David Barnes was born and raised in Africa. He studied accounting and qualified as a chartered accountant and spent most of his life working in professional practice as an accountant. In his 40s, Barnes took an Open University degree in economics and history. He then worked for several years as a tutor for the Open University, and run seminars in Africa, Europe and the United Kingdom on the MBA program on financial management. Although he has been an art collector for many years and enjoyed art at school, it was not until his retirement in 2006 that he began serious painting. Nevertheless, he moved so quickly and earned rapid success after spending many hours in the studio. As a painter, his earliest days were very much modeled by the goal of emulating Kyffin Williams, the Welsh artist. He was fascinated by the somber colors and menacing landscapes so evident in Williams’ paintings.
This made him to begin looking look into the background of Williams and was lucky to be invited to a private viewing where he met Sir Williams. Soon, he became enthralled by the artwork of the French Impressionists and the works of other Welsh artists. Barnes says that when he did some research he discovered that some of the early Impressionists started using the palette knife. He visited a museum and viewed Van Gogh’s paintings and could clearly see the strokes of palette knife which he used. Barnes’ paintings are very textural. He paints in oils, uses a palette knife and a thick impasto technique that add texture and strength, and produce bold strokes to his paintings.
