After starting his own sucessful design agency with a colleague, Roy decided to leave the advertising world in 1964 to resume his studies in fine art, a subject that was always dear to his heart. Barley had excelled at life drawing but responded to a desire to paint in the Old Masters style. He set up his easel many times in museums and galleries, copying finished as well as unfinished works and therby learning their techniques. Roy also read all the books he could find on old paint medium recipes, methods and techniques, experimenting until he found the one that suited him.

Roy is influenced by artists of the Dutch Golden Age era such as Rembrandt and Hals for portraits together with Willem Kalf, Adriaen Coorte, Pieter Claesz, Willem Claesz,Heda and many more including the great French painter Chardin, for their still life works.

Roy's motivation is to bring objects to life by carefully observing light and shade. The cast shadow or reflected light in a glass facinates him and he tries to capture the essence of everyday objects whether antique or modern. He believes any object even the most mundane, can be grouped to form an attractive composition. Roy uses only natural daylight to achieve his desired effects.

While Roy loves the atmosphere created in the Old Masters style, he realises that one cannot live in the past and tries to combine traditional technique with a modern theme and look. These days Roy limits his painting output to about six a year. He believes observation and rendition to be his primary objective in producing unique and carefully crafted works for discerning patrons. His art work is in many international collections.

In addition to Red Rag British Art Gallery Roy Barley art work has been exhibited at other leading British Art Galleries. Each painting at Red Rag is sourced from the Roy Barley artist studio and like all Red Rag British art and Contemporary art it can be shipped worldwide.