The Proud Baker

Regardless of one's culture, bread is often a part of our life in one way or another. This universal food can be traced back throughout history and still plays an important part of food traditions today. In this fashion, bread often connects families and even communities.

"The Proud Baker" is a tribute to all the traditional bakers that have mastered the trade through generations of knowledge and experience. These are the artisans that wake up long before sunrise and transform simple ingredients into one of the most celebrated foods. As new technologies and large chain stores come along and replace many local bakeries, I wanted to capture the old traditions of making bread....a food meant to be broken...only to be shared as a way of binding a group of people together.

As with several of my other paintings, the image does not come from an actual person or portrait, but was created to represent the "essence" of a baker. His face is tired, but proud nevertheless.

The 24x30 painting was done with acrylics, pallet knife and brush.