Beachside Bohemian

Artist Baret Boisson’s home studio in Carpinteria is as colorful as her paintings.

THOUGH SHE was born in Italy, raised in South America and France, and often summers in Europe and New York to soak up the culture, artist Baret Boisson feels most at home in her duplex in the leafy beach town of Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara, California. This is where the self-taught artist, who first picked up a brush when she was 30 and has seldom been without one since, paints her flamboyantly colorful and optimistic canvases—art that expresses her belief in a better tomorrow. There is often a waiting list for her works, which range from abstract to representational and often weave in witty text and the aesthetics of folk art. Her clientele includes such luminaries as Warren Buffett and Jimmy Fallon. The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis hosted an exhibition of her series

“Inspiring Greatness through Words and Deeds: The Art of Baret Boisson” in 2016, which included portraits of visionaries and leaders she admires—Viola Davis, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Harvey Milk, Jesse Owens, Greta Thunberg, and Fats Waller, among others—on canvas, ceramics, and painted cigar boxes.

For Boisson, residing in a duplex provides an ideal setup for combining creativity with comfort: She works downstairs and lives upstairs. Admittedly, a lot of her leisure time is devoted to her avocation-becomevocation. “If I’m awake, I’m usually in my studio, painting,” she says. She doesn’t own a TV and she confesses that she is painting during this interview.

“My studio has the most beautiful light. It’s quiet and serene, but it’s also full of energy,” she says. “At night I crack my window open and I hear the waves crashing, so that’s beautiful too. I’m in my element, being able to live so close to my studio. There is practically no separation between my personal life and my work life, which I invite. All my neighbors tell me when they come in late, they can see that I’m painting.

“It’s a happy space,” Boisson says of her home/studio, where walls adorned by her artwork veritably burst with color. “It’s welcoming for dogs and kids and elderly people alike. I invite creativity in this space. I’m so grateful for it. I could not be happier.” —Lisa Rosen Visit baretboissonart.com to see her work.