changes

I rarely take workshops but I just returned from four days painting with oil painter Qiang Huang.

Qiang Huang is the most thoughtful artist I know and an excellent communicator, both in words and writing. Before he makes a stroke on canvas, he has fully evaluated the hue, the color value, the intensity, and whether the color is transparent or opaque. Only then does he place the stroke exactly where he wants it. Working with Qiang has changed my thinking about oil painting.

My recent painting life:
I have been working for many months on my "mind's eye" landscape series in pastel. No reference photos, no plein air. Nothing but me in my studio with a blank surface and my pastels. To me this series has a mystical, dream-like feeling. The illusion of a place or time, or a compilation of memories from life or from a dream. I am pleased with the body of work that came out of that experiment and I'll continue to show it at my galleries into next year.

From the workshop:
I worked with staged still life objects and lit the scene to create a center of interest. The challenge is to portray the feeling or essence in an abstract style but based solidly upon the set up. At the same time, the goal is to work from actual objects and stay true to their color and value. Notice I didn't say form. Round objects may be squared off. A single grape might actually be a square of color with a dot of highlight but the viewer knows it is a grape, partly because of the surrounding/support objects.

I want to explore this style but it will be a discipline in many ways after years of being a free spirit in pastel. I could continue using oils the way I have been using them with the results looking much like my pastel work but the challenge of balancing abstract qualities with VERY careful observation and SLOW execution appeals to me at this time.

The first day of the workshop, I was dissatisfied with my effort and asked Qiang if I could wipe off my painting and paint it again. He strongly advised me to keep the painting and to refer to it as time goes by as a base-line reference point so I can see improvement in my work over time. I know the reason I wanted to get rid of the painting (shown far left below) was so I wouldn't be reminded of what a dud-painter I felt like the first day. By the next day, I managed to "get over myself" and get back to work. I listened carefully to Qiang's critique and suggestions. I took them to heart. I like that saying.

I'm ready for a change of medium, change of subject, change of painting method and hopefully a change of attitude about my work. I will resist the urge to "fix" painting number one. Wish me luck!

My 8x10 inch oils in progress from Qiang Huang workshop, April 2014

A spoon and Boo

I just finished the first of four days with oil painter Qiang Huang. My workshop day ended with an OK apple painted in the middle of an overworked still life.

My day started with my usual breakfast. I brought our Muffin Man muffins, avocado, my mocha mix, eggs and my handy little microwave egg poacher that I use at home most mornings. However, I forgot to bring a spoon. The photo above shows how to eat a poached egg using half of the egg shell as a spoon.

My after-class laugh for the day is a photo I received of my sister and her new dog. Today she brought home Boo, the little girl Yorkie rescue dog. She gave Boo a bath. Why is Boo so big?

A review of my work

What a treat to wake up to the Seattle Times newspaper review about my work! I don't know writer Nancy Worssam but she seems to understand my goals as a painter... Yay! Read the entire review here.

A review of “Paintings About Trees,” comprising works by Barbara Benedetti Newton, Monte Shelton and Darin Clark, at Jeffrey Moose Gallery through Saturday, May 3, 2014.

The landscapes by Barbara Benedetti Newton are suffused with gossamer colors. Newton began as a colored-pencil artist, won numerous prizes and became a well-known teacher and writer about the form. She then began experimenting in pastels and more recently in oils. In these media, too, she has won numerous prizes and become a known authority, masterfully capturing the diffused light of the Northwest.

The pastel and oil landscapes on exhibit are impressionist renderings. For some pastels she adds moisture to achieve a wash that gives the works a diaphanous quality. Yet within these works she often includes hard-edged elements more precisely rendered.

There’s a lovely gauziness in her oils, too, where shapes and colors flow into one another. In these paintings she plays with the paint, sometimes feathering it out, at other times carefully defining each element of the landscape. Look for the bursts of color in many of the paintings, bursts like subtle fireworks that are powerfully effective.

FYI

Retired Guy finally cleaned off his desk and got back to me regarding these financial docs.

