Elizabeth Barton was born in Auckland, and raised on a dairy farm in the Waikato.

She started drawing at the age of three, and living in the heart of the country provided just the right setting to nurture her imagination.

At age 18, friends took samples of her art work to London where they were viewed by the Curator of the Royal Academy, who accepted her to study on a foundation course at an RA School. However, funding was not available to train overseas, so she opted to study at Dunedin School of Fine Art, where she graduated in 1982, majoring in printmaking.

A successful solo show at the Moray Gallery in Dunedin provided her with the means to travel to London in 1985, where she worked as a freelance artist and illustrator for various companies including Penguin and Hodder & Stoughton. In 1987, she was invited to participate in Shop Window, an exhibition sponsored by The Association of Artists and Illustrators to showcase emerging talent in London's West End.

She has numerous works in private collections worldwide, and has won several awards for drawing and printmaking both in New Zealand and the UK. She is a member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art (SGFA), a UK based society for professional artists.

ln 2000, Elizabeth trained as a commercial pilot, having obtained her private pilot's licence in 1996. She worked as a professional pilot and flight instructor in SE England, and now has a NZ Commercial Pilot's Licence.

Although she always kept art as a creative outlet while flying, in 2009, she made a big return to fine art, and to her old passion, intaglio etching. She exhibits regularly in London and other UK cities, and keeps a studio in Rye, East Sussex.

Elizabeth now resides in Te Aroha, where she works when not travelling to the UK.

She is married to John Medhurst, an arbitrator and private pilot whom she met through flying.