And yet another tiny landscape in a very old frame!

Shortly after Christmas we visited my hometown of Monterey, and spent time wandering around the many landmarks of my childhood. Among them was the almost painfully cute (and very, very crowded) Carmel.  My mother was British, and I think because of this, she found the Monterey Adobes and the Carmel Mission very exotic and romantic,and we often walked around the Mission gardens when I was a child. I painted the Carmel Mission decades ago, but it is so famous that it's image is almost too familiar, so I then worked on other less well-known adobes in the Monterey area and beyond.  But a few weeks ago I found another even tinier antique frame with criss-cross corners - probably from around 1900 - and decided a little picture of this iconic building with fog streaming up the Carmel River valley behind it would suit it rather well...

Here it is in it's diminutive frame (only 2 1/2" x 4"). Oil on museum board, like the three other little landscapes in my last post. This might be as small as I can paint without a magnifying glass!

Romantic Landscape #4: Carmel Mission

New Trio of Tiny Romantic Landscapes at ACCI Gallery

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I have a large collection of antique frames that I often use for my paintings.  Being very old, a bit distressed, and in irregular sizes they add a quirky beauty to my artwork, I think.  Because of the odd sizing I have to create my own "canvasses", usually out of acid-free heavy museum board.  I cut it to size and gesso it, then I brush on a thinned oil wash to make the white board more of a warm mid-tone (usually a mix of ochre and burnt sienna). Once that is dry I can start painting.

These three little paintings are inspired by the romantic landscapes of the 19th century.  Two are California scenes, and one is inspired by a painting by my artistic hero Caspar David Friedrich - a German painter of the early 1800's.  (He also inspired my gouache painting of the barn owl, described in my posting of April 2014.)

The frames are very small - a maximum of about 5" x 6" outside measurements - so the paintings had to be even smaller!  This makes for challenging brushwork, tiny brushes, and a limited palette.  All of this is kind of fun, because painting that small means you're limited to essential detail, and not much more.

All are currently exhibited and for sale at ACCI Gallery in Berkeley.

Romantic Landscape 1:  After Caspar David Friedrich
oil on panel, antique Adirondack frame.

Romantic Landscape 2: Alameda Palms
oil on panel, antique Adirondack frame.

Romantic Landscape 3: Rainbow, Fort Bragg
oil on panel, antique frame.

My New Website!

I am launching a new website, with images of virtually all of my paintings on it. It is mainly a portfolio site so that viewers can see a lot of my work in one place, and can contact me about any of the pieces. Many of my original paintings are for sale, and I also have greeting cards and good quality gicleé prints in stock. The website is linked to this blog, and has a contact page for queries.  So far it's a work in progress (it still doesn't read as well as it should on a cell phone, and I didn't realize just how many paintings I've done - and how many images of them I still have to upload!), but it's live as of this week - check it out at: lisahaderliebaker.com

ACCI Gallery Holiday Show and my storybook corner

My small group of "Storybook" gouache paintings in the current ACCI Gallery holiday exhibit in Berkeley.  All of my  paintings are framed in rustic woodsy frames, and the gorgeous walnut burl lectern/music stand in front of them is by master woodworker Peter Howkinson. Don't they look great together? (And, in case you aren't in the market for a framed original, all of these images are also available as high quality greeting cards at ACCI, as well as at Books Inc in Alameda, Collector Art Shop in Berkeley, and at the Framer's Workshop in Berkeley.)

Gouache paintings L to R: "A Winter Nap", "The Playhouse", and "A Walk in the Woods".

ACCI Gallery hosts the "Wonder" Exhibit

On October 10th another show with my work in it opened at ACCI Gallery in Berkeley. This is the "Wonder" exhibit, a "selection of oddities and curiosities", inspired by early European Cabinets of Wonder.  It is a fascinating exhibit, filled with mysteriously strange and wonderful objects. I love the combination of The Bone Room curiosities, and fabulous art inspired by taxidermy, tarot images, magical miniatures, mounted butterflies and beetles, skulls, old engravings, and preserved specimens.  The Wonder exhibit will be in the gallery through November 5th, 2015.

My friend and patron Jerene Meissert and me with my trio of "Kunstkammer" still lifes.

The Wall of Small Wonders

The Bone Room's mounted Goliath beetles, and Tom Chen's even BIGGER beetles

Ryan McJunkin's "mounted" cut paper butterflies, Bone Room skull.


My Three Cabinet of Wonder Still Lifes (oil on museum board):

Kunstkammer 1: Mounted Manakin

Kunstkammer 2: Skulls

Kunstkammer 3: Glass Dome

Lisa in two October Art Exhibits in Berkeley Galleries

This autumn my art shows got a little more complicated than I had planned! Bold Botanicals at ACCI Gallery just ended last week, and on October 9 (Friday) and October 10th (Saturday) two more exhibits with my work in them will be having opening receptions in their respective galleries...

Lisa with her paintings at the Bold Botanicals show, ACCI Gallery, Berkeley

Lisa and more of her work now exhibited at Collector in Berkeley

The reception on Friday, October 9th from 6-8pm is at Collector Art Shop (2950 College Avenue, near Ashby in the Elmwood district, Berkeley).  I will have nine paintings in this show, along with six other exhibiting artists.  On Saturday, October 10th I will be back at ACCI Gallery (1652 Shattuck Avenue at Lincoln, Berkeley) showing work in their Wonder exhibit, "a selection of oddities and curiosities" for Halloween month. I have 5 pieces in this larger seasonal show, including my new trio of Cabinet of Wonder still lifes. This opening reception is also from 6-8pm.  Both exhibitions will be in the galleries for about a month after the artist receptions.

Lisa's Paintings in "Bold Botanicals" Exhibit

This fall my work will be in three separate exhibits at two different galleries, and this is the first one to open!  For the past year several ACCI Gallery artist members, including me, have been cleaning up, replanting and reorganizing the ACCI sculpture garden behind the gallery in Berkeley. It has come out beautifully, and this is our celebration of it's grand opening - the "Bold Botanicals" show. There will be outdoor garden sculpture and indoor pieces too - including several paintings and giclees of mine with a garden theme.  The exhibit runs from September 16 - 30th, but come by September 18th from 6-8 pm for our festive preview party with Brazilian Jazz and sangria to meet the artists and hang out in the garden!

And after this?  In late September through October I will be exhibiting a selection of landscapes in oil and gouache at Collector in Jack London Square, and in mid-October I'll be back at ACCI for their "Cabinet of Wonders" exhibit, with my newly completed Kunstkammer group of still lifes.