Jacqueline’s Blog

Watercolor Painting Trip to Italy

Watercolor Painting Trip to Italy

Painting in Italy

I am with a very enthusiastic and fun group of artistic ladies: painting, wine tasting, exploring, laughing, and learning about the rich history of Orvieto Italy. Yesterday we had a fantastic tour of the very impressive Duomo. The labyrinth of caves underneath protects it from earthquakes.  They provided shelter during war times.

Jacqueline Newbold’s Next Watercolor Painting Trip

Join me on my next wonderful watercolor, art, and painting workshop in France. We will be on an artistic journey of creative expression! Our home base will be a charming medieval village in Provence, as we have fun painting and creating art in our watercolor journals.

You will learn to incorporate watercolor and mixed-media techniques.  We will spend a magical time together exploring the area, rich with sights, sounds, and colors – all wonderful inspiration for developing your artistic eye. Our host will be frenchescapade.com. They will provide many delicious meals cooked by a French chef and transportation to painting sites. We will stay in a charming hotel with a little river meandering through the garden.  It also has an outside swimming pool, a hot tub, and a riverside terrace bar all surrounded by impressive mountains. This workshop is available for all levels – beginners and experienced artists are all invited to come along on this delightful trip!

Watercolor Journeys Travel Tips

Watercolor Journeys Travel Tips

Watercolor Journeys Travel Tips

Once in a while, I like to share travel tips for the traveling artist. I call these Watercolor Journeys Travel Tips. I always take a watercolor journal with me when I travel.  I am always looking for some smart, fun travel ideas for my supplies.

This Watercolor Journeys Travel Tips is the Nomad Box Pen Case.  Here is a great zippered bag to hold a lot of art supplies such as pens, pencils, tubes of paint, erasers, small ruler or small scissors.  You can get them at one of my favorite online stores, JetPens for pens and such.  It is a Nomad Box Pen Case.

This stylish, large-capacity pen case opens wide.  It stays open so that you can easily pick out the pens you need.

Features:

  • Wide-opening main compartment that stays open on its own and holds approximately 30 pens.
  • Three pockets inside the main compartment for organizing small items like erasers, lead, and sticky notes.  There is one large mesh pocket and two small fabric pockets.
  • One large outside pocket for frequently-accessed items.
  • A loop on one end for fastening the case to a clip, hanging it from a hook, or for using as a handle.

Artist Jacqueline Newbold enjoys painting life in color!  Her color-filled watercolor paintings capture a moment in time – sunlight on red poppies, the glow of a Tuscan village perched on a mountaintop, or the brilliance of a dramatic Oregon Cascade Mountain sunset.  Jacqueline loves to share her passion for watercolor painting and mixed-media art journaling by teaching in her Art in My Heart private studio, the Art Unraveled Art Retreats in Phoenix, the Art & Soul Retreats in Portland, Oregon, France, and Italy.  She teaches private watercolor lessons, classes and workshops in her private art studio in Bend, Oregon.  Stay tuned for more Watercolor Journeys Travel Tips!

 

Paint the Colorful World of Flora and Fauna.

Paint the Colorful World of Flora and Fauna.

Check out the latest Cloth Paper Scissors latest blog post about an article I wrote for them.  Paint the Colorful World of Flora and Fauna.

Have you taken your art outdoors lately? Whether in a man-made or natural setting, halfway around the globe or in your own backyard, creating en plein air can result in wonderful artwork inspired by the world around you. Artist Jacqueline Newbold is often inspired by nature for her mixed-media watercolor creations. In this article from our July/August 2014 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine, Jacqueline shares her easy, stress-free technique for drawing and painting colorful flora and fauna.

Paint the Colorful World of Flora and Fauna
Paint the Colorful World of Flora and Fauna

 

 

Summer sunshine and blue skies bring out tiny creatures—ladybugs, dragonflies, frogs, and more. Flowers, birds, and animals are out in full force, too. Take a closer look at the wonderful world of flora and fauna surrounding you, and you may be surprised at their color-filled lives.

My interest in flora and fauna started in college when I was majoring in botanty

Along with my plant studies, I took an entomology course (the study of insects) to help me get over my fear of little creepy, crawling bugs. What I discovered, with the help of a magnifying glass, was a fascinating world of insects cloaked in the most amazing array of colorful combinations. I saw bold stripes of black and gold, coats of gorgeous metallic turquoise and copper, and delightful polka dots.  These tiny creature had shimmering translucent fairy-like wings.  These were just a few of the wonderful hues and patterns I found. Discovering this amazing tiny world of color did get me over my fear of insects.  It continues to give me inspiration and great subject matter for my watercolor journals.

When I first began adding flora and fauna to my journals, the drawing process intimidated me.  I wanted to accurately depict these things.

