. I couldn’t believe it!” She said she is ready for the show in the Members’ Club and has all her pieces ready to go.

Barr uses her maiden name, McNeill, on her work in honor of her father who was killed in a car accident when Barr was only 3 years old.

From Montana, Barr arrived in Okeechobee in 1983. She fell in love with a man named Marvin Jenkins, married him and followed him to his hometown. Unfortunately, the marriage did not work out, and the couple divorced, but she was blessed with two sons from the union. She later married Robert Barr, and they have been married for 25 years.

Barr can be found through her website fawnsartstudio.com or by phone at 863-634-0241.