2014 East Bay Open Studios Coming Soon!

We're off and running - over 400 artists will be opening their studios the first two weekends in June during East Bay Open Studios, and I will be exhibiting my work with over 50 participating artists at the Jack London Market Hall at Jack London Square, right on the waterfront.  Check out the ProArts online gallery of all of the other artists participating in Open Studios too.  (I'm listed under Haderlie Baker, artist # 215 in the directory).  You can see examples of some of my new work on my directory page, and also check out all the other 400-plus artists!

The official Open Studios happens on the first two weekends of June (June 7-8, and June 14-15) from 11a.m. to 6 p.m. both weekends.  This year there's an added bonus:  First Friday is June 6th, and the Market Hall is hosting "Jack's Night Market" with food, music, AND all of us artists too, in a special sneak preview of Open Studios from 6-10 pm that Friday night.

This is a story about Caspar David Friedrich and me

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was a German Romantic painter who inspired many later artists, including those of the American Hudson River School, the New England Luminists, and lots of Russian painters. (His work also, by the way, was the inspiration for the painted mountain backdrops of the recent movie "The Grand Budapest Hotel"!)  A year or two ago I saw a reproduction of his ink wash and pencil drawing called Owl on a Grave, from 1837.  It's actually rather unsettling, but certainly captures the imagination, and seems to validate the view that Friedrich's work is full of melancholy and loneliness.  BUT - it is also deeply romantic, in the original sense of the word, i.e., "validating intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience...especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature and its picturesque qualities" (Wikipedia).

Caspar David Friedrich:  Owl on a Grave

OK, now on to me!  I kept thinking about Friedrich, and when we were in Maine last October I was struck by the number of tiny weathered graveyards all over the state, many right next to the road between the farms or houses, and some in old town centers next to churches. Many date from the Civil War, which seems like it took place a long way from Maine, but of course it didn't. These little cemeteries are now peaceful old places, a bit melancholy to be sure, but truly meditative and romantic (see definition above). I especially liked the small Meeting House Cemetery right in the middle of Bar Harbor, on Mount Desert Island. I read all of the inscriptions that were still legible, and found one gravestone that I thought was especially evocative - on the grave of Captain Stephen Higgins, who died in 1862, aged 58 years. It had a lovely gothic arch, and was a bit distressed with a crack across the stone, deeply stained by hard winters. Carved above his name was a beautiful anchor, which of course refers to his occupation, but is also the symbol of hope.

Very different from Friedrich's German wooden grave marker, but I had in mind a different owl, and a different mood, too...

Captain Higgins' gravestone became my focus, and I imagined it in a slightly more rural setting than Bar Harbor, with a rising moon in the distance and a barn owl perched on the stone, just waking up. I borrowed the twilight palette of the painting from yet another 19th century German artist, Oscar Shultz.  I'm calling it Dusk.

My "owl on a grave" is not frightening at all, but quietly tranquil in its natural habitat, waiting for the dark, to fly. 

Dusk, gouache on rag paper

Framed Dusk

I'm using Dusk for the image on my publicity postcard for East Bay Open Studios in the first two weekends in June.  Come see me and my paintings at the Jack London Market Hall with over 50 other artists (but not Caspar David Friedrich, alas.) 

Antique Frames and Curiosities

In my last post I described a painting I did of three Victorian Staffordshire toothbrush holders, and that I put the painting into an antique frame that enhanced the artwork beautifully.  I also mentioned that although I always have professional photos taken of all of my paintings, I rarely take a picture of them after I have framed them (photos including the frames are not useable for reproduction as greeting cards or prints, and it's technically difficult if glass is used).  This is kind of a shame, as I am meticulous about finding the perfect frame for each picture, and I often use wonderful antique frames that I have been collecting for years.  So, here are a few more examples of my paintings, in both gouache and oil, all framed in antique and vintage frames.  Some have sold, some live happily in my house, and some will be for sale in the upcoming East Bay Open Studios the first two weekends of June in Oakland.  Come to Open Studios in the Jack London Market Hall and see which is which!

Tiny frame from about 1900 with my equally tiny  oil of a garden snail.

American "Adirondack" frame, from the 1890's, with my gouache painting "Ohlone Oaks".  This one is covered in glass, so there's a bit of reflection.

Oil of an old abandoned railway track in Alameda, framed in an antique gilt frame found at an antique show.

German rustic Black Forest frame, from about 1900, with my varnished gouache of "The Eiger by Moonlight".

A small oil of Mulnomah Falls in Oregon, framed in a marvelous American "Tramp Art" rustic frame from  the early 20th century.

This tiny old gilded frame from Holland is a perfect match to my little oil "The Woodcutter's Hut".

