Judith Baer was born in Akron, Ohio in 1950. Her first remembrance of being interested in art was when her mother showed her pictures of "Blue Boy" and "Pinkie" in a set of books. When Judith was four years old the family moved to Chula Vista in Southern California.
In first grade, Judith made her first portfolio of drawings of outfits to wear on vacation. At the age of seven she won a prize in a local television show drawing contest. All through school as "Regent of Art" she oversaw art projects ranging from science diagrams to program covers and posters for class plays. In her junior year in high school, she was honored to be juried into the "San Diego Conservatory of Art". She studied drawing, oil painting, and watercolors. Upon graduation she was asked to donate an original watercolor to her high school's art collection.
Drawing has always been something Judith has enjoyed. In her twenties, pen and ink drawings were very popular and at that time raising two children she couldn't afford anything but a bottle of India ink and a crow quill pen. Drawing everything from animals, her children, and the California Missions, she established a good background for her art career.
While raising her children, Judith ran a dressmaking business out of her home. In her thirties she started a line of children's clothing, called "Judith Irene Creations". The company was very successful. She acquired clients all over the United States, from Maine to Hawaii and even getting an order from "Neiman Marcus" in Las Vegas. After her divorce she closed the business and moved to Los Angeles obtaining a job in the garment industry. Her first job was for a small company where she did everything from designing, patternmaking, and production supervision. What she enjoyed the most was being a production patternmaker. It was the most creative and artistic part of the job for her. She enjoyed the sculpturing of the pattern and dealing with the details and accuracy down to the fraction of an inch. She worked for such companies as "Carole Little", "Nancy Johnson" and "Rialto".
While working and raising her children she started painting in watercolor again. She joined several art guilds and entered local art shows. At a self-improvement class she announced that she had a painting hanging in a local gallery. The next day she received a phone call from her future husband, John Baer, who had gone to the gallery to view her painting. On their first date they went to the Huntington Library to see "Blue Boy" and "Pinkie". From the beginning, he has been very supportive of her artwork, helping her set up outdoor shows and exhibits and encouraging her to take classes and paint. After six years of dating, they married in 1995. After her son married and daughter graduated from college, Judith started painting full time.
In 1993 Judith was juried into two co-ops, many art organizations and showed in the outdoor art show circuit across the southwest. She showed her watercolor paintings and her clothing line of "Judith Baer Art to Wear". She designed and made hand painted silk garments and hand-crafted one-of-a-kind jackets. SAKS FIFTH AVENUE in Dubai EUA bought and sold her chiffon silk wraps line. One of her paintings were selected for an exhibit in the Kamchatka Museum, Petropavlovsk, Russia. In 1996 she was honored with the city of Torrance "Excellence in Art" annual award. After exhibiting at the "Laguna Art-A-Fair" for twenty-five years, Judith was honored with the "Lifetime Honorary Membership". Her paintings are in collections in the United States, England, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, Belgium, and Russia.
In 2019 she retired from doing the art circuit and moved to Oregon to be close to family. Currently Judith paints for the enjoyment of painting. Judith has been studying botanical art and realistic watercolors and is working on a new line of paintings.