On the wall and on the easel

A small studio requires creative organization. 6x6 paintings on panels need a safe place to dry while waiting varnish so I made some wall "shelves" out of foam core and attached them to the wall with Command strips. This is my temporary solution to see if it serves my needs and if placement in the studio is the best. There are wood shelving solutions that someday may replace these.

On the easel, touch up on Yellow Roses and a little more work on a Cosmos painting from last summer. 

 Yellow Roses will go on Auction on Daily Paintworks for 5 days. Here is the link.

I'm back again

Hello! I've been so active on Instagram (which links to Facebook) that I totally forgot about this blog and that it can still be accessed through Daily Paintworks and my website even if it no longer sends posts out to the subscriber list.So, I'm back and hope you are still there. 

Suddenly it is Spring 2024 and the new studio space I spoke of is complete just in time for the Vashon Island Visual Artists (VIVA) Spring Tour. It is always the first two weekends of May. One rainy weekend is complete and I look forward to next weekend and sun! I live in an area called Dockton so it seemed appropriate to name my new studio Dockton Art Studio. There are lots of artists in this area and many participate in the Tour. Below is what the studio looks like set up for Tour. At the near end is my big Hughes Easel and a desk. 

 

Remember " Cedar River Picnic" from an article in the Pastel Journal? Between COVID and our relocation, it didn't ever make it to galleries and shows and I was tired of looking at it so I unframed it, wiped it off with a Magic Eraser and hosed it off (because it is Wallis paper) to rework it. Between visitors to the studio last weekend, I worked on a couple small studies for the rework. The first study (below) has gone to Daily Paintworks Auction as my first auction piece in many years!. See the Auction.

I hope to be back here more often. Let's keep in touch!

Where have I been?

I am shocked to realize I haven't posted here since June! Yikes. Where have I been? Right here, in our new location on Vashon Island, WA. I gave myself a major attitude adjustment about my mini studio. After that, good stuff happened: my work has been selling, I found my place in the local art community and there is hope for a larger space for me to frame art. Yay! 

I will serve as the new Treasurer for the local art non-profit, Vashon Island Visual Artists (VIVA) and have taken on Instagram and Facebook posts for the local artist collective gallery, Swiftwater Gallery. Both jobs are good fits for me. 

As I approach a milestone birthday, I look back on this blog at the lists of goals I have made in previous years. Hmmm...I'll think about that. Until then, advice from this older artist is: Attitude is everything.

I will make more of an effort to be present on this blog. I can no longer see who my subscribers are so I I hope you all have joined my subscriber list on my website. 

Here is a blurb from a recent VIVA newsletter. Happy Fall. 

Back to Auctions!

 I can't believe we have been in our new home (and mini-studio) nearly a year! I'm finally settled enough to return to offering small paintings on the Daily Paintworks Auction. In the past, this has been such a pleasure...a way to get small studies out into the world. Good memories. 

So, here we go again, today's small painting is "Sunstreams." I'm painting local scenes these days and this one is the light streaming down our driveway onto the country road beyond. Thanks for taking a look at the auction.

A link for you

I have been painting small pastels. Each is framed with a white-core mat, ready to frame in a standard 7x5 inch frame with glass.  Wall-hang or enjoy more intimately on a desk or table. Shipping within the USA is complimentary via USPS Priority Mail. Here is the link if you would like to receive an email notice as they become available. Soon, I will set aside pastels until early 2024.

Let's Talk It Over

Woodland Memory #1

Woodland Memory #2

Spring Pasture

Happy Spring to you!

Fearless?

“Hello Summer,” reminiscent of “Pack Up All My Cares and Woe” which went to a new home this month. 

A friend called this process “fearless” and I guess it is in a way but mostly it is freeing. A super fun way to rework older oil paintings with oil, cold wax and a silicone bowl scraper.

If you would like to see a video of the painting process of "Hello Summer" visit my Instagram page and click on the video. 

On another subject, with changes to Blogger, I no longer have access to my list of Art Journal subscribers. Please visit my website and join my email list so we can keep in touch. 