Otherwise, life with Mr. Cheerful and Agreeable is good. My focus is on our 2013 tax return prep and decisions for the new house so I didn't get to the easel at all last week.

digging counts, painting doesn't

Good news today! Apparently, digging weeds out of the peonies counts as steps.

Since my 70th birthday last October, I've been wearing a Fitbit. Rarely do I make the "goal" of 10,000 steps per day. A 25 minute dog-walk gives me 2,500. A shopping trip to Costco is about the same. Yesterday I accompanied Annie and Retired Guy on their walk for a whopping 6,000 steps.

Today I dug in the garden for several hours and my Fitbit said it was 3,500 steps. Yay! Standing at the easel painting for the same amount of time is viewed by fitbit as comparable (in steps) to lying on the couch snoozing. Digging is good.

an attitude adjustment

 The Signature of All Things  |  pastel  |  15 x 18.5

In January I wrote that I suspected my life would change once Jay was retired. I anticipated helping him navigate the transition to his new life but surprisingly, I am not needed for that. He is loving retirement and is Mr. Cheerful and Agreeable. He is giving his full attention to the meetings and legwork to get our house plans submitted and to start the building process in the spring. Our project is in good hands. With Jay around to help care for Annie, I expected to have more time to paint. These days, they are together constantly beginning with a long morning walk. She accompanies him in the car for most errands. I am dogless, the house is quiet and I could be painting uninterruped for hours if I was motivated.

Instead, I have needed to take a break with a cold but it did give me the opportunity to read Elizabeth Gilbert's book, The Signature of All Things. I loved it and became curious about the title of the book, wanting to use it for the name of my latest painting.

I discovered Signatura Rerum (The Signature of All Things) by the German mystic and theologian Jacob Boehme (1575-1624).  In his book, Boehme discourses at length on one of the fundamental laws of magic: the law of signatures, the concept that every object in the real world has some hidden meaning, and particularly how these signatures interact. Interesting.

OK, I'm done with my cold and lack of motivation. I'm giving myself an attitude adjustment.

circled today

Retired Guy is still circling items in the newspaper for me to see and this morning it is me. Although my name is misspelled, I am happy to continue to show at Jeffrey Moose Gallery (since 2003).

I can taste again after a week of cold medicine. Retired Guy took me to Dick's. Yay!

Muffin Man

Our house designer, Will, introduced us to Flax Seed Muffins and we have become big fans. Retired Guy Jay has decided to trade in his King of Holiday Baklava title for Mill Pond Cottage Muffin Man. We made the first test-batch of gluten-free muffins this morning. Delicious!

Mill Pond Cottage Muffins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or paper-line 12 large muffin cups

1 cup brown sugar
2 cups gluten-free flour
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup ground golden flax seed
1/2 cup oatmeal OR 1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix the above ingredients together in a bowl, then add the following:

1 large apple shredded OR 1 cup shredded zucchini
2 packed cups shredded carrots
1 cup crushed pineapple (drained)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup chopped pecans OR 1/2 cup sliced almonds
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Spoon batter into greased or paper-lined muffin cups. Bake 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Quick trip to Portland

With Retired Guy as my driver, we headed down I-5 early Tuesday morning. First stop, drop Annie off at the Vet for plays days and overnight boarding. On to Olympia to deliver 3 pieces for The State of the Arts Gallery Small Works Show.

Back on the road to Attic Gallery in Portland, Oregon to drop off two new pastels.

Then, on to Art-Substrates to pick up two 36 x 36 x 2 inch birch panels from Matt McCalmont in Portland. Beautiful surfaces, I'm excited to use them for large oil paintings.

Back in the car and to Portland's White House Bed & Breakfast. What a beautiful old home built in 1914. We stayed in the Rose Room. Myra took good care of us and showed us all around. It was like staying at Downton Abbey...well, a much smaller version but very nice!

A light dinner at Newport Seafood Grill then to bed on the feather mattress. Breakfast by candle light the next morning in the formal dining room and back on the road heading north to Washington and home. We stopped at the Nisqually Wild Life Refuge for a photo shoot - cut short because it was so cold. A relaxing, fun time with Retired Guy, best driver ever!

