Jacqueline’s Blog

“Color is my day-long obsession” Color Choice Confessions of a Traveling Artist, PART I

“Color is my day-long obsession” Color Choice Confessions of a Traveling Artist, PART I

“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment. To such an extent indeed that one day, finding myself at the deathbed of a woman who had been and still was very dear to me, I caught myself in the act of focusing on her temples and automatically analyzing the succession of appropriately graded colors which death was imposing on her motionless face.”   Claude Monet

My Daniel Smith Metal Palette

 

I can relate to this quote and it often runs through my head.  It was running through my head as I prepared my palette for my upcoming trip to paint poppies in Provence.  The torment is which colors to bring along and which ones will be left home!  But first I had to decide which palette to take.  My very favorite metal Daniel Smith watercolor box can hold up to 24 colors in 1/2 pans!  Or I can switch some out, and bring full pans of the colors that I use the most.  It just doesn’t seem to hold enough paint for a 2 week trip with painting everyday. Sadly, I chose to not use this one.

My next favorite palette and the one I recommend to all my students.  It is the Heritage palette.   I love it because it has a lid and a gasket which lends itself very well for travel.  Also it is very affordable.  It also has a removable plastic tray that I slip a painted reference card with the colors that are on my palette.  

Heritage Brand, also know as the Mijello Fusion Air Tight Palette
My tiniest of all!

Then there is the little palette that I pull out on the airplane.  Ok, ok now you know that I am obsessive!  I can’t go that long without painting!  I love painting on those long plane rides.  I mean, what else are you going to do? I bought mine in France but there are lots of adorable mini palettes out there to choose from.

 There are also some great travel brushes that will fit inside the mini palettes.  My palette came with the tiniest of brushes and I have since added a Daniel Smith travel brush.

  Do you have a favorite traveling palette?  What is important to you when you travel and paint?   Which is more important to you – the amount of paint you can bring or the variety of color? 

Next I will be blogging about how I chose the colors on my palette.

Oh the agony of it all!

The Creative Process, A Peak inside my Empty Watercolor Journal

The Creative Process, A Peak inside my Empty Watercolor Journal

Do you enjoy the anticipation of an upcoming vacation or trip?  Do you practice packing your suitcase with your favorite clothes?  To me the journey begins way before walking out the door, suitcase in hand.  I love preparing my art supplies for my travels.  Planning for my upcoming trip, Painting Poppies in Provence, France, I decided to take two watercolor journals.  (Two spots just opened up on this trip to Provence, so let me know if you want to join us!) One is a 14 x 10 Arches Watercolor Book with 140 pound Arches paper.  The other smaller one is a Strathmore 400 Field Watercolor Sketchbook.  For years I have had a love/hate relationship with the Strathmore field book.  Every other piece of (crappy) watercolor page alternates with a piece of drawing paper.  This drawing paper is where my mixed-media imagination soars and I have probably filled at least 10 of these journals with art from my travels.

Pages in my journal prepared for the trip

First page in my new journal with inspiring quote.

Well, this year I decided to quit complaining about the (crappy) watercolor paper and tore my Strathmore Sketchbook apart.  I kept the metal coil and the black hard covers.  I  filled it with Arches 140 paper alternating with Strathmore 400 series drawing paper.  I prepared the drawing papers with colorful backgrounds and finished the first page with an inspiring quote for my upcoming trip: “To Paint…. to travel…. the combine the two is to celebrate life”  (Jack Brouwer). 

The cover of my new “Strathmore” journal now filled with Arches watercolor paper!

Stay tuned for my upcoming article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine’s special edition, PAGES, on how to prepare these your jouranl pages with mixed-media and watercolor.
How do you prepare for your upcoming journeys?  I would love to hear what special techniques and ideas you have!

“Spring in Central Oregon” – Featured Painting

“Spring in Central Oregon” – Featured Painting

Spring in Central Oregon, watercolor by Jacqueline Newbold

The Assistance League of Bend, Oregon picked my watercolor painting, Spring in Central Oregon as their 2011 Kitchen Kaleidoscope Fund Raiser Event featured painting.  This fun event will be June 18, 2011 and will include a tour of seven beautiful homes located in North Rim and Northwest Crossing.  The Assistance League of Bend is an all volunteer, nonprofit organization consisting of a dedicated group of women with a passion for supporting the local community. Save the date for this fun event with a such a worthy cause!

A Day in Uzes, A Peek inside my Watercolor Journal

A Day in Uzes, A Peek inside my Watercolor Journal

If you are ever in the south of France, be sure to spend an afternoon in the quiet little town of Uzes.  Park your car and walk to the old town center.  There you will find a peaceful cobbled stone square with a fountain, cafes and filtered sunlight sparkling through the Plane trees.  I was lucky enough to be able to sit for awhile and capture this scene in my watercolor journal. 
I am excited to tell you that I will be teaching at the CREATE Chicago Mixed Media Retreat in August.  Registration opened today!  I will be teaching a watercolor class on how to successfully mix colors, called Rainbow Studies, as well as a mixed media class on creating interactive components in your watercolor journals – Flips, Flaps and Fold-outs.  I would love to meet some of you in person!

Featured Artist at the Red Chair Gallery

Featured Artist at the Red Chair Gallery

This is me (Jacqueline) in front of my new paintings.