 

Pastels are usually framed with a mat and spacer so why did I tape the border? I like a white mat around my pastel work. Normally, I would cut a mat and use a spacer to allow pastel particles to fall behind the mat and not ON the mat. But my new studio isn't set up yet and my Fletcher mat cutter is in storage so how to get the look of a mat without cutting a mat? Tape the edges and put the pastel directly against the glass. See the video.

Notecards!

Throughout my many years of making art, I've frequently made notecards using my art images. This was usually for workshops I taught so students could have an inexpensive take-away example of my work. When my fancy Epson printer finally bit the dust - the one I used for prints and cards - I wasn't concerned about replacing it as it happened about the same time I retired from teaching big workshops. 

With our move back to Vashon Island, there are new opportunities. Swiftwater, the new local gallery, provides an opportunity to sell cards again. I created two cards of my Best of Show award winners and took them to the gallery last Sunday. Thanks to the nice woman who promptly purchased one of each!

"Edge of Winter" and "Heartbreak Morning" are two old favorites.

 I'm happy to see them back as notecards 

and amused about the little logo I created for the back of each card.

The Painting Give-Away

 

My Painting Give-Away took place today. Pastel paintings all boxed up, awaiting labels. Thanks to all who participated in this!

FREE Paintings

Hello! Christmas is over and the new year is fast approaching. I'm thinking about art goals for 2023. One of my goals is to reduce my inventory of paintings on hand. 

To do this, I'm planning a painting-give-away through my website to those who would offer my paintings new homes - just pay for shipping. If you already receive my month-end email from my website, you saw this notice and may have already responded. If you aren't already on my email list:

1. Go here and subscribe. That will make your email address recognizable by my website. 

2. Next, send me an email (barbaranewton@comcast.net) with "yes, add me to your free painting notices." That will let me know to add your name to the free-painting notices list.

It will take me a while to go through my inventory and Collection of the Artist to decide what must go. I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I continue to arrange and rearrange my new mini Studio. Today, between raindrops, we managed to move most of my flat files into the studio to replace the table you may have seen there before. Waiting for a dry day to bring in the drawers for the bottom flat file as well as all the beautiful watercolor and printmaking paper I forgot I even had.

The pastel paintings on the wall above the flat files are my next victims for rework. I have my second rework on the easel now.

"Winter Afternoon," pastel. First rework in the new Studio.

Also, today we delivered paintings to the Vashon Senior Center for a solo exhibit January/February 2023. 

Many thanks to Pamela Wickard, Volunteer and Program Manager for the opportunity to show my work.

More about other art news next time. Until then, HAPPY NEW YEAR! May all your dreams come true.

 

Studio Tour

 

It’s a mini-studio! We moved and I gave up my 500 square foot studio. I’m learning how to compromise. As you enter, looking left is the little desk space I created for small acrylic work. Next comes my big Hughes easel with rolling wire rack to hold my French Mistress and oil paints in plastic jars, organized by color. A favorite tool is the Palette Garage (see it on top of the French Mistress). Stored behind the Hughes is my good old Soltek easel. Heavy but great for plein air work.

Turn to the right and you’re in the framing area. My table is a fold-out from Costco covered in a drop cloth and topped with indoor/outdoor carpeting. I’m grateful for the shelves already installed along this wall. Hard to see but framed paintings are stored beneath the shelves on the left. Art books are under the shelves on the right, watercolor palettes on the top shelf. Open Box M and Bitteroot Pochade are on this shelf. The wall above the table is where I organize paintings for shows so I can see how the body of work will look when hung together. 

Turn right again and you’re at the pastel work station. Two stainless steel tables hold pastels and two lazy-susans loaded with bottles and jars. My biggest challenge is lighting. We installed two new light fixtures and I have additional lamps but I’m still experimenting with light bulbs. Surprisingly (to me), I think I will love my mini-studio for painting. But there is no room for students or sanding panels or framing large pieces; that will have to happen in another building. 

October 24th checking in

 Checking in...here's the link

A Little Problem

I'm very happy with my mini-studio. However, I do have a little problem. Well, sort of a big problem. I can't find my paintbrushes for oil and acrylic. They are all in one box marked "Brushes".  They must be among the boxes still in the garage but I have looked there many times with no luck.

