Please join me at my current art journal

Just for fun, I googled myself and found many links to this OLD art journal. Please join me at my current art journal http://www.bbnewtonartjournal.blogspot.com

old journal test

A year ago the email subscription feed to this blog quit working. Now, almost exactly one year later, the same thing has happened to my current art journal. Just thought I'd post to this old one to see if it somehow cured itself.

My Art Journal has moved

Please join me at my new art journal location www.bbnewtonartjournal.blogspot.com

I've moved - please visit

My Art Journal has moved to a new address. Please find my NEW Art Journal at http://www.bbnewtonartjournal.blogspot.com and subscribe or follow. Thanks!

Please come with me

May 11, 2010
This blog has been having feed trouble... some subscribers still get postings by email, others haven't received one since April 14th. I've spent a lot of time trying to resolve the problem but have decided I'd rather be painting! For that reason, I'm starting a new art journal with a subscription that works.

I hope you've enjoyed my art journal and will continue with me at this new address  http://www.bbnewtonartjournal.blogspot.com/
There is a subscription form there.

toothy

Yesterday I was talking about working on the soft side of Canson Mi-Teintes paper. Today, I found this example of an early pastel where the more toothy side of the paper was used. The pattern of the paper surface adds another element to this little still life (which I cropped from a larger painting for this post). Click on the image to make it larger so you can really see the texture.

canson experiment

This is the result of the Canson Mi-Teintes rework experiment. I brushed the old painting with mineral spirits, wiped it off and applied pastel. Wiped the whole thing off again and applied large areas of three colors to begin again. By now, the tooth of the paper was filled and the whole thing turned into a finger painting (I wear gloves). The dots are from me dipping my fingertips in the pastel dust tray and striking the paper randomly. Also, I painted this whole thing upside down. I didn't decide it belonged this way until I was finished.

Pastel Rework Queen

When I began working in pastel I used Canson Mi-Teintes paper, usually working on the soft-side (the side with less tooth). I have a couple older paintings that I'm eyeing for rework. I think I must be the Pastel Rework Queen, having reworked many paintings on sanded surfaces but I've never tried reworking this surface. The image here is a small area of the painting...now, I'm thinking maybe I should just crop it instead of reworking.

carmel river

I spent last week in Carmel, California in unseasonably cool weather. This painting is the first of a series of sandy/marshy shots of the Carmel River.  It is a cool April morning in this scene but I also have reference photos of the same area that I took near sunset when everything was washed in pink.

tuesday's child

I've been looking at this painting for a couple days and after a small adjustment in the lower right to remove a distracting bit of yellow, I'm declaring it done. It is Tuesday's Child.

slices - old and new

It is a painting treasure hunt in my studio - I'm always looking for old pieces to rework. Yesterday, I came across an 18 x 24 inch (large-for-me) framed painting from 2006. Called "Grassland Journey," it was one of my early soft works. In review, the composition was not great and it was beyond relaxing into sleepy/snorey. I turned it upside down and am reworking it. I have included the "focal point slice" from each painting here - the old on the left and the rework, right. When I finish the reworked painting I'll post the whole painting here for you to see.

eight years later

My first pastel painting was a still life of two plums. My second try at pastel in Spring 2002 was a view of our driveway. We still have the same driveway but my work has changed considerably. Almost exactly 8 years later, here is the scene again as I see it today in "The Good Road Home II."

one more month

April is the final month for "Light in the Air," the current exhibit at Women Painters of Washington Gallery, 701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 310, Columbia Center Building, Seattle, WA. The next show, "Wonder!" will begin in May. To view the entire "Light in the Air" show online, CLICK HERE.

sweet creek

Today's pastel is "Afternoon at Sweet Creek." A bright scene during these days of wind and rain in the Seattle area.

old painting, new look

Two months ago I washed off and repainted a piece of Wallis for the third time. It became a dark and moody winter pond scene.

Since January, every time I came across it on my new paintings blog it bothered me. Too dark, too moody, something discordant about the colors. Today I unframed it, added two transition colors - a muted pale green color (mostly on the left side) and a dusty blue (mostly across the horizon). 

Also, and most importantly I think, I cropped the work into a little different scene. The red line shows the old parameters of the image, the lighter stroke shows the new crop. Once again, I'm not sure if this piece will survive. Time will tell. To see the before image, CLICK HERE. To see the piece as it is today, CLICK HERE

packing up

Today I'm packing up 30 older pieces for a solo show at Olympic College Art Gallery, Bremerton, Washington. Many of the pieces are from my artist's collection, have been stored away and I haven't seen them for years. Most are colored pencil, from around the time I co-authored "Colored Pencil Solution Book." Each one brings back memories. Some are colored pencil with watercolor as I was trying to let go of colored pencil as my comfort medium. There is one called "Unchain my Heart" (from colored pencil). There are also a couple all watercolor pieces that I truly love. If you are in the area and enjoy colored pencil, please visit this show at the Olympic College Art Gallery during school hours March 29 through April 27, 2010

time to move on

I needed a new pastel for the upcoming Wonder! show at Women Painters of Washington Gallery, Seattle. Completed "A Sense of Place II" today by painting over the original "Sense of Place" from a year ago. Time to move on, time to make room for new dreams.

plums in bloom

Our plum trees are blooming in succession. First, the tree of small round yellow plums was a mass of white, now the large oblong yellow plum is flowering. The Italian prune trees (one of them from my childhood home) are still sleeping. Lots to paint around here as plants and trees awaken.

love the one you're with

This is how it feels to be looking for the perfect retirement property. We have narrowed it down to a location, been hopeful, been discouraged, come up against obstacles, hopeful again. There are bright spots, doubts, confusion, temporary resolution. As in my painting of several days ago, "You are Here," I will appreciate the great parts of where we live now. Good advice: "Love the One You're With."

nothing but blue skies

Another playful mixed media piece for spring. Better bigger, click to enlarge.

you are here

Playful painting days; finding my bearings on the brink of a new season. "You are Here" is much better close up - click on the image to enlarge.

playing by the rules

An old painting from 2005 revisited. The underlying grid work gave me security the first time around. Today, five years later, it just made me want to push it (break it up, skew it) but also to leave enough showing to look back and laugh at my then-self.

springing

Suddenly, it is spring and everything is whacky. Yesterday was spent on a copyright infringement issue - someone copied one of my paintings for their own financial gain. As stress relief, I walk in my flower garden. Not much to see this time of year but I am amazed by the tenacity of green things popping up through heavy wet earth. Springing! Today's mixed media painting is called "Spring Madness;" the view outside my studio window.

small paintings and Dick's

Delivered three small paintings yesterday for a show in Edmonds, WA. A beautiful, sunny day and a quick lunch at my old favorite, Dick's Drive In. Wow! I just found a website for Dick's complete with old music. CLICK HERE.

Robert Frosty?

I wanted this to be another painting from the words of “The Road Not Taken” but it just kept looking like frost. Then, I received a comment on my last post from TJ. She referred to another poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” which fits this better but maybe I was just thinking of Robert Frost(y).