MY THREE MUSES

I'm working on producing as many new pieces as I can for the upcoming East Bay Open Studios happening the first two weekends in June.  One of my new oils is an homage to my beloved collection of antique Staffordshire transferware china.  I have three 1880's transferware toothbrush holders - all in use! - and I realized that a still life of the three in a row would be a fun project - especially as I had a rustic vintage Arts and Crafts frame with a long rectangular shape, perfect for the project. So, here are the results - first the picture unframed, painted in oils on heavy museum board:

and then, the completed oil in the antique frame I found for it, sitting on my kitchen table:

I always have professional photos taken of my paintings, but the frame often goes out the door with no record.  This one is special enough that it deserved recognition before it went to a new home!  By the way, speaking of that new home, a regular patron of mine who saw it in progress (and came up with the title too) bought it right off the easel!  So, one less for Open Studios - better get back to work...

I will be an exhibiting artist at East Bay Open Studios this June 6th (first Friday), 7th and 8th, and the following weekend June14th  and 15th, at the Jack London Square Market Hall, with over 50 other artists, at 55 Harrison Street in Oakland.  More information will follow, but save the dates!

Lisa Haderlie Baker: Recent Work

I've been painting, but not being responsible about blogging in quite awhile, and I've decided it's time to post a few pictures of what I've been working on to let folks know I'm still alive!

ACCI Gallery, in the center of the Gourmet Ghetto in Berkeley, continues to exhibit my work: paintings in gouache and oil, and greeting cards too. I have been experimenting more in small oils, and framing them in gorgeous heavy frames, some antique. I've found that painting in oils on gessoed Museum Board makes for a smooth surface that can be cut to virtually any size, allowing for tiny oil paintings and odd-sized frames.

Below find two photos taken in ACCI recently. In addition to other artist's work in many media, you can see my oil Blackbird, Fly exhibited on the division wall of the gallery. The yellow gingko tree, painted in full December color, is in my neighborhood, but the landscape behind it is a kind of medieval-inspired dreamscape.

Here are a few of my small framed pieces, also displayed in ACCI, from left to right:  The White Stag, Pliny's Doves Redux, Datura by Moonlight, and The Woodcutter's Hut

I've been working on private commissions for paintings too, including a gouache portrait of two handsome Merced farm dogs - Roscoe and Jenny Under the Cedars - shown below,

and an oil of another beautiful farm in the Ozarks, commissioned by the family who lives there:

I will be participating again this year in East Bay Open Studios through ProArts Oakland, exhibiting framed paintings in gouache and oil, limited edition signed high-quality giclee prints, as well as an extensive selection of greeting cards of my paintings. I hope to get a studio space in the beautiful Market Hall in Jack London Square for the event, so come see me in June to see what else I've been up to! More on this later...

Pugs Take to the Air!

Our new young pug, Don Diego, was adopted from Enchanted Pugs in Northern California. They commissioned me to immortalize Diego, his half brother Mater, and another family member Trinket as barnstormers.  Mater is the pilot (they apparently sit behind the passenger in biplanes - who knew?), Diego is the slightly worried-looking passenger in front, and Trinket stars as the daredevil lady wing walker!  I love doing "storybook" illustrations (as well as painting pugs!) so this was a very fun project for me.  Painted in gouache on rag paper, it now hangs in the Enchanted Pugs gallery...

Lisa's Winter and Christmas Greeting Cards Now In Stores

This year I returned to my British and Swiss roots, and created two new gouache paintings in the storybook style of European illustrators of the last century. I've also made greeting cards of a painting I did many years ago - in 1997 - when comet Hale-Bopp streaked across our night skies. My family and I were in Monterey visiting my parents that spring, and we drove to Asilomar Beach one night.  The breaking waves were softly illuminated by the stars and by the huge comet suspended above the sea - eery and magical. I got back in the car and did my initial sketches by the dome light as my daughters and husband gazed at the night sky and the silent, still, celestrial traveller suspended above us.

All of my winter season and Christmas greeting cards are now available in local East Bay card and gift shops, including Books Inc in Alameda, ACCI Gallery in Berkeley, Payn's Stationery on Solano in Berkeley, Red Wagon Collectibles in Alameda, The Framer's Workshop in Berkeley, and in Castle in the Air, also in Berkeley. Castle in the Air, on Fourth Street in Berkeley,  is a magically beautiful store, and they have an enchanting website too.  Here are a few pictures of the store and some of my greeting cards on the rack near the Christmas tree:

Here are some of my new greeting cards:

Winter Solstice

Roasting Apples

Comet Hale-Bopp above Asilomar Beach

Fox Squirrel in Gingko
(yes I know this doesn't seem particularly wintry, but in Central California
the gingko leaves turn bright yellow in December!)

And here are some of my Holiday greeting cards that were sold out and have been reprinted this year:

Christmas in Our Parlor

The Eiger by Moonlight

Winter Gifts

Early Spring

Winter Street