texture

Last summer I was able to momentarily subdue my frugality and paint thicker in oil. That exercise produced this 8x6 inch painting that was set aside to dry.  Above are two detail shots of the texture (click to enlarge)...yum...I love it. I just took inventory of my tubes of oil paint and though I think oil has a very long 'shelf-life,' what I have on hand really doesn't have to last me the rest of my life. I will try to loosen up and be more generous with it as I was in this piece, "In This Moment," 8x6 inches.

 In This Moment  |  oil  |  8 x 6 inches

Buy It Now

take two - this time in oil

Last year at about this time, I painted a 7x5 inch pastel color study for a larger work tentatively titled "Dappled Path." The color study, "CS for Dappled Path" was sold on the Daily Paintworks Auction and went to a new home in Sweden.

By the time I finished the larger painting, it was renamed "Sunfall" and it went to the corporate art collection of the Puget Sound Blood Center in Washington. Then, an art patron expressed interest in having me paint the scene again as "Sunfall II."

Once again, I started with a color study, this time in oil, a little larger (8 x 6 inches), with bolder color and a different mood. Today I came across that color study and I will post it, unframed, on my Daily Paintworks Gallery tonight.

 Color Study for Sunfall II  |  oil  |  8 x 6 inches  sold

sabbatical redefined

Well...yes, I'm on a sabbatical but maybe it isn't a painting sabbatical as much as it is a pressure sabbatical. Until we finish our house building project, I'm giving up painting pressure. My galleries will be receiving fewer new works from me for awhile and I won't be entering juried shows. That takes the pressure off for painting larger pieces.

However, today I came across a few 7x5 inch oils that I started earlier in the year. And, because I'm taking art supply inventory now, I had to handle each tube of oil paint. Before I knew it, I found myself squeezing out a basic palette and PAINTING on one of the little foundations. Very fun!

Though the finished painting is small (7 x 5 inches), I consider it a finished work rather than a sketch or color study for a larger work.

Memory  Lane  |   oil  |   7 x 5 inches

Juror's Award

Many thanks to juror Casey Klahn for recognition of my work, "All in Due Time" in the Northwest Pastel Society's 2013 Members' Exhibition at the Schack Art Center, Everett, Washingon. The show runs to December 28th.

This is one of the first pieces from my "mind's-eye memory" series; it is especially meaningful to receive an award for this new direction in my work. Congratulations to all the award winners!

while you were gone 7 x 5 oil

Last July we took care of our neighbor's yard while he was away. We mowed the lawn and watered the flowers during what was an exceptionally dry, warm summer here in Washington state. If it had been a usual summer, blooming flowers would have been spoiled by the rain and this little oil painting of his garden would be the only proof of the beauty he missed. "While You Were Gone," oil, 7 x 5 inches. I'm sending it to Auction on Daily Paintworks.  sold

falling in love again

 

First, it was pulling out all those old colored pencils, whispering the names and numbers to myself while sorting them, and then letting them go - passing them on to other artists.

Then, yesterday, I selected one colored pencil drawing ("All Things Considered") from garage storage to post on my Daily Paintworks Gallery for sale.

Today, I had the opportunity to enter these three large colored pencil paintings into a local show. I can hardly believe these are mine. Such detail, such CLEAN work. I'm falling in love again with my colored pencil art.

80 hours? Really?

This small detail is from one of my colored pencil paintings. My technique was slow and tedious. I used a sharp point, light touch and very small circular strokes. It was not unusual to have 80 hours into one painting. Now, when I look at the art from that time, I am very pleased with the work but, all things considered, I don't have 80 hours to spend on one painting so it is a good thing I moved on to a faster medium!

I have to find a new home for this painting before I move to my new studio. To see the whole painting, click here.

color study for Follow Your Heart

Last summer, when I wrote the article for Pratique des Arts, I painted a color study in oil for the larger pastel painting that was featured in the magazine article. In my rush to complete the article on a short deadline, I set the color study aside and just found it today as I was jumping on the trampoline when my eyes were level with a nearby shelf. I'm sending it to Auction on DailyPaintworks. •

november

Yes, I'm on a painting sabbatical but this painting has been kicking around the studio for months, framed temporarily until I decided how to resolve it. Today, I spent just a few minutes warming the lights with a yellowy white and added golden fall foliage. Back into the frame, it is titled "November," of course. Pastel, 17.5 x 11.5 inches.