Over time I came up with an easy, stress-free technique

I convert flora and fauna into a series of connected ovals, circles, ellipses, and rectangular shapes, and then fine-tune the shapes as needed. It is much more manageable to think of them in this way. Now I enjoy drawing, painting, and adding my field observations of these delightful creatures to my journals.

For more see the whole article and step out paintings at the Cloth Paper Scissors Blog.

Paint the Colorful World of Flora and Fauna

The Creative Process

The Creative Process

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 the Italian light, Orvieto, Italy.  My smaller journal 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 20 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.

in order to compensate for the not so great watercolor paper I tear 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). 

Paint, Finding Inspiration

Paint, Finding Inspiration

Artists can get a little bogged down once in awhile and need the inspiration to paint

Sometimes artists need the inspiration to paint.  Maybe it is because we tend to paint the same subject matter, use the same color scheme, or feel like we are not growing in our art.  One way to get a jump start on the new day ahead is to browse through the latest issue of the Art Journaling magazine.  It is always filled with colorful, edgy, creative art.  I am excited to say that my Baja Journal is featured in the latest issue of Art Journaling!

Paint with Art Journaling
I was published in Art Journaling

This is the cover of the new Art Journaling magazine published by Stampington and Co.  I love seeing the brightly colored orange flower against the powder blue background.  It is so simply painted and with the added splashes of white paint, the artist makes it look loose and lively.  Why not try painting this flower to get you started on a colorful day!  Simple, colorful and fun.

Another idea for finding inspiration is to paint along with an art DVD.  I have several available for purchase with the online shop at the Artful Gathering the online art retreat.  Check it out!

Art Journaling Magazine!

Art Journaling Magazine!

Art Journaling Summer 2018 Magazine Available July 1st!

Just out is the new ART JOURNALING MAGAZINE.  The new Stampington Magazine is available for purchase.  My article, Baja Journey Journal, is about including flora and fauna in my watercolor art journals.  I show how I use field notes to collect information about the birds and animals that I observe.  The field notes are helpful to my paintings and drawings.

DVD FOR WATERCOLOR ARTISTS – Watercolor Fun!

DVD FOR WATERCOLOR ARTISTS – Watercolor Fun!

A Jacqueline Newbold DVD Watercolor Fun

Take your watercolor painting skills to the next level. You will paint along with Jacqueline as she shows how she paints several paintings from start to finish.

Composition, glazing, edge control, layering, adding darks, and self-critique is some of the watercolor techniques she will cover in this step-by-step painting workshop.

Jacqueline shows step-by-step how to paint with waterolor
Join Jacqueline Newbold in some watercolor fun!

Included will be how to paint loose and how to fix problem areas. Each painting will start with a short “warm-up” exercise. This is a great workshop for beginner and advanced painters that want to improve their watercolor painting skills.

This DVD is a great gift for your watercolor artist!

DVD for the Beginner Watercolor Artist

DVD for the Beginner Watercolor Artist

WATERCOLOR TOOLBOX is the perfect DVD for the absolute watercolor beginner:  how to set up your palette, all about brushes, paper, paints, and more!

Watercolor Toolbox for Beginners
Watercolor Toolbox for Beginners

DVD Beginner Watercolor Artist by Jacqueline Newbold.  Explore techniques to get you started on your artistic journey, you will learn the correct way to set up a palette and care for your watercolor art supplies as well as a variety of basic watercolor techniques.

All your examples can be put into a file or journal creating a toolbox for future reference. This workshop is the perfect introduction to watercolor painting!

How to Paint a Palm Tree with Watercolors

How to Paint a Palm Tree with Watercolors

How to paint a palm tree with watercolors

Anyone heading to a tropical paradise this summer?  Are you taking your paints and watercolor palette?  Chances are you may want to paint a palm tree.  I made this video about how to paint a palm tree with watercolors.  I use my watercolor paints and a sea sponge.  Even if you are not traveling to a tropical island, this is a fun exercise for a summer day!

Inspiration from Nature

Inspiration from Nature

Where to Find Inspiration for Painting

An inspiration for painting can come at any moment.  I always take my camera with me.  I never know what beauty will show up and inspire me to get my watercolor supplies out and paint. Lately, I have been having fun painting nature:  birds, feathers, foxes, bunnies… on a recent hike and morel hunting mission, I am inspired to paint mushrooms!  Today!

Where do you find inspiration for painting?

“Nature” is what we see—
The Hill—the Afternoon—
Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—
Nay—Nature is Heaven—
Nature is what we hear—
The Bobolink—the Sea—
Thunder—the Cricket—
Nay—Nature is Harmony—
Nature is what we know—
Yet have no art to say—
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.

Emily Dickinson

Inspirations for Painting Watercolor