My watercolor brushes and watercolor paint are in the studio and I am eyeing them because the early autumn pastoral scenes here are spectacular. Lovely browns and golds due to the lack of rain. I am contemplating what to do - should I go back to watercolor until I find my bushes? I even have a chair for contemplation in the Studio now that my office isn't in my studio for the first time. Hmmm...coincidentally, I have also hung one of my watercolor paintings in the studio. Go to the end of this post to see it.

The view East from my contemplation chair. 

Looking West. There's the chair I plan to sit in to contemplate life (art, what to make for dinner, etc.). You may notice that my pastel workstation has rotated so I'm not blocking either of the north-light windows.  

Out the east window is the garden. Today we have smoke from fires.

Out the west window is the little shed where all my panels and canvases are stored. Yes, I've looked in there for the brushes. Not there either!

"Trust," watercolor, ©2004 Barbara Benedetti Newton

Collection of the Artist

Mini Studio Progress

I'm checking in on a beautiful early October day. We have been at our new location about 6 weeks and the house and property have taken most of our attention but in the last couple days it has been the mini studio!

The pastel workstation corner of the room is near completion. 

This is my MABEF easel with an Artist's Air filter attached to make my pastel workstation. I've arranged the stainless steel tables to form an U or alleyway for the pastel boxes. This formation has worked well for me before and is especially useful when you are working within a limited space.

I haven't figured out the studio lighting yet so for now, my two Ott lamps illuminate the pastels.

The best part! I found my two Lazy Susans and they hold an amazing number of supplies for all mediums.

I hope you are having wonderful end-of-summer, early fall days. My favorite time of year!

One Month Mini Studio Update

Today is our one month anniversary of moving back to Vashon Island. Each day has been full of moving in, repairing, repainting and replacing both in the house and in my mini-studio. The studio has been painted white and the MABEF pastel easel has arrived. My big Hughes oil easel is still in storage…coming soon. Making progress!
See a short video tour here: Mini Study Update

The 11 x 16 foot building that will become my mini-studio had two brown walls, two green walls.

I found a can of white paint left over from the previous owner.

That helped!

Stay tuned for more updates.

Nest-less and Happy

I'm without a studio and all my work is packed and stored. We are currently enjoying Northilla Nest Beach House at the tip of Maury (Vashon Island, Washington) while waiting for the purchase of our new home in Dockton on Vashon Island to close. I'm not sure when I'll be able to paint again but I look forward to serving as Juror and Judge for the Northwest Pastel Society 2022 Member Show. Thanks to NPS for using some of my images for the Call for Entries reminders. 

Stay tuned as we create a new home, studio and life. Whoohoo! We are excited. I hope every older couple (that's us) who have one more dream will see that it is not too late to create the life they want for the rest of their story.

Edge of Winter

Anticipation

Movie Star

55 paintings to move! Many of these are Collection of the Artist accumulated over the last 20 years but I also see a drastic Moving Sale in my future. 

Leaving the nest

 

Checking in today ... here's the link.

Gratitude and a link

FASO, (my website provider), randomly selects and posts one of my artworks. Today it was "Gratitude," a plein air pastel of the garden outside my Studio. It is tucked away somewhere in my flat files but I was happy to see it again online. 

If you have time, take a look at A follow-up to my last post on my Golden Years blog.

The Rest of the Story

 I've neglected my Golden Years blog. Just posted. Take a look here.

AIS 2nd Annual Associate Member Online Exhibition

 Very happy to be included in the American Impressionist Society 2nd Annual Associate Member Online Exhibition. Take a look here.

Heartsong Revisited

 About a year ago I completed a pastel painting, framed it and hung it in the guest bathroom. Today I unframed it and fixed a small area that has been bugging me.

Original painting Heartsong from 2021

Heartsong II, pastel, 13 x 13 inches

 You may also notice a difference in color between the two photos. The color in the latest photo is more nuanced. I guess I attribute that to my cataract surgery last week. Everything is so much brighter now. Before surgery, perhaps I was overcompensating for lack of light? Both photos were color matched to what the painting looked like to me at the time.