06 Sep Artist Spotlights: Suzie Baker

Suzie Baker showed early signs that she’d march through life to her own artistic melody. One day in second grade, back in central Louisiana, the teacher handed her an outline of an owl to color with her box of crayons. “I can almost picture myself sitting at my little desk. And, from under the desktop, I got out my green safety scissors and a brown crayon. I shaved that crayon to look like brown owl feathers, just making a mess all around my desk, and glued them to that paper.” She laughs at the memory. “I have no idea what the teacher thought, but I was very impressed with myself.”

Today, Baker impresses art lovers and fellow artists alike with her expressive landscapes of the American West. From Provisions and Trail Dust, which portrays the weary progress of riders, horses, and pack mules through California’s High Sierra, to the moody Galveston tall ship portrait of Elissa, rendered so you can almost hear the moorings creaking and the water lapping, her plein air and studio works effectively make viewers feel as if they are present in the moment.

Provisions and Trail Dust was accepted into the summer 2023 exhibition by the Granite Group of plein air painters. Elissa was chosen as Best in Show at the Outdoor Painters Society’s Plein Air Southwest event and was then selected to appear in the American Impressionist Society’s 25th Annual National Juried Exhibition this fall.

Teton Firmament | Oil on Linen | 12 x 16 inches | 2024

From scissors and crayon to brush and palette, Baker’s direction has been resolute. At Louisiana Tech, she studied graphic design and painting, including five weeks of independent plein air study in Rome. After graduating, she worked as a designer and then an art director, first in northern Louisiana and then in Houston, Texas, while always painting on the side.

Then, in 2008, after a move to Bahrain for her husband’s job in the oil and gas business, she began painting full-time, traveling  with other artists as far afield as India for her subject matter. Two years later, back home in Houston, she continued her new career, gradually gaining experience and exposure until, in 2014, she appeared in her first major event, the Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational, and joined the board of Oil Painters of America, the start of much more recognition from top events and organizations — including, more recently, serving as a judge for plein air events nationwide.

Even more important to her than the accolades, however, is the appreciation Baker receives from the people who purchase and live with her paintings. “When you hear from collectors that the work you’ve made brings them joy,” she says, pausing a moment as the thought sinks in. “Well, if I had told my little girl self that this was what I’d be doing, she would have been very excited to hear that.”

Elissa | Oil on Linen | 16 x 20 inches | 2024

Baker is represented by Illume Gallery West in Philipsburg, Montana; Lovetts Gallery in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Pitzer’s Fine Arts in Wimberley, Texas; and Huse Skelly Art Gallery on Balboa Island in Newport Beach, California. She will be participating in the Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational, Laguna Beach, California, October 5 to 13; Catalina: The Wildside Art Show & Sale, Newport Beach Yacht Club, Newport Beach, California, October 20; Round Top Plein Air, Round Top, Texas, December 2 to 8; Forgotten Coast en Plein Air, Apalachicola, Florida, March 14 to 23, 2025; Pacific Northwest Plein Air, Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, Washington, April 21 to 26, 2025; Sarasota Plein Air Invitational, Sarasota, Florida, April 6 to 13, 2025; and Oil Painters of America National Exhibition and Convention, ArtCenter Manatee, Bradenton, Florida, May 27 to June 1, 2025.

Based in San Rafael, California, Norman Kolpas is the author of more than 40 books and hundreds of articles. He also teaches nonfiction writing in The Writers’ Program at UCLA Extension.