New Line of Giclee Prints

Still Life with Red Wall
8" x 10" giclee print

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Poppies on Yellow II
8" x 10" giclee print

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Fauve Village
8" x 10" giclee print

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Prairie Sunset
8" x 10" giclee print

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New Mexico Sunset
8" x 10" giclee print

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Catskill Autumn
8" x 10" giclee print

I am now offering giclee reproductions of my work as 8" x10" giclee prints! I've had several requests from patrons to offer giclees, and I'm pleased to announce the introduction of my new line of prints. These are high resolution, archival quality prints, printed on premium satin finish photo paper with genuine Epson inks, rated to last up to 92 years.

My line of 8" x 10" giclee prints are attractively priced at $24.95 with free shipping in the continental US. Go to my web site or my Etsy shop (pattyabaker.etsy.com) to view the full line of prints available.

Quote of the Day
"We think that by protecting ourselves from suffering that we are being kind to ourselves. The truth is, we only become more fearful, more hardened, and more alienated. We experience ourselves as being separate from the whole. This separateness becomes like a prison for us, a prison that restricts us to our personal hopes and fears and to caring only for the people nearest to us. Curiously enough, if we primarily try to shield ourselves from discomfort, we suffer. Yet when we don't close off and we let our hearts break, we discover our kinship with all beings. His Holiness the Dalai Lama describes two kinds of selfish people: the unwise and the wise. Unwise selfish people think only of themselves, and the result is confusion and pain. Wise selfish people know that the best thing they can do for themselves is to be there for others. As a result, they experience joy."

"The greatest obstacle to connecting with our joy is resentment."

"Resentment, bitterness, holding a grudge prevent us from seeing and hearing and tasting and delighting."

"Thich Nhat Hanh, in his Guide to Walking Meditation, begins by talking about how everyone carries around this burden, and if you want to put it off, if you want to lay it down, you can do it. You can connect with the joy in your heart."

"Acknowledging the preciousness of each day is a good way to live, a good way to reconnect with our basic joy."

--Pema Chodron

New Paintings 9.30.09

Young America Road VI
Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Still Life with Blue Vase VI
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work includes a new edition of Young America Road, a popular composition and one that I started with over six years ago when I began to paint as my day job. Still Life with Blue Vase is a composition that has also done well in the past. Both are a joy to paint.

Quote of the Day
"To relate to others compassionately is a challenge. Really communicating to the heart and being there for someone else--our child, spouse, parent, client, patient, or the homeless woman on the street--means not shutting down on that person, first of all, not shutting down on ourselves. This means allowing ourselves to feel what we feel and not pushing it away. It means accepting every aspect of ourselves, even the parts we don't like.

To do this requires openness, which in Buddhism is sometimes called emptiness--not fixating or holding on to anything. Only in an open, nonjudgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. Only in an open space where we're not all caught up in our own version of reality can we see and hear and feel who others really are, which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly." --Pema Chodron

New Paintings 9.28.09

Abstract Poppies on Yellow
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Abstract Cattails II
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Abstract Poppies XII
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Apple Tree with Pink Blossoms IV
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

My most recent paintings include new editions of several of my popular compositions. These are all 16" x 20" paintings and are attractively priced for patrons on a budget who want to indulge themselves with a new painting, or are seeking a gift for friends or family. I am working on two portrait commissions as well that have been a lot of fun to paint. I'll post photos of those soon.

Quote of the Day
"Once there was a young warrior. Her teacher told her that she had to do battle with fear. She didn't want to do that. It seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said she had to do it and gave her instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student warrior stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. The both had their weapons.

The young warrior roused herself and went toward fear, prostrated three times, and asked, 'May I have permission to go into battle with you?' Fear said, 'Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.' Then the young warrior said, 'How can I defeat you?' Fear replied, 'My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. If you don't do what I tell you, I have no power. You can listen to me, and you can have respect for me. You can even be convinced by me. But if you don't do what I say, I have no power.' In that way, the student warrior learned how to defeat fear.

This is how it actually works. There has to be some kind of respect for the jitters, some understanding of how our emotions have the power to run us around in circles. That understanding helps us discover how we increase our pain, how we increase our confusion, how we cause harm to ourselves. Because we have basic goodness, basic wisdom, basic intelligence, we can stop harming ourselves and harming others. Because of mindfulness, we see things when they arise. Because of our understanding, we don't buy into the chain reaction that makes things grow from minute to expansive.

We leave things minute. They stay tiny... It all comes through learning to pause a moment, learning not to just impulsively do the same thing again and again... The result is we cease to cause harm." --Pema Chodron

New Paintings 09.24.09

Still Life with Roses IX
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Poppies on Yellow IX
Original 12" x 16" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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The Gathering II
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Still Life with Checkered Cloth VI
Original 12" x 16" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

My newest work includes new editions of several compositions, including two new still life paintings, a new edition of Poppies on Yellow, and variation on The Gathering composition.

Quotes of the Day
"When you become good at the art of letting sufferings go, then you'll come to realize what you were dragging around with you. And for that, no one else other than you was responsible." --Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

"Bitterness is a poison that snuffs out the light of our souls, hardening us to life's pleasures and joys by keeping us focused only on what is wrong... I'm determined not to sink into bitterness again. While there are plenty of things in life to be justifiably annoyed, angry, or hurt at, that doesn't mean that I should completely ignore all this is beautiful, good, and touching. I want my soul to shine with an overflowing of love, and practicing gratitude is one of the best ways I know to do it.

Gratitude is an inner light that we can use to illumine our souls. The more we are thankful, the more light we experience and the more we shine forth into the world." --M.J. Ryan

Today's Paintings 09.20.09

Abstract Poppies X
Original 24" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Autumn Moonrise IX
Original 72" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work includes two new editions of popular compositions: Abstract Poppies and Autumn Moonrise. My patrons love these compositions. I've painted several commissions of both, and the new editions always sell. My greatest wish is that my work inspires the people who hang it on their walls to enjoy the beauty that is this life.

Quote of the Day
"When you are fully present with everyone you meet, you relinquish the conceptual identity you made for them — your interpretation of who they are and what they did in the past — and are able to interact without the egoic movements of desire and fear. Attention, which is alert stillness, is the key. How wonderful to go beyond wanting and fearing in your relationships. Love does not want or fear anything." --Eckhart Tolle

Commission Work This Week

Red Trees (Commission)
Original 72" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Three 24" x 36" canvases
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Autumn Aspens (Commission)
Original 72" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Three 24" x 30" canvases
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

This week's work included a commission for a patron in Colorado who wanted some of my work to decorate her office. These paintings are based on two of my popular compositions, Autumn Aspens and Autumn Moonrise (photo coming soon).

The other commission is for a patron visiting the U.S. from Argentina. She selected my Red Trees composition.

Quotes of the Day
"You're never so full of yourself as when you're in pain... Happiness releases you from self. It is suffering and pain and misery and depression that tie you to the self."

"Put this program into action, a thousand times: (a) identify the negative feelings in you; (b) understand that they are in you, not in the world, not in external reality; (c) do not see them as an essential part of 'I'; these things come and go (don't identify with them); (d) understand that when you change, everything changes."

--Anthony de Mello

Work This Week

Foliage in Bloom
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Trees and Early Morning Light
Original 18" x 24" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Abstract Cattails
Original 30" x 40" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas

My new work so far this week includes these three new compositions. I'm returning to a more impressionistic style in some of my work, as noted in Foliage in Bloom. The cool autumn air and the seasonal changes are so refreshing and inspiring to me. They renew my spirit and inspire hope and gratitude for all that is beautiful in this life.

Quote of the Day
"Mindfulness is the aware, balanced acceptance of the present experience. It isn't more complicated that that. It is opening to or receiving the present moment, pleasant or unpleasant, just as it is, without either clinging to it or rejecting it." --Sylvia Boorstein

Today's Work 09.13.09

Cow in Autumn Pasture
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Still Life with Gerber Daisies IV
Original 16" x 20" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Aspens in Late Day Light
Original 24" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work includes all new compositions. Cow in Autumn Meadow was inspired by the rich autumn pastoral scenes of my native rural New York and my 20+ year home in Colorado. Still Life with Gerber Daisies IV is a new still life composition depicting the rich colors of one of my favorite flowers. Aspens in Late Day Light depicts the transitional season between late summer and early autumn in Colorado, just before the leaves begin to change into their beautiful fall colors.

The crisp morning air of autumn is upon us, and I'm thrilled that we're moving into my favorite season of the year.

Quote of the Day
"The choice you face constantly is whether you are taking your wounds to your head or your heart. In your head you can analyze them, find their causes and consequences, and coin words to speak and write about them. But no final healing is likely to come from that source. You need to let your wounds go down to your heart. Then you can live through them and discover that they will not destroy you. Your heart is greater than your wounds." --Henri Nouwen

Today's Work 09.11.09

Abstract Pear Tree
Original 24" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Apple Tree
Original 24" x 30" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Tulips Against Blue Sky
Original 24" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work includes two new landscape and a floral composition. Abstract Pear Tree is a variation on some of my previous abstract tree compositions, as is the Apple Tree piece. Tulips is a variation on my popular Tulips in Midday Sun composition, which was recently bought by a couple in Atlanta as a commission.

Quote of the Day
"Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past." --Gerald Jampolsky

Today's Work 09.10.09

Autumn Cottage with Cattails
Original 24" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

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Autumn Moonrise VIII
Original 24" x 36" x 0.75" painting
Golden, Liquitex, and Chroma acrylics on gallery-wrapped canvas

Today's work included a new composition: Autumn Cottage with Cattails, and the newest edition in the Autumn Moonrise series. I have recently relocated to Morristown, New York, in the North Country along the St. Lawrence River. The setting for Autumn Cottage is the view from my new deck!

Today's is my baby's 14th birthday! Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Quote of the Day
"The more you care, the stronger you can be." --Jim Rohn