100 artists of the northwest

Well, it was a long time coming but here is the official publicity blurb:  

Whether the economy is slowing down or bubbling, the Northwest region continues to foster a vibrant art scene. Given its wonderful lifestyle and natural beauty, artists love the region.

E. Ashley Rooney's intent in undertaking 100 Artists of the Northwest (Schiffer 2013) was to take a fresh look at the magical and insightful ways in which the area's artists have interpreted life in this region with its urban trendsetters and laid-back nature lovers.   

Barbara Benedetti Newton of Renton, Washington was one of the artists selected for this work. First known as a master of the colored pencil medium, Barbara is currently noteworthy for her impressionistic, abstracted landscapes in pastel.

other topics

I don't want to lose you as a subscriber or follower of this art journal blog while I am on my painting sabbatical - I'll be back as soon as our building project is completed. During my time away I'll be blogging on topics other than painting on a new blog, Golden Years: an artist's life journal. Please take a look and subscribe if you like it.

shiny update

 A sweet gift for yourself or someone else, "Shiny" has gone to auction.

while we're on the subject...

While we're on the subject of colored pencils, look what artist Robin's husband made for her pencil storage. It is PVC pipe and each pipe holds 13 pencils. If I were still working in colored pencil, I'd make this! Thanks Robin - wishing you many happy hours of coloring.

BTW, here is a link to some of my colored pencil work.

my days were numbered

Another time travel experience, this time back to my days as a colored pencil artist and instructor. My need to identify each pencil by color name and number always got a laugh in my workshops: 901 Indigo Blue, 937 Tuscan Red, 996 Black Grape...oh, I love those colors!

It took about 3 hours today but I got all my old pencils sorted and actually felt the urge to USE them. I will keep all my brands of complete sets but would never use all of these in this lifetime. I look forward to passing them on to others to work in this wonderful medium!

website update

Many thanks to Kay Dewar of Dewar Design for my yearly website update.

The painting on my homepage is "Shades of Summer," a pastel I barely knew. Soon after it was completed, it went to the Northwest Pastel Society Signature Invitational Show at Scott Milo Gallery, Anacortes, Washington and on to a new home. Sometimes that happens and those paintings remain in my memory longer than the ones I have around for years. Kay added selected paintings for a 2013 Archive as well as fashion sketches from 1964. When I look at my work as a retrospective, I'm always a little surprised.

shiny

More studio cleaning: this is a small colored pencil drawing done with a French Gray grisaille (tonal foundation). I taught this technique for years...how to build color upon a neutral base. Available for purchase through my Studio Sales.

looking back (far, far back)

 

Look what I found in a bottom drawer in the studio. This was the kind of art I was doing 50 years ago. Holy Moly I'm old! Fashion sketches on tracing paper from around the time that I worked as a fashion illustrator for The Bon Marché department store in Seattle.

windmist

A misty ridge of dancing tree forms, "Windmist" is the final painting from the summer of 2013 series. It is available for purchase through my Daily Paintworks Gallery.

2013 collage

A painting sabbatical doesn't stop the need for the business of art. It is time to have my website updated with the archive of 2013 paintings. I selected 21 from this year and, in the process of sending small images to my web designer, I was struck by the collage effect they made when placed randomly all together.

making progress

I loved the wildness of the neglected property but to make this place our home we had to clean it up. After the old smelly cabin was gone, we hauled away seven dumpsters of brush, stumps, tires, pipes, concrete, ant hills, bee nests and general garbage.

The lake is in the distance, beyond our car. The line of yellow is straw where the cabin used to be and where the house and studio will be in the future. There is a maple grove, and fruit trees will be planted where I stood to take the bottom photo (a spot that was impassable before the excavator). We're making progress.

Painting Note: the top photo is the reference for my painting Long Time Passing.

bye bye old smelly

Our new lake property came with a rotting 1928 cabin. We had it demolished a few days ago. Now, on to new house plans and a new studio. Yay!

from the heart

This summer I painted a dozen small pastel paintings 'from the heart.' No reference photos, just me and my pastel sticks working and playing together to set a mood and tell a story. This is "Afternoon Passage," my first offering from the series, for purchase through Daily Paintworks. Pastel on sanded surface, 7.5 x 7.5 inches, unframed.

looking inward

Two months ago I completed a painting titled "Long Time Passing" and mentioned at that time that I'd share the backstory in the future. The future is now so here is the link to that post as well as a link to the process and below is the backstory.

