User:John Barrie Haste

John Barrie Haste Know more affectionally as "Barrie Haste" was a well known watercolour artist from Harrogate, North Yorkshire. He was born in 1931 in the small village of Rawdon, on the industrial outskirts of both Leeds and Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Sadly Barrie passed away on the 19th February 2011, but his paintings are still very much alive and highly sought after by both collectors and those who admire his work and the locations they are set.

An early interest in the arts led him to study firstly, at Leeds College of Art and then later, while serving in the RAF, at Lincoln Art College. Being stationed at RAF Swinderby, near Lincoln, he had the opportunity to both access and study the works of Peter De Wint, at the Usher Gallery. After leaving the RAF, Barrie, as he preferred to be known, worked in specialist decorating techniques of marbling and intricate sign writing. He also taught art to pre-release soldiers at Catterick Garrison and held evening classes, where he taught the old English tradition of painting landscapes in watercolour, which is where he made his name.

Barrie was strongly influenced by the painters of the Norwich School, particularly Turner and Cotman, two of the artists he admired the most. Peter De Wint, Bonington, Sargent, Girtin and Edward Lear are all famous names in watercolour painting, to whom Barrie Haste looked to for guidance and inspiration in his own work, which was strictly within the traditional English Landscape mood. Painstaking research into their methods and those of Russell Flint, coupled with his own free flowing style, came together to produce most sought after paintings, by collectors who appreciated his artistry and admired his subjects. Whether the subjects are desolate beaches, Venice, Paris, Rome or London, Barrie's beautiful mastery washes have proved to be best sellers. Barrie's work was often associated with and also invited comparison to that of the great English Masters. He not only grasped their techniques in his paintings of his beloved Yorkshire, but followed them in their footsteps around the Mediterranean.

Barrie Haste undoubtedly, became one of the most eminent water colourists in the West Riding of Yorkshire and was well known throughout the UK. His paintings were exhibited both in mixed exhibitions around the UK plus he held many successful one man shows, which won him much critical acclaim and the admiration of his peers. His successful One Man exhibitions culminated in his inclusion in such prestigious shows as the touring "Britain in Watercolour" exhibitions, The Royal Society of Marine Artists and the Royal institue of Painters in Watercolours