Field 1
Oil on Cavas, 12″ x 24″
Mary Baker © 2009
A new realistic landscape painting.
In these challenging economic times, I find that my paintings reflect how I feel. Dark sky, almost like a guillotine, a sliver of light at the horizon line, and a very long pathway leading towards the sunlight, but a sliver of sunlight, none the less.
Marsh 4
Mary Baker © 2007
Oil on Paper
6″ x 20″
(Sold)
And a nice thing happened.
A New York City realist gallery, specializing in Contemporary Realism (the kind of realism I paint) contacted me, and the art gallery has taken a few of my paintings and will include them in a couple of group shows this year.
This happened a few of weeks ago.
The Gallery is:
The Sherry French Gallery
601 West 26th Street
NYC, NY 10001
212-646-8867
The first show opens September 5– September 29, 2007.
“Mainly Maine
Landscape Paintings from Maine and Beyond”
Getting contacted by a New York gallery is nice. And seeing the realistic landscape, “Marsh 4” by Mary Baker, hanging in the heart of “Chelsea,” that has now become the heart of the art world in New York City, is nice too.
Mary Baker, (artist’s website)
(For a detailed a biography, please click here)
“The Pasture”
Oil on Paper, 5.5″ x 22″
2007 © Mary Baker
(Sold)
Along with being an artist, I am also very involved in the community that I live in, Newburyport, Massachusetts. So much so that I started The Newburyport Blog a little over a year ago.
One of the things that I’ve learned about as an artist, is how involved many of the people of Newburyport, MA are in preserving “Open Space” or Newburyport’s landscapes, something which as an artist, I had always taken for granted. Something I had always presumed would always be there.
I think paying so much attention to this fight for Open Space in Newburyport, MA is one of the many reasons that as an artist that I have gone back to painting landscape paintings.
The painting, the “Pasture” above is one of the many places that the people of Newburyport are trying to preserve.
As an artist it is a privilege to still be able to paint realistic landscapes of my home town, Newburyport, MA.
More of the “Open Space” realistic landscape paintings can be found at my artist website Mary Baker Art.
Mary Baker
Marsh 2
Oil on Canvas
20″ x 30″
Mary Baker © 2006
Landscapes of the Marsh, Newburyport, MA
I’ve been painting the marshes of Newburyport, Massachusetts, a small New England seacoast city since 1983.
I always seem to go back to them. They are compelling.
Aside from the sense of wide open space, the vastness of Newburyport landscape, I keep wondering why I go back to painting the Newburyport marshes again and again.
Last year I found out something very interesting. I don’t know whether it is germane or not, but I am intrigued.
My ancestors farmed a large piece of land on Shelter Island. The land became a State Park.
Shelter Island is at the very end of Long Island, New York, in between the two forks at the end of Long Island.
I will reluctantly admit that I have never walked the land that my ancestors farmed so faithfully.
However, about a year ago I looked up pictures on the Internet of Shelter Island. And what I discovered was that the landscape is almost exactly like the landscape of Newburyport, Massachusetts.
So what I am wondering is if the landscape of Newburyport, MA and Shelter Island is somehow in the “hard drive” of my artistic unconscious.
Mary Baker
Marsh 1
Oil on Canvas,
24” x 36 “
Mary Baker © 2006
A painting of Newburyport’s marshes
Paintings of the marshes by Mary Baker are back!
This painting “Marsh 1” is the first one of the new series of marshes that has been completed.
The last marsh painting I finished was in 2002. Probably the last time the marsh paintings were exhibited was 1995. So it’s been a while for marsh paintings from Mary Baker, that’s for sure.
I wasn’t sure whether or not I had a marsh painting left in me, but I guess I do. I ended up liking this painting of Newburyport’s marsh a lot.
Mary Baker
Pansies
Oil on Canvas
24” x 36”
Mary Baker © 2004
The realistic painting in this post, “Pansies,” could there be a better example of “Quirkyalone?”
Here is this lovely pot of pansies sitting on a stoop on an early spring Newburyport, New England day, bathed in light, obviously utterly content in its solitude. Not schmaltzy, sentimental happy, but content.
My father, who is 88, could be considered quirkyalone. He has a lovely lady-friend, and the ladies still love him, but he has lived alone for the last 16 years and seems quite satisfied.
One of the things my father loves, loves, loves to do is go out for dinner alone. He lives in New York City so there are a lot of great places to dine. When I am in New York with him and we go out to eat, everybody seems to know him and he knows them.
My father will go and sit at a table or sometimes at the bar and order dinner. He will ask the waiters and waitresses and bartenders about their day and their lives with genuine curiosity and care. And he will often give me updates on who is doing what. No wonder he always gets seated.
My father is also one of my biggest art encouragers as an artist. I am incredibly lucky to have my Dad. Qurikyalone and quite content.
Mary Baker
(Editor’s note: I just found out that “Quirkyalone” is a book by Sasha Cagen, written in 2004. I’ve just gone to the bookstore and bought a copy and am about to sit down with a cup of tea and read it.)
