Blog

Yes, I know that it has been several weeks since I posted a blog entry. But, hey, who wants to be indoors in front of a computer monitor when you could be out in the summer breezes hunting for new treasures?
Here is a collage of recent photos. I have been gathering enough material to work from all winter in my studio. I will tell you the stories behind them some rainy day. Right now, I want to go back outside and enjoy the last dregs of summer....

NEWSLETTER Summer 2009 No. 2

Greetings from the mountains of western Maine!

I just got back from some time spent with my daughter and granddaughters, so I am happily back in my studio again. Midsummer is in full swing here. The meadow is full of black-eyed Susans, evening primrose, and ripe blueberries. I have been making regular visits to the pond next door with a drawing student of mine, where we have been watching and drawing the wood ducks and a young green heron.

Tiger swallowtails still continued to hold my interest for most of July. I spent most of the month on a larger watercolor of a swallowtail on the lilacs. If you would like to see photos of it in progress, the saga of its painting is told in my blog on the Fine Art America website (at http://betsy-bell.fineartamerica.com). It is a larger and more complex painting than I have done yet in watercolor.

I am pleased with how well the overall composition worked out. My goal was to make the butterfly appear to float in a three-dimensional space, and what I did worked the way I had hoped it would. I also designed it with a lot of strong diagonal lines so that the whole painting would have a fine feeling of motion.

I purposely broke rules doing this one, and my gamble paid off. For one thing, you should never, ever put the focal point of a painting like a bull’s-eye in the center of a painting. In this painting the area of highest contrast is at the butterfly’s head, where it is silhouetted against the sky. And that is dead center in the middle of the square. But it works, because the butterfly itself is so clearly the subject of the painting, and it is all on the left side of the composition, moving toward the right.

The other thing to NOT do is to keep the foreground so separate from the background that you use totally different colors to paint each. Generally speaking, you need to mix background colors into the foreground, and vice versa, so that the whole painting will hang together. But I didn’t want the painting to hang together. I wanted the butterfly to really be suspended above the background. And it worked, because the butterfly is purposely painted with warm colors, sharp edges, and high contrast, while the background is painted with cooler colors, soft edges and mid-range values.

I have one more tiger swallowtail painting that is still in progress. You will have to wait until it is finished before I unveil it. I will only say that it is a 20” diameter round oil painting on canvas, and leave it at that.

I spent a little time on wild strawberries this month, too. Around here they ripen in late June or early July. They are so tiny, but so tasty! I put a strawberry plant in a pot in early June and have watched it and drawn it and photographed it as it bloomed and grew. Right now it is here on my work desk, and has put out many runners with tiny plants on them. When I put it back outside, it will be a whole patch of strawberries. I have a page in my study book on strawberries now for future reference, and have also completed one graphite botanical drawing of a plant in bloom.

My hardback study book is an essential part of the art-making process for me. That’s where I really look closely at something and work out how to draw it accurately. Sometimes that even involves using a magnifying glass or microscope. After that I use the drawings and notes in it for reference material for finished drawings and paintings.

This month’s free art card is a miniature version of the swallowtail painting. Art cards (or ACEO’s) are a collectible form of miniature art the same size as baseball trading cards. Print this one on good stiff photo paper, cut it out, and start your own collection, if you wish. I give you permission to print or reproduce this image as you choose. (If you are reading this in my FAA blog, and want a free copy of this ACEO, email me and I will send it to you.)

For more information on “Swift River Treasures,” my art-making process, or recent work, see my Fine Art America site at http://betsy-bell.fineartamerica.com. You can also search for me on www.fineartamerica.com as Betsy Gray Bell under the “Artists” button in the top menu bar. (The drop-down box under it has a search feature.) Fine Art America offers a print-on-demand service, including matting, framing, and shipping. They sell greeting cards, too, and several of my works posted there are available in that format.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go and do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive. (Gil Bailie)

I hope that you enjoy looking at the art as much as I have enjoyed making it! I would love to hear from you, too, so please do reply with comments.

Betsy

My study book is an essential part of my art-making process. It’s not a sketchbook; “sketch” implies a quick glance and a fast drawing. My study book is where I go slow and deep with each treasure I find, learning about its structure and studying the forms that compose it. I draw it carefully from several angles. Sometimes I get out a magnifying glass to get a closer look, or even the microscope.

I use it as a reference work for my finished drawings and paintings, and occasionally extract drawings from it to use in digital work. The book itself is hardbound, 8.5 by 11.5 inches, with acid-free drawing paper in it. The drawings are primarily pen and ink with colored pencil. I have been using a calligraphy pen for the titles recently, in a medieval uncial hand (Shaeffer medium nib). Sometimes I add written notes or observations to the pages.

Shown here is the page I have been working on about wild strawberries. You can see the flower, buds, developing strawberries, and careful drawings of the leaves and plants. The drawing of the whole plant at the bottom of the page was my preliminary study for the graphite drawing I just finished.

