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Linda Barlow was born in Manchester and began her creative journey with an Arts Foundation course at Bolton College of Art. She famously turned down a place at Brighton Art College to cycle around Europe — an adventure that sparked a lifelong love of travel and exploration.
She later settled in Shropshire, where she raised two children and completed an Open University degree in Social Sciences, all while continuing to draw and create artwork whenever she could.
Linda’s early practice centred on large textile pieces informed by her social‑science research, including work exploring the experiences of artists who were also mothers, and a major project on menopausal women. These projects included textile animations, several of which can be viewed on her website, and formed part of her MA at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Over time, Linda became disillusioned by the way textiles were often dismissed as “craft” rather than recognised as fine art. As her quilts grew increasingly painterly, she shifted her focus entirely to painting. Residencies in Ireland, Iceland, Shetland, Finland and Latvia deepened her connection to remote, island landscapes, which now play a central role in her work.
Linda works primarily in oil and cold wax, embedding tiny fragments of the landscape — sand, ash, stones and more — directly into her paintings so that the land itself becomes part of the artwork. During residencies, she increasingly uses acrylics due to the practical challenges of transporting oils by air and their long drying times.
She is a full member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and exhibits with them regularly, continuing to develop a practice shaped by place, materiality and lived experience.