(Editor’s Note: Please do not use any image that belongs to Mary Baker. It is a copyright infringement and it is against the law. I have found at least one image on another site, used without my permission, in a way that is unacceptable. The image has not been removed, and I am not pleased.
Unfortunately this forces me to put copyright information across the art images, which ruins it for everyone who would like to see the paintings. Mary Baker)
Geraniums
Oil on Canvas
24” x 36 “
Mary Baker © 2006
In 2003 I started to paint flowers in my neighborhood. I live in the seacoast town of Newburyport, Massachusetts, in Newburyport’s historic district. My neighborhood is full of wonderful old houses with gardens and flowers along the streets.
I did a bunch of flower paintings, but people seem to resonate more with the landscapes I am doing, so I’ve gone back to painting landscapes. But I love painting the flower paintings.
The last one I finished is called “Geraniums” and there is a picture of that painting at the top of this post.
The painting is of a basket of geraniums that I saw sitting on a stoop in front of one of the houses near where I live in Newburyport, Massachusetts. And I thought the basket of geraniums was beautiful.
And what I love about this painting is the composition. It is definitely a Contemporary Realism composition.
The background is almost abstract. The vertical dark line of the door on the left of the painting. The center vertical white (it isn’t actually white, there are all kinds of colors in there) band in the middle. And then the horizontal yellow stripes on the right hand side.
And the very sharp geometric pattern contrasts with the soft, curvilinear lines of the geraniums and the leaves, setting up what I think is a nice visual tension.
It’s a fairly sophisticated composition, but the painting itself still remains beautiful.
Mary Baker
Azaleas
Oil on Canvas,
18” x 24 “
Mary Baker © 2006
I think for the first time in my artistic career I’m not sure where I’m going. And I find this very disconcerting.
It’s not that I’m artistically blocked, I just don’t know where the artistic pathway is going to lead.
In my studio I am now working on 8 landscapes. The painting “Azaleas,” at the top of this post is the first one I finished.
What I’ve realized is that all the paintings have pathways in them. I realized this a few weeks ago. I find this very interesting — it certainly wasn’t planned that way. I guess the pathway in “Azaleas” leads to something beautiful, so that’s encouraging.
Morning Glory and Road
Oil on Paper
7.5” x 17”
Mary Baker © 2004
When I was doing flower paintings I did a painting called “Morning Glory and Road.” It’s probably one of my favorite paintings. I like the haunted quality that it has. And I like the fact that it has a path in it, but the pathway is certainly somewhat ambiguous and I don’t think the viewer, including me, has much idea of where it’s going to lead. Is it going to lead away from the Morning Glory into who knows what? Or is it going to lead from this bright, almost ignited flower to other bright places?
Mary Baker
(Editor’s Note: Please do not use any image that belongs to Mary Baker. It is a copyright infringement and it is against the law. I have found at least one image on another site, used without my permission, in a way that is unacceptable. The image has not been removed, and I am not pleased.
Unfortunately this forces me to put copyright information across the art images, which ruins it for everyone who would like to see the paintings. Mary Baker)
Apple Trees
Oil on Canvas
36″ x 48″
Mary Baker © 2006
I’ve gone back to painting landscapes. I painted landscapes for 14 years and in 2002 (I think) I painted what I thought was my last landscape. I simply didn’t think I had another landscape in me.
But last year I started 3 large (36” x 48”) landscapes of Maudslay State Park in the Spring. And I finished the first one a few weeks ago of apple trees in bloom. At the moment it’s on the home page of my website, Mary Baker Art. It is also at the top of this post.
One of the things people keep saying about my work is that it looks so photographic. This drives me nuts, because when you get close to the work, it’s extremely painterly. So what I did on the Homepage of Mary Baker Art was to include two up-close details so that people could see exactly how painterly the landscape is. And also, so that people can see that up close, the painting is very abstract.
Apple Trees (Detail)
Oil on Canvas
36″ x 48″
Mary Baker © 2006
One of the things that I’ve found is that when people come into my studio, it’s the landscapes that they resonate with. A lot of the time they don’t even notice the flower paintings or the paintings of the neighborhood.
So what I decided to do was to start more landscapes. At the moment I have started 3 landscapes of the marsh (the marshes being up here in Newburyport, Massachusetts.) In the past, people have loved paintings of the marsh.
It’s taken me a long time to be able to paint paintings of the marsh. Psychologically I needed to paint what was right in front of me. And that was flowers and up close paintings of my neighborhood.
Psychologically, landscapes of the marsh feel as if I have some understanding of “the big picture.” They feel expansive. And all the landscape paintings have paths in them, which I find very interesting. I didn’t plan it that way.
And I’m surprised, because I’m excited about painting the landscapes of the marsh. I thought I would dread it. But it seems that on canvas I’m ready to wander down an expansive path to the unknown.