About Justin

Justin Barnard is a professional painter and writer, who lives and works in Thurton, Norfolk.

Born in Leeds in 1960, Justin first moved to Norfolk at the age of 13. After reading English at university, he worked as an accountant in Norwich before moving to London in 1998. He returned in 2002 and settled in Thurton.

A boyhood passion for painting was rediscovered when Justin was on holiday in Greece in 1994. He then attended evening classes in life drawing and later took a Foundation Course in Fine Art at the Norwich School of Art and Design. In 2006 the New Deal set him on course to becoming a professional painter. Justin has been trading as artist and photographer under the name Just Pictures for a number of years.

“My creative purpose is to distil something from life with a new perspective. It may be dark or light, but I hope always enriching.”

As well as painting, Justin is a experienced photographer. He has written about 1,200 poems in 30 years and has read at the Poetry Café Covent Garden. He has written several plays one of which was performed at UEA and then the Edinburgh Science Festival in 1998. He has written one novel; The Space Time of Amiable Handy.

“More about myself? ... I'm looking forward to seeing Norwich City play Leeds Utd in 2010, though my allegiance will be torn between the two. I'd like to play tennis on Mars with my childhood heroes, Borg, Nastase and MacEnroe – but I will settle for the Moon if I have to...”