Welcome to my blog! My name is Barbara A. Snyder, a full time artist, from a little borough in south eastern PA. I have no formal education in art, it's just something I've always done. I don't like the term self-taught, but rather think of it as something one's born with, similar to those who are naturally good with numbers or music. I seem to have been born with a paint brush in hand and an intense love of animals, particularly dogs and horses. Break that down further, you'll find I specialize in both Rough and Smooth Collies and Shelties. In horses, I tend to gravitate to Mustangs and Morgans, buckskin or dun being the color of choice. They say paint what you know and love and that is precisely what I do, although I have been branching out a bit to include the human form, which is something of a personal challenge for me. Oil is my medium of choice for my paintings, I love everything about them. I use acrylics for my wood and metal, one of a kind items. Watercolors scare me, but I think they are an incredibly beautiful medium, and I may take some local classes, in the hopes of becoming more familiar with them.

When I'm not painting, I enjoy spending time with my own four collies, two smooth and two rough. I show occasionally and have one smooth champion, and one smooth with 9 pts. I'm currently showing my tri rough in Rally Obedience, and the my sable rough is my loving couch potato. In addition, I have two black cats and my adored if somewhat devilish lilac point Siamese. Although I don't ride anymore, which is something I've decided to remedy, I do spend time at the stables with my daughter and her two Morgans. I find it incredibly relaxing and cleansing to the spirit to be with horses.

I am open to custom work, either from photos of your own pets, or ideas you may have for a specific painting. The latter is something I've only recently been doing, where a client contacts me with an idea, I work on some rough sketches, and finally put the final idea on the canvas. To date, I have not done prints, although it is something I am kicking around.