My husband and I recently purchased lake property. I painted this scene of it when the previous owner first allowed us to walk the land. At that time, the sale was uncertain and turned out to be months away. Overgrown and wild, we looked at it for years as we drove by; to finally own it is a dream come true. I want to make the property and the building of a house and studio there my priority even though that will mean painting less or not at all for awhile.

This new project comes at a time when I was questioning why I paint what I do. I lost interest in painting scenes from reference photos so I threw all my photos out. I began painting what I called "mind's-eye" scenes. They might be from my memory though I don't remember having been in these places. Maybe they are from my heart?

As part of my break from painting,  I rarely log into Facebook these days and I cancelled most of my blog subscriptions because these are sources of painting motivation for me.

Two subscriptions I didn't want to give up are Tom Weinkle and Loriann Signori because these artists provide thought provoking words of wisdom. I may not be painting but I am certainly thinking about painting. Specifically what/how/why I will paint in the future.  I am looking inward.

attention pastel artists

This is my Pastel Journal magazine collection, 2001 through 2012, complete except for the February 2011 issue (where is it? I have looked everywhere!). There are 69 magazines and 4 guides. It is time for me to pass this collection on to someone else. If you are interested, please email me.

NOTE: I FOUND FEBRUARY 2011! Now there are 70 issues, a complete set!

step 9 - complete with details

Step 9 - Complete with Details

The last step of my work is to add details. I believe that a good painting should be 95% complete before adding details (see above).  Details can never save a mediocre painting.

Before beginning detail work ask yourself if you have a strong composition. Do you have the range of values that is appropriate to the story you want to tell? Once you have a pleasing composition and good value placement, you can review your color. It has been said that value does the work and color gets the glory. It matters less what exact color you use than the value of that color. Any number of colors in the same value range will do the job but some will do it with more vigor than others.

The marks you make for your detail work are very important because these are the strokes the viewer will look at first. For that reason, put detail only in strategic areas to do a job: to lead the eye around the painting or to tell the story. Your detail marks must be confident. Tentative marks of detail have a labored and tense look.

 Follow Your Heart  |  pastel  | 10.5 x 12 inches

step 8 - add transparency

Step 8 - Add Transparency

To achieve the look of translucency, I hold my pastel stick so the side of the pastel, not the tip, touches the paper. In a fluid movement, I touch the pastel to the paper and drag. This gives a light layer or veil of color and when used over another color the result can be magical. In this painting, I used two complementary colors, one as the base and one as the veil. Because complementary colors intensify each other and vibrate, the yellow green veil placed over the complementary violet background seems to lift and float, adding depth to the tree foliage. 

Complete the details tomorrow... 

step 7 - enchancing the atmosphere

Step 7-Enhancing the Atmosphere

Adding a lavender purple will soften and unify the other colors. I apply pastel veils of color. My marks are strong and direct. I add lavender notes on the ground, and I take a little pigment throughout the stage to create an atmosphere. I reused my light yellow to provide more saturation to the sky.  I use the ridge of a pastel stick to emphasize the presence of trees on the left.

Step 8 tomorrow...

step 6 - play with color

Step 6-Play with Your Colors
I have not planned the color scheme of this painting in advance because I do not want to transform the process of creation into a method of production. The relationship between colors is critical knowledge for an artist.  We have to ask: is the purple under the shade of green trees too bright, too extinguished and dull?  Does it deserve adjustment? It is gratifying to find the right color immediately. When in doubt, I test on the margins of my paper.

Step 7 tomorrow...

step 5 - create atmosphere

Step 5-Create an Atmosphere
The mood of a painting is set by composition, color, color temperature and pastel technique. Here, the horizon is slightly above the center of the paper, which balances the composition.  The path must go a certain way.  Surrounding trees emphasize the private aspect of this trip.  If you think about the mood, and if you know your subject and you have a clear vision of the story you want to tell, you will naturally gravitate to the right colors.  I want a calm and serene atmosphere. My first choice of color is a blue-violet.  I apply it generously, as it will have to bear the overlays.

