Barbara Floyd grew up in a military household – her father served twenty-six years in the US Army – so they moved around every two or three years. They settled in Alabama after he retired. She was a quiet, shy girl growing up but was fascinated with the diverse cultures she had been introduced to. She enjoyed watching the expressions people would make in different situations. She was discouraged from pursuing an education in the art field after high school but kept drawing in her spare time and learned how to hand-quilt to further quench her creative juices. It would be several decades before she would get the courage to pursue her dreams of becoming a full-time artist. After much encouragement from her adult daughter, Barbara finally decided to enroll in a formal art education program when she turned fifty-five. She is now a senior at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco CA and will obtain her BFA in December 2022. She is fascinated with the human figure and watches people with quiet contemplation every chance she gets for inspiration. Barbara works mainly in mixed media and is enthusiastic about using vibrant, bold colors in her contemporary figure paintings. She currently resides and maintains a studio in Arkansas.