Barbara Patterson moved with her husband and three children from Edmonton, Alberta to Mississauga, Ontario in 1968.  As a teenager, she worked part time in Storlee Colour Lab, the first colour photo finishing lab in Western Canada.  At sixteen, she won the Edmonton Journal Newspaper Amateur Snapshot (animal section) Contest award.  It was then entered in the Newspaper National Snapshot Awards Contest and received a certificate of merit and was hung in the National Salon in Washington, D.C.  As a hobby, she did colouring of black and white photos.  In the 70's she took a few courses in oil paiting, but did not continue.  In l988, she took the beginners class in water colour at Sheridan College and later took classes at Springbank Visual Arts Centre.  Since then, she has been a member of the Springbank Artist's Group and has attended many workshops including three at Bridgewater Retrreat and Art School in Tweed, Ontario.  She has paintings in homes in the U.S., Great Britain and in parts of Canada.