This past weekend was spent visiting some family in Idaho. One member of which is my three-year old niece, Olivia. A sweet little hurricane. I had the chance to do a little caricature of her before we left. She didn’t hold still for even a moment of the 15-20 minutes I worked on this, but I think it may have captured a little something of her personality if not entirely her likeness.
During last weekend’s watercolor class I did a quick portrait of my Grandma, who hosted the class.
I’m really very pleased with it. Perhaps not so much how it looks aesthetically, (although I am rather pleased with that as well) but more because of what it means to me as a record of a place and time and a relationship. As long as I can remember, I have memories of painting with my Grandma. She has always been generous with her time and creativity. She taught me how to sew, china paint, make dolls and even let me try my hand at making lamp shades, finishing my shade after I lost interest halfway through. She has encouraged me in every artistic endeavor I have ever taken on.
To me, this portrait reminds me of the hundreds of hours spent with grandma, painting, eating, listening to music and talking about life, God and art, and to me, that is a precious thing. 
I love you Grandma.
I love watercolor. I love it’s simplicity. I love it’s transparent luminosity. It’s just so beautiful and mysterious.
When mixing colors, especially if one or more of the pigments are made from natural substances (as opposed to synthetic dyes), the colors will partially separate as the binding medium sinks into the paper and evaporates. You can’t control a lot of this process. By experimentation you can have a good idea what the colors will do when mixed and applied in a certain way, but it’s like a chemical reaction. You wind it up, let it go, and the end result is a splendid surprise!
Over the weekend I took a watercolor class, below are a few selected swatches that I found particularly pleasing and exemplary of what I’m talking about. You’ll see a lot of cerulean blue, yellow and violets (made by mixing cad red or crimson with the cerulean), I think I was just in a mood and loving those colors together. Enjoy!
This is a project I did recently for a client. The idea came from some illustrations I did when I was in Germany of women with castles on their heads and villages in their clothes. I thought it would be cool to use this whimsical technique to incorporate a person’s interests into their portrait. My client’s wife, whom I was doing the portrait of, just graduated from the University of Washington and is going to be consulting developing countries on their marine policies, this being a major part of her life it is the main theme of the portrait. She also adores her dog, and is from Kenya, so I included a mini portrait of her dog and adorned her with jewelry from Kenya.
Seth built a beautiful custom frame to go with the painting. I believe it was out of African Mohagony. I am really pleased with the end result!
This year my mom and I are going to be participating in the Alzheimers Association Memory Walk. My Grandpa has been suffering from this horrible disease for the past several years and our whole family is feeling it’s effects. As part of our team’s fund raising efforts we are putting on a spaghetti feed. Entry by donation, all proceeds going to the 2010 Memory Walk.
If you would like to receive an official invitation please e-mail me with your address and I will get one out to you! thebookwood@gmail.com
For more information on the Alzheimer’s Association and this year’s Memory Walk go to alz.org
To support us go to: http://memorywalk.kintera.org/northsound/celiabaker
This is a business logo I designed for my dad’s upcoming website bestdealsontents.com. I think the name says it all. So, if you find yourself in need of a tent, check it out!
A few years ago for Christmas I had made a set of magnets for my family, but just recently my brother’s magnet from that original set was discovered by a particularly naughty puppy. So for his birthday this year I decided to make him a set all his own.
Here is the original, doggie hampered magnet.
Below is it’s replacement and the rest of the Party Animals.
Each magnet is made of a 2″x2″ piece of 1/4″ bamboo plywood (complements of my woodworking husband). I painted on them with acrylic paint which was slightly diluted in order to let the lovely lined texture of the wood come through the entire image. I think the dancing penguin is my favorite.
If you would like to procure your very own set of individually designed and illustrated magnets please contact me with the following details:
Color preferences
Animal preferences
Theme preference (Party, Culinary, Sprots, etc.)
Magnets are sold for $12 each or in Sets of 5 for $50. (one animal drawing per magnet)
If you would like magnets with a different number of animals, finer detail or something other than animals being silly just contact me with the details and I will get back to you with a quote.
thebookwood@gmail.com
Two sweet little puppies I had the pleasure of painting this past week. 
Oil paint on maple.
Once every two months I do a little comic for Pet Connection Magazine. Usually about dogs. Which is funny, since I don’t actually have a dog. I have cats. But when it comes to personality and comedic timing, I just find the K9 community a bit more inspiring.
I saw this
old woman at the Dr.’s office when I took my son in for his check-up the other day. I studied her on the sly and painted this from memory.
Isn’t she grand!?
Celia Marie Baker 