Art Hop night in Bend, Oregon was a fun event.  It was our first warm day in months and downtown Bend was the place to be! I was honored to be the Featured Artist for the Red Chair Gallery, located on the corner of Bond and Oregon Street in the historic O’Kane building.  My paintings will be up for the month of April.

Little Color Studies

Little Color Studies

I have been finalizing my palette colors for my trip to Provence, France.  I thought I would use my color wheel and do some quick, small color studies to see if I am loving the watercolors on my travel palette.  Here are two that I worked on today.

I have to record the colors that I use because I will forget what they were.  This is a good way to make a record of your favorite color combination.  Why not start a little notebook to keep your studies in.

What a great week (or was it 2) – Join me for Bend’s Art Hop, April 1, 2011 (NO FOOLING)

What a great week (or was it 2) – Join me for Bend’s Art Hop, April 1, 2011 (NO FOOLING)

Well I have had a busy week!  First, I was at an art retreat in the Columbia River Gorge – Menucha.  Complete with bunk rooms, home cooking and art instruction from 9 a.m. until bedtime.  Everything was fabulous!  The (way too much) food, the art teachers and especially my roomies, Sydney and Bernice from Portland, Oregon were all more than I had ever expected.  I loved getting to know my roomies!  The fist night I was a bit worried when I came into my room and they were already snuggled up in their beds, lights off.  The next night they did stay up a little later and we chatted into the night comparing art journaling ideas. 

Then I came home to a flurry of activity getting ready to the the Red Chair Gallery’s Featured Artist for the month of April.  I was a tad stressed that everything (paintings and jewelry) had to be in by Sunday, March 27th.  But then, you know, when I dropped everything off and helped organized and went home on Sunday, I felt a huge relief and have had a great week not worrying about my show. 

Lavender Fields

Painting the Plants of Greece: Monkshood

Painting the Plants of Greece: Monkshood

Monkshood
Part of what I love about watercolor journaling is that it engages all my senses.  In order to paint a flower, like the Monkshood, I use my sight to tell me colors, shapes and value, but I am also experiencing the sounds and feeling the warm breeze along  the hillside. I also love that it takes me to new, as well as familiar, places.  I look for different ways to represent my life journey.  It a wonderful way to slow down and savor the moment.  I look forward to sharing this experience with you in Greece!  There are lots of techniques that I can show you that even a beginner to watercolor painting will return home an artist.  If you would like more information on how to join me on a Watercolor Journaling in Greece, please contact the American College of Healthcare Sciences.  The class is May 27 – June 2, 2011.

The Stylish Blogger Award…… and the winners are……

The Stylish Blogger Award…… and the winners are……

Laure Ferlita, on her Painted Thoughts Blog, honored me and surprised me with the “Stylish Blogger Award!” Laure lives in Florida and is a very talented watercolor artiest and enjoys sharing her knowledge on her blog as well as with her imaginary watercolor trips (painting classes online). Please stop by and check her out.  Thank you, Laure!
As you may or may not know, (I didn’t know) these awards always come with a “to-do” list and this one includes linking back to the giver, listing 7 things you don’t know about me and passing the award on to others. 
Here are 7 things you don’t know about me (do you really care?  I am going to pretend you do).
  1. I love salt!  I am a salt snob.  My dining table has little bowls of red, black, green salts from around the world.  Some are Hawaiian volcanic salts, some are colored with bamboo leaf extracts.  But my favorite salt is the French, Fleur de sel, which is the hand harvested “flower” of the salt crystal.
  2. I planned a watercolor painting trip in 2009 to Provence, France and it was a wonderful trip.  Everyone loved the hotel, the painting, the wine, the camaraderie…. The worse thing that happened, happened to me.  My purse was stolen with lots of money, my passport, my credit cards and basically any way of paying for all the things I was responsible for as well as all my identity.  This happened the day the students arrived!
  3. I was almost kidnapped when living in Greece in the early 1960s.  While playing outside, a man drove up on a motorcycle and offered me a ride.  I really wanted to go!  I told him that I had to go ask my mom and when she came out he was gone.  
  4. I never took an art class until I was in my 30s.
  5. My first art class was a watercolor class.  I just wanted to paint.  If I had known you had to draw something first, I never would have taken that class.  
  6. I was born in Japan.
  7. My husband doesn’t know I blog.
Well enough about me!  Here is the exciting part.  I am passing this award to the following wonderful blogs:

A wonderful and noble blog about return vintage photos to their families
Stunning and inspiring watercolor journals 
Everything Provence!  Beautiful and full of interesting information about Provence
Beautiful art, beautiful blog
A great writer, fun to read, and she has a Jack Russell
Amazing drawings, great journals
Art journaling to the max!  Full of energy and excitement.  She makes fabulous letter stamps too.
Very painterly watercolors, fun read
Great examples of watercolor journals and fun drawings
 
To recipients of the Stylish Blogger Award:
1. add the award picture to your blog
2. thank and link back to the person who awarded it to you
3. share seven (7) things about yourself
4. pass this award up to 15 other creative bloggers
Olivier, 26 Euro: a New Watercolor and Mixed Media Painting

Olivier, 26 Euro: a New Watercolor and Mixed Media Painting

I just had fun painting this little square watercolor with a touch of mixed media painting of these little olive trees.  I saw them in the outside market in Provence.  They were in growing in beautiful terracotta pots.  I used gold acrylic paint for the lettering and lifted out the pattern with a stencil.