Walt Barrows

About the Artist

Walter A. Barrows has been drawing and sketching since the age of six, steadily developing his craft over the years. His lifelong fascination with space and astronomy began with bubble gum trading cards from his childhood. That passion grew into a professional focus on astronomical art when he served as a staff artist for Brevard Community College’s Planetarium (now Eastern Florida State College in Cocoa, Florida) for two and a half years in the late 1970s. This experience led to a freelance artist position with Spitz Space Systems, where he illustrated panoramas for their product line programs, which were sold worldwide. It was during this time that Walter honed and developed his craft for creating astronomical subject matter, both real and imagined.

Walter is an artist in good standing with the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA), a professional organization devoted to the advancement of astronomical works as fine art. This year marks his first return to the Space Coast Art Festival since 1984.

Over the years, Walter has worked in silk-screening, airbrush, watercolor, and now acrylic on stretched canvas. His experience with airbrush and watercolor—particularly watercolor—taught him the value of layering tints one over another, gradually building up color, contrast, and depth. He applies this same approach to acrylics, rarely mixing shades beforehand but instead blending directly on the canvas. By applying tints gradually, and allowing the white of the canvas to shine through, his paintings achieve a pure and translucent effect.

Walter hopes viewers enjoy his work as much as he enjoys creating it.