Linda J. Baker - About the Artist

Linda Jackson Baker
Artist Statement:

"My art is an attempt to use my skill as a painter to capture and illuminate truths about the world around me. I want to communicate what I see when I stop looking at the world in a casual and remote way and instead see things intensely and immediately. When I paint, I try to create an emotional experience that comes from seeing some elusive or unrecognized beauty in an object or person or scene.

"I love to paint still life because the subjects, flowers and other objects, give me immediacy for expressing form, light and color. Portraiture is also exciting because the nuances of features and personality make each person beautiful and unique.

"I am attracted to representational forms of fine art and study the “old masters” passionately. The nature of oil painting is fascinating because the paint itself becomes an important part of how the artist communicates his or her vision. Expressing a 3-dimensional world on a 2-dimensional canvas with paint provides a challenge and a never-ending source of occupation.

"I fell in love with oil paint from the first moment my brush touched canvas, and hope some of this comes through in my paintings. The idea that others may enjoy and connect with my paintings is an inspiration."

Biographical Information:

Linda J. Baker has studied oil painting with national and international teachers at Scottsdale Artists School, Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts (Chicago), University of Wisconsin, and Madison Area Technical College. Some of her teachers include, David Leffel, Gregg Kreutz, Diane Rath, Kim English, Xiang Zhang, and Robert Schultz.

Linda’s paintings have been exhibited at the Frehner Gallery in Monroe, WI, in 2- person show entitled “Double Take: Landscape, Still Life, and Portraits, by two Wisconsin Artists”, and at the Wisconsin Regional Artists Association Exhibition. In 2001 she won a Wisconsin Regional Artists Statue Exhibit Award and one of her paintings was selected for the State Traveling Exhibition. Her most recent exhibit was a one-person show at Meriter Heights Gallery in Madison, WI. Her paintings may be seen at the Palette and Chisel Gallery in Galena, IL.