It was only last year, around this time, that the presentation of the Baker Artist Portfolios caused a stir in my local library. Rows of aspiring creative-arts people half-filled the room: the library staff were anxious to close the doors and go home for the day. Wrapping up the session, the presenter held us all with his steady gaze, a twinkle in his eye, and exclaimed:
“Let me tell you the very best advice I can give you about presenting your portfolios!… ” You could have heard a pin drop.
“Tell your story; describe your journey; explain your mission, but invite the visitors and judges to join you in your travels.
Encourage them to come with you on your trip. Show how you've been investigating and exploring your medium deeply―but do it in a way they will understand and enjoy…”
Some, stared blankly ahead. Others frowned. I held my head in my hands, as a mental gasp rippled among the crowd:
“You mean, we're on a journey?”
“Oh yes. So in your projects show the direction and depth of your artistic explorations.”
And so we began…

The fascination for the ocean comes from its ever-changing moods. From danger to delight. From lapping to luscious. The challenge for an artist is well beyond the normal "motion" that's needed in a painting. In this watery world there are many emotions of the ever-moving seas. The seascapes, like other paintings, need motion with a purpose. A distinctive feeling that underlies the scene. Do the waves crash into each other? Does the glowering storm move to the sailboat faster than its homeward course? Do the rocks around the bay carry you , clambering, on a sunny outing around the crystal bay?

Mountains and mountain ranges create a panorama that is both dramatic and subtly changing from top to bottom and side to side. As we see these scenes through younger eyes, or remember the eyes of our childhood, it's the impressions and memories we recall. My mountain scenes depict colored and scaled expressions of our world. How would the smokies smoke at night-time? When is the early morning sun surrounded by the dark?
Over time, my landscapes have evolved to regain the freshness I saw earlier in life. I start my landscapes using a greyscale reference image. I study the real scene, and reset my view, painting from a black and white version.
Each underpainting’s colors come from the message and the feel of the scene. With later layers of paint and other forms of pastel, I re-introduce the local colors by introducing the original scene’s colorations.

In this portfolio, most paintings were created by painting three often complete layers one on top of another. Few of these pieces were painted simply with one type of pastel, such as “just” PanPastels. As I experimented with different forms of pastel paints, I realized that the greatest strength of pastels comes when you blend together their different forms. Compared to other mediums of paint, pastels provide many distinct forms you can use: powder, paint stick, pencil. Each can carry and convey different effects for your scene.
As the birds around us become bigger and more brightly feathered, their plumage seems to take on a rippling life of its own. The structure of the feathers and the deep shadows between so many of the layers is a challenge for any painting medium. To capture the delicacy of the plumage, I begin with a full painting using PanPastels to color and shape the main elements. I use soft traditional pastel sticks to apply an overcoat of deep pigment that follows the direction of the feathering. The final shaping of the feathers involves pastel pencils to establish the edges of key groups of feathers, and to blur and darken the shadowed areas.

This project is alcohol induced―denatured alcohol, not the kind for drinking. Similarly to the carefully planned multi-layering of watercolors, these pastels were underpainted and overpainted in multiple layers, by setting each layer with alcohol. The soft pastels I apply on top do not blend with the background. This produces an impasto effect of sharp outlines and stark separation of still life elements from their surroundings.
Still lifes provide a canvas to expand our use of high-energy colors, and create eye-catching interest. I bring impressionism into the modern day with: splashes of color to drag your attention, planned pathways of light to curve the direction of your attention through other elements of the scene, and sometimes, pools of deep shade to provide mysteries to unravel.

In a lovely painting of a single bloom with its touchable soft-edged curving petals―where did those gracious shapes come from? How do they rise off the painting towards you? In my case, these flowers rise from their ashes. The feeling you get from looking at a flower often comes from the color of the flower’s shade, as much as from the natural local color of the flower itself. It’s like starting at the back of a flower, and then working towards the light.
I paint flowers by first creating a painting of only shadows. This painting uses the shadow colors. The color left over to shine through a petal after the local color you see has been reflected out of it. The shadowy areas blend and bleed through each petal to shape them. Darker shadows separating deeper layers of petals.
What you may notice first, is often added only last. Crusting each petal, the brightest and lightest highlights are added at the end, and blended to show the curving and rippling petal. Pastel pencils add the clear curving edges of the petals.
My flowers are painted backwards, from back to front―and ending on the brightest tones.

As the Bard once said: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.”
And what was a “breach” anyway? In fact, it was a hole in your wall. A risky thing to leave uncovered in the days of kings and castles.
But, do you have any breaches around your home?
The blank areas on your walls, where a painting would be just the thing to:
enliven your day, cheer up your room, make you reminisce, give you pause for thought...or a thousand reasons more.

Did you discover some pieces on your journey through this portfolio that you’d like to see more often?
In fact, you could see them whenever you wanted to. We can arrange for that.
You’ll also find my full portfolio has even more paintings than those you saw here.

Friends tell me my paintings are much more impressive in person than these photos over the internet, and they may be right.
The best thing to do is to contact me.
We can work together on what you’re looking for, or even meet at the Artists’ Emporium in Havre de Grace,
where a number of my paintings hang.