Barry Spicer
Barry Spicer has enjoyed working in pencil for as long as he can remember and the satisfaction he gets from the act of making lines and shades on a flat surface grow into recognisable objects has never left him.
A strong influence in his young life was an Uncle whose hobby was making plastic models of aircraft and tanks. Barry always admired them when he visited and often drew pictures of the completed kits. That planted the seed for an interest in military hardware which much later in life became the focus of many of his paintings.
After years working in unrelated jobs, at the age of 33 he learnt how to paint, first with an airbrush and then oils, gleaning as much information as possible from books and magazines.
His first commissioned painting came in 1996 when he approached a gallery in Adelaide – it was of an Orion maritime aircraft – and a run of limited-edition prints were made. An F/A – 18 Hornet was soon to follow along with a Boeing 707 for the same Gallery.
Since then, Barry has completed many commissions for a number of RAA and Army units as well as paintings and drawings for galleries, private collectors and companies, for use on stamps, coins, books, model box lids or as limited-edition prints.
He was honoured with the title of official artist to ‘Australian Army Aviation’ (AAAvn) in 2008 and recently has been named as the Regimental artist for the Army’s 1st Armoured Regiment after completing a number of related paintings, one of which recently appeared on the cover of their newly released book covering the history of the 1st Armoured Regiment, entitled “Contact Tank …Wait Out”.
Barry lives with his wife Natasha and their two children in Surrey Downs, South Australia.
Many of Barry’s limited-edition prints are available for purchase from his website