I will be having a solo exhibition at Frost Farm Gallery in Norway, Maine in October 2009.
The exhibit is titled "Swift River Treasures: Original Naturalist Works." The subject matter is drawn from the Swift River valley where I live, combining my passion for making art with my enjoyment of being an amateur naturalist. This will be the debut of the Treasures collection. None of the originals from this series (viewable here in my Swift River Treasures gallery) have been shown in public yet. I have posted the artist statement about this collection here in my Fine Art America blog, if you are interested.
The opening reception will be Friday, October 2, from 5 to 8 pm. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served, and live music will be provided by Squintwood. (Squintwood is Brad Hooper, and you can learn more about him at www.squintwood.com.) The exhibit and sale will continue through October 31.
Frost Farm Gallery is owned by Bruce and Adrienne Little. They offer a wonderfully diverse collection of matted and framed vintage and antique prints. Their gallery space is intimate and friendly. They also do custom framing and digital restoration on the premises. They specialize in photogravure, letterpress, and contemporary and stone lithography.
They are open year-round, Monday - Friday, 8 am to 8 pm, Saturday & Sunday, Noon to 8 pm, and always open by appointment. They are located at 272 Pikes Hill Road in Norway. For more information about Frost Farm, you can see their page here on the Fine Art America site or their website at www.frostfarmgallery.com.

What follows here is the text from my first summer 2009 newsletter. The image is the free art card that came with the newsletter. If you would like to be on my mailing list (I send the newsletter out about once a month) or receive the free art card pictured here, send me a message at bgbell@gmail.com.


NEWSLETTER Summer 2009 No. 1

Greetings from the mountains of western Maine!

I have the deep joy of living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. For me, the art-making process is a way of capturing the beauty here and sharing it with you. You can’t go for a walk with me in the early morning, hearing the bird songs and collecting the treasures that you find. But I can make art about the treasures that I find, and let you share in the delight.

This summer marks the beginning of a new body of work that I am calling “Swift River Treasures,” combining my passion for art with my love of being an amateur naturalist. I started it in May with the bloodroot flowering in our backyard.

Bloodroot has a special place in my heart because it is the first wildflower I see every spring. It is not only beautiful, but a potent medicinal herb in the right hands. Bloodroot is well named. When I accidentally knocked the bud off of one of the plants with my clumsy boot, I was aghast at the gory results. The sap is brilliant red-orange. If you are into war paint, this is your plant.

My bloodroot offerings to you are a round miniature oil painting of a single flower, a botanical illustration style watercolor of the whole plant, and some mixed media works.
You can see them by going to my page on the Fine Art America website. The link is http://betsy-bell.fineartamerica.com.

And for June, what else but tiger swallowtail butterflies? They hang out around the lilacs all month long. They are our largest butterflies here, with striking black and yellow tiger stripes. (For my story about catching a tiger, see the entry “Captive Tiger” in my Fine Art America blog.) I am still making art about the swallowtails, and just starting an ambitious watercolor composition of one on the lilacs. I will post entries in my blog from time to time about how it is going.

I have attached a file of a tiger swallowtail art card here for you to print. Art cards (or ACEO’s) are a collectible form of miniature art the same size as a baseball trading card. Print this one on good stiff photo paper, cut it out, and start your own collection, if you wish. I give you permission to print or reproduce this image as you choose.

For more information on “Swift River Treasures,” my artmaking process, or recent work, see my Fine Art America site. Either follow the link above, or search for me on www.fineartamerica.com as Betsy Gray Bell under the “Artists” button in the top menu bar. (The drop-down box under it has a search feature.)

Fine Art America offers a print-on-demand service, matting, framing, and shipping. They have just recently introduced a line of greeting cards, too, so now you can buy paintings as individual 5” by 7” cards or packs of cards. Some artists wouldn’t stoop to such lowly forms of reproduction, but personally I really enjoy seeing my work in print! For me it’s all about sharing the art, so the more people I can share it with, the happier I am.

This month’s Collector’s Tip is from Bruce and Adrienne Little, owners of Frost Farm Gallery in Norway, Maine. Caution: just because your artwork is framed with conservation glass, that does not give you the liberty to hang it in direct sunlight. The sun’s ultraviolet rays will cause irreversible damage to your artwork. Also harmful are the ultraviolet rays emitted by traditional and new fluorescent lightbulbs.

In each newsletter I will be summarizing for you what I have doing in my studio, and including some images and links to my art and blog sites, as well as stories, tips for art collectors, and miscellaneous information about art and nature. At the desk in my studio is where my life all comes together, where I touch eternity most deeply. Thanks for joining me in the journey. I hope that you enjoy looking at the art as much as I have enjoyed making it! I would love to hear from you, too, so please do reply with comments.
Remember, Souls who follow their hearts thrive. (Proverbs 13:19 in The Message, Peterson)

Betsy

I couldn’t look at this painting for a few days. I had to just set it aside and ignore it. Now I am looking at it and thinking that it is done. All that remains is to add my signature to it, and that always happens last, when I “sign off” on a work.
I purposely broke rules doing this one, and I think it came out all right. For one thing, never, never put the focal point of a painting bullseye in the center. One of the main ways to draw attention to a focal point is to make it the area of highest contrast, where the darkest tones meet the lightest tones, with the sharpest edges. In this painting, that is at the butterfly’s head, where it is silhouetted against the sky. And that is dead center in the middle of the square. But it works, because the butterfly itself is so clearly the subject of the painting, and it is all on the left