Morning One with Retired Guy

Each morning, Jay is the first one up...well, no, Annie is the first one... up and onto Jay's side of the bed to sleep for an hour. Then they both leave the bed to start the day by getting the newspaper from the box. Retired Guy has more time to read the morning news now. Here is a shot of what was waiting for me when I sat down to breakfast. Circled items are things he feels I need to think about.

1. Yes, I love Amazon Prime and even with a price increase I'll be a fan.
2. Why have we never gone to the Costco Shareholder's Meeting? I put it on the calendar for next year.

Have a great day!

Jay has two, two, TWO days left until retirement. I hope I can hold on to these Wednesday painting days. This afternoon's work is a 25% rework of a 3-year old painting. Now I can feel the wind in the trees! "Byway," pastel, 12.5 x 11 inches. You can see and read the backstory here.

destiny

Today is Wednesday...my painting for-sure day. And, except for a trip to the airport and a dog walk, I've been in the studio at both of my easels since 8:30 this morning - about 6 hours. Now I'm tired. This morning I finished a little pastel study for a larger work in oil.

Color Study for Destiny  | pastel  |  7 x 5 inches

destiny |ˈdestinē|     noun, the events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future: she was unable to control her own destiny.

In the afternoon, using the study as a guide, I started an 18 x 18 inch oil. More about that one later, probably on my Art Journal Blog.

At the end of the month, my life as I know it will be over as we move into Jay's retirement. Last time, his retirement lasted 6 weeks then he was back in the industry due to customer appreciation. We went into business together and my life changed from art full-time to accounts payable and accounts receivable. After several years, he sold our inventory and went to work for another company, same industry. Jay has been in fiberglass, resin and carbon fiber sales for 50 years!  This retirement, he'll be focused on making our planned home a reality. Then what? Exciting times!

On a roll or spinning my wheels...

I worked at K2 Skis for sixteen years, four 10-hour days per week. Wednesdays were my own.

Now, as we move forward to build our new home, all days are filled with everything except making art. Even the business of art takes a lot of time. The past week has been spent rotating art at three of my galleries, shipping art sold online, and setting up the new year in QuickBooks. I want my Wednesdays back.

This morning I received a nice email comment on my painting "Summer Morning." I remember being "on a roll" last summer when I painted a dozen small pastels.

"Summer Morning," pastel, 7x7 inches

Today is Wednesday. I have my painting apron on. I may only "spin my wheels" but at least I'm in the driver's seat today to make art.

Happy New Year

social acceptance?

A few days ago I was listening to NPR and a feature about social acceptance. I've been thinking about that and about my art. Is my desire to communicate my vision of a scene really the need for acceptance by others?  What would I paint if I had no contact with the outside world? What would my work look like if I was truly painting for myself? And, who are the others?

Other artists: I love getting feedback from them on Facebook; they applaud experimentation and abstraction.

My galleries: Sales indicate that traditional, more realistic work is appreciated by the majority of purchasers. Receiving monetary appreciation feels good.

 

As I look back on my work of 2013, one of my favorites is "Ambiance," a 6x6 inch pastel. And, as I look forward to 2014, I will strive to paint the truth from my heart.

Christmas is over!

Christmas night, the lights on the top half of the tree burned out. I took it as a sign that Christmas was over. The tree is gone and the treasured-memory ornaments are carefully stored away. Left over  Christmas cookies are in the freezer awaiting game day here with kids and grandsons on New Years Eve. Annie is recovering from all the excitement and our plans for the coming year are progressing. Here is the floor plan for my new studio.

waiting days to Christmas

aahhh...heat! Love the new furnace. And, the sugar ants that came in from the cold to hang out with us are gone. Everything is coming together for our Christmas Eve family gathering here. I have rearranged the studio to make space for overflow from our little house. If all goes as planned, this will be the last of our 26 Christmases here and next year I'll be blogging from the lake. These are the waiting days before Christmas. My shopping is done because I won't join the throngs in stores and it is too late for free shipping for online purchases.  But, it is too early to make the last of the cookies and pies, clean the house or set the table.

This is a good time to write my annual Letter to Mama - she passed away in 2004. This year, I will tell her that I threw out all my reference photos and am painting from memory, or my "minds-eye." I threw them out so I wouldn't be tied to specifics of a scene. I have a tendency to be too literal so when using crisp, clear reference photos; I end up in a struggle between what I see in the photo and what I see in my mind's-eye.

An avid picture-taker with her little Kodak Instamatic camera, Mama will be glad to know that I still have her box of photos. Her photos are very bad...and I mean that in the best way! They are blurry and usually have me guessing what it was she was aiming for. But, they are scenes through Mama's eyes and that idea really appeals to me for a series of paintings. Here is the first one I'm interpreting: it appears to be flooding in our home town, Auburn, Washington.

I'm using a glazing technique for this oil painting. That means drying time between each painting session. The final step will be to add some detail and hard edges to this amorphous foundation but right now I'm working with value, temperature and mood.

goodbye dusty noisy

Two weeks ago the refrigerator repairman was here. Last night the furnace repairman broke the news to us that our dusty, noisy old furnace has passed away.

Annie and I will be cozy in the house with the wood fire for a few days until the new furnace is installed - just in time for grandsons to visit for a couple days.

Plans for the new house on the lake are getting final tweaks, Jay is making the annual baklava for his customers and I am working hard to paint my best so my new easel doesn't wish it had been delivered to some other artist.

out of the closet

During all the years of growing up in the little house on "M" Street in Auburn, Washington, there was a small, two-drawer chest in my parents' closet under the stairs.  As a teen-ager, in a effort to make our old furniture more modern, I did bad things to it. I painted the chest brown and took the hack saw to my wrought iron bed to make it into a Hollywood bed frame. For these and all my sins, I am heartily sorry.

When we moved Mama to an assisted-living apartment, the little chest came to live with me in my studio. I apologized to it and stripped away the awful brown paint. Moving furniture around is a favorite pastime of mine but the little chest came to me with only three wooden wheels that screeched in protest so its travel around my studio was limited.

This week, I bought four ball-bearing casters for the chest and placed my French Mistress (why is it called that?) on top. Voila! A new mobile life as my oil painting taboret!

cranky...not cranky

I paint.
The paintings pile up.
I wonder why I am painting new paintings just to pile them upon old paintings.

•  I paint because when I DON'T paint, I get cranky.

•  The paintings pile up. I could forget about this and let my heirs deal with them... but would they end up in garage sales or go into the burn pile with my journals? I would not like that. A better idea is for me to move them on to new homes. So, I just posted these two small pastels on ebay. This will be my first try with art on ebay...we'll see.

Windmist  |  pastel  |  7.5 x 7 inches  

See it on ebay

Afternoon Passage  |  pastel  |  7.5 x 7.5 inches  

See it on ebay

•  I paint new paintings (and pile them on top of old paintings) because when I don't paint, I get cranky.

The Whine Line

A little about the Whine Line...

It began when my brother, my sister and I were caregivers for our aging mother. I took Mama to her appointments for eyes and ears; my brother took her to the diabetes doctor and my sister took care of her bills and filled her meds container at the assisted-living apartment. We kept each other updated by telephone and those conversations usually began, "I'm calling to tell you what your mother did today."  Even at the time, we recognized the telling of our frustrations as amusing. Today, 10 years after Mama's passing, they are treasured memories. In recent years, the Whine Line has been used mostly between we two sisters about our spouses, children and grandchildren. We still laugh a lot about Mama even as we see ourselves becoming her.

Today my sister called me, "I'm calling to ruin your day."  Oh oh...last time she called, I misheard her and thought she said her dog died.

"Oh no, what?"
"I put the Christmas Tree up TODAY."
"Whaaat? December first? What's going on?"
"Well, I made my to-do list for the month and decided to do the items I hated doing the most, first."