Next step will be posted tomorrow...

Step 4 - bring dynamism

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Step 4-Bring dynamism to the painting
A complete set of values ​​will bring force to your tableau. The lightest value lies in the sky, unless you are painting bright snow or sand.  The second value is the flat ground. Upright rees and shade will be a darker value. I apply my darkest value (dark green brown). I use a gloved finger to blend the pigment. I love working the material with a glove, I have the feeling of coming into the image to work transparency and depth.  I merge the ghost color along the edge of the forest. To establish and confirm the setting, I use a Colour Shaper:  this tool is ideal to draw the foliage, stems and grass. 

Step 5 tomorrow...

step 3 - define the big shapes

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Step 3-Define Volume
I live in an area where the sky is often overcast.  I love these neutral and gray skies, which are made up of many colors.  For this sky, I will push the color toward a light yellow. I apply the pastel quite firmly to cover the colorful area of ​​the ghost picture.  Later, I will return to the sky with the same color, but the color values are strengthened.  With yellow ocher, I place the path, the road, which gives movement to the image.  It is also the narrative element of this tableau, since the story I want to tell will reflect the path I choose to follow. 

See step 4 tomorrow... 

step 2 - simplify the subject

Step 2-Simplify the Subject
My landscapes are my impressions of a place, not a copy of it.  I do not want to paint every leaf and every blade of grass.  I am more concerned with the emotion of a place than into the realism.  I allow myself to move a tree, create a path. The observation is a starting point, and you have to play on interesting elements of the design to tell a story.  From the moment when my values ​​are defined, I use a flat brush (size 10) that I soaked in a solution of 91% Isopropanol (which dries faster and alters the paper less) to establish large shapes of the composition. I always use old brushes, because the sandpaper tends to damage them.

See step 3 tomorrow...

if you don't read french...

 Follow Your Heart  |  pastel  |  10.5 x 12 inches

 This is a reference photo of the scene at Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, Washington.

My painting, Follow Your Heart, was the subject of a recent article for Pratique des Arts magazine. A huge thank you to my nephew Hunter for translating the article into English so I could read it. Over the next few days, I will be posting the painting steps here for you. 

 

Step 1-Working from a Ghost Image
To reuse the paper from a previous pastel panting, I remove the pastel from its frame and brush the pastel off, or if it is a paper that tolerates water such as Wallis, I wash the pastel off. This cleaning will leave a ghost image that is trace color for the foundation of my future painting.  Inspiration can come from stains that remain after washing the surface.

See step 2 tomorrow...

life changes

It's official. My husband and I finally own property on the lake where we have been looking for many years. With this dream coming into reality, I'll be stepping back a little from my art commitments for awhile. It was so long coming that I want to give it priority for my time and energy. 

if you read french...

I am honored to be included in the No. 111 edition of the French magazine, Pratique des Arts! Of course, I don't speak or read French but I love the way the article looks. If you read French, enjoy.

nine

All together now...the nine small pastels from this summer. They are for review first by a collector of my work then some or all will be posted on my Daily Paintworks Gallery in the fall.

week end

I'm ending the week with "Windmist," pastel,  7.5 x 7 inches. I think that will be the last of these small paintings for a while. The vegetable garden has turned into a jungle and is calling me to weed it.

lush life

This little painting took a lot of work, trial and error, patience and perseverance - a metaphor for life. For my lush life, I am enjoying a can of Coca Cola - I gave up buying it years ago but may start again for my golden years.  "Lush Life," pastel, 7.5x7.5 inches

spinning my wheels

Every once in a while I have a day of "spinning my wheels."

To me, a good day is a productive day. That's a problem. I know that a day of paint on, wipe off is a lesson day and one I won't have to repeat if I pay attention. But chasing the illusive vision for a painting then losing it time and time again is frustrating. The "believe in yourself" advice I give to students is not useful at this point. I finally walk away singing my painting theme song, The Gambler, (a song written by Don Schlitz and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers)

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, know when to run.

Above are the three "wheel-spinners" from yesterday. Before I begin, I'll have a talk with myself about each one. What (if anything) do I like about it as well as what has to go? Is there a story worth telling in this scene? What is the mood? Today, I'll try to listen carefully to each painting and be thoughtful in my response.