When Suzie Baker learned to paint, she didn’t call it plein air. “It was just painting!” she says. “But it was always from life.” No matter the title, Suzie has taken the realm of plein air painting by storm, especially in recent years with her work featured in magazines, national shows and the top plein air events in the country. In September, Suzie, who serves on the board of Oil Painters of America, returns to Steamboat Springs to judge Steamboat Art Museum’s annual plein air event. 

Suzie, though always artistic, didn’t land on her preference for direct painting until a college assignment in which she had to finish a painting in 30 minutes. Post-college she worked as an art director, but when her husband’s career took her to the Middle East, it created an opportunity for her to devote herself to her artwork. Her first plein air event was in Telluride – which is where she was again this summer –  back where she started, attending her 10th year of the Telluride Plein Air Festival.

“The wonderful thing about doing an event multiple times is that you start to get a really good feel for the place – where you want to be during certain times of day,” she says. “I hold with an open hand what I want to paint because I can always be inspired by something new.”

To revisit the same genre over and over again at different times of day is a thought process that has been laid out by great painters before – Monet and his haystacks, for example. “There’s nothing wrong with painting something multiple times to investigate it,” she says. “You get better; you get more in tune and you try new things. It doesn’t get old.”

Suzie, who is based north of Houston, Texas, is no stranger to Steamboat, having visited many times. This time though, it’s with the keen eye of a judge. In this role, she will look for the elements and principles of art. “Value, shape, color,” she lists off, while also asking, “Is it well composed? If there are times where the artist takes liberty, is it something that is clearly being controlled by the artist?”

There is a misconception, she points out, that plein air has to include everything the artist sees. “The artist can tell the truth but not the whole truth and can make a scene more compelling than it might look in reality.”

Suzie has found success in both the studio and the outdoors, something that is often rare for painters. She attributes that to showing up at the easel. “Just showing up and working at it is how you get better,” she says. “I guess that’s like most things. The more you do it with intention, the better you get.”

Steamboat Art Museum’s plein air event takes place Friday, Sept. 20-Friday, Sept. 27 in various locations around Routt County. The exhibit will be on display at the museum through Saturday, Nov. 2. For more information, visit www.steamboatartmuseum.org.