We recently became the proud owners of "The Girls," an Alisha Baker painting.
The Girls, Alisha BakerAlisha has a couple of posts (here and here) about painting and repainting this image. I first saw the original years ago. I really liked it. But the new one is much more layered. For one thing, there's, literally, much more paint. It's painted with bravura, big strokes. And it's contradictory: sunlit, laughing women, and behind them a louring winter wood. Very damn interesting. We put the painting up on Friday afternoon and I'm still being surprised every time I walk into the room.
We now have four Baker paintings. In fact, one room, the place we watch TV (the 'family room' as an American might say, or the 'pistachio room' as the real estate agent called it--it's green--or, as I say, 'in there'), is now, essentially, the Alisha Baker room.
I met Alisha eight years ago (I've blogged about this before) and bought my first painting from her, "Let's Imagine..." in 2003.
Let's Imagine..., Alisha BakerIt's been fascinating to watch her grow and change as an artist, seeing the experiments--the successes and failures. For example, the third painting in the room, "Samantha" (I don't have a better photo of it), involved using feathers. Something about those feathers delights me. Every time I look at it I grin. The subject's smile is utterly infectious.
In the living room we have a small chunk of slate, painted with a moonlit seascape, "Winter Pearl," propped on our mantel.
Winter Pearl, Alisha BakerAlisha's getting into painting portraits now. One day I hope we can afford to get our picture done. (Perhaps for our 25th anniversary. We'll start saving now. Of course, the portrait will probably be done from a photo, and I know who I want to take that.) We're going to have to get a bigger house with more walls...