And so, HER tree is up and she is moving on to writing the poem she has penned for her immediate family every year for the last 40 years while I'm just beginning to think about December.

I've spent the last several days reading directions for programming my new studio phone. One of its selling features is the ability to block calls. I may have to do that.

The photo above is the cover of our shared birthday book with our faces placed upon Ms. Englebreit's art. More about the birthday book in another post.

giving thanks

When I started this blog, I gave up writing in my personal journals. If I were still at it, on this morning before Thanksgiving Day, I would note what unusual holiday weather we are having in Washington state. Sunny and crisp while much of the rest of the country is suffering wet, cold and wind.

I would write that this will be the last of the twenty-six Thanksgiving dinners we have had in this house and that I am thankful that both daughters and husbands and our two funny, smart grandsons will be with us. I would mention that our two sons can't be here because they will be working at the best jobs for each of them and that I am so thankful for their employment.

I am thankful for my sister and the telephone Whine Line, used throughout the year. That's my sister in the background of the photo above, at my last birthday. The turkey hat is a gift from my teenage grandson. I hope to take headshots this year of each family member wearing the turkey hat.

I am thankful for my health and the health of our family. Thankful for my husband Jay, Annie, friends, a warm, dry house. Thankful for the welcome my little paintings have received on my Daily Paintworks Gallery after my absence of five months. Thankful for the opportunity to make art and for those who support me in that endeavor. And, on and on...

As I write this, I'm getting a little distracted thinking about preparing for Thanksgiving. Today is the day I will make the blackberry pie, the Killer Cranberry sauce (which no one except me really cares about), and cube toast the freezer bread for the turkey stuffing.  I will look again at the brussels sprouts recipe that will be new for this year. Does anyone in this family, except an absent son, and probably the dog, even eat brussels sprouts? Make a list of what needs to be done and when, to make the whole thing come together. Clean the bathrooms. And, the refrigerator repairman is coming today.

To each of you, thank you for reading this blog. I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

Later: oops, apparently I spaced-out on my lattice weaving but I am thankful it didn't overflow.

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, my galleries will be receiving fewer new works and I won't be entering juried shows. That takes the pressure off for painting larger pieces. (More about juried shows in a future post).

But today, I came across a few 7x5 inch oils from earlier this year that I left in the value foundation stage. And, because I'm taking year-end inventory of art supplies, I had to handle each tube of oil paint in my studio. Before I knew it, I found myself squeezing out a basic palette and PAINTING on one of the little foundations. Very fun! A few more tweaks and I'll be able to post this little painting, tentatively titled "Memory Lane," here and on my ART JOURNAL blog.

By the way, I'm once again adding work to my Daily Paintworks Gallery.  If a painting doesn't sell within a week on DPW, I move it to my Etsy Store, BBNewtonART. Today I realized prices on several pieces didn't get updated. Prices are correct now if you'd like to take another look for an inexpensive gift for yourself or a friend.

selfie

Every once in a while, an artist needs a new headshot. Especially me, especially now, because in September, I got my first haircut in 15 years! I thought nothing could be easier than pulling my hair back in a pony-tail. I was wrong. Here is my selfie from this morning, just out of the shower and still wet...this is what my great haircut does. Thank you Bonnie!

all things considered

Just as we look back and remember where we were the day President John F. Kennedy died - I was an art student working as a hairdresser - we also remember 9/11. On that day I was babysitting grandson Noah, celebrating the birth of grandson Elias the day before. All things considered, I would rather be my age right now than that 20 year old art-student-hairdresser or even that new grandmother.

On 9/11/2001 I was also working in colored pencil with good sales that dropped off dramatically as the nation's attention turned elsewhere.  My technique in that medium 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 have to find new homes for it before I move to my new studio.

And so, that brings me to "All Things Considered," a colored pencil work that measures 16.25 x 16.25 inches and will frame with a mat to approximately 24 x 24 inches.  I have selected it to become the first of my collection to go to my Daily Paintworks Gallery online at a drastically reduced price. Please take a look by clicking here.