Barbara Wurtele has been painting since she was a child and had the wonderful advantage of being tutored from an early age by her father, Ralph Hodgson, one of Waterloo County's most respected landscape watercolourists. Following his death, Barbara began studying with other artists and rather quickly found that her natural talents would lead her in new directions.

She paints exclusively in watercolour and with a broad subject matter. She enjoys the challenge of portraiture, rather uncommon in the watercolour medium, and enjoys her summers on Georgian Bay with her palette close at hand. When she has had the opportunity to do book illustrations it has brought her great pleasure.

"I know that because I paint, the world is alive with colour. Watercolour, with its luminosity and freshness allows me to express what I see. I seek to show my subjects in a representational yet non-photographic manner so that there is magic for the viewer.
I value looseness, colour and excitement in my paintings."

Barbara is a member of both the Kitchener Waterloo Society of Artists and the Waterloo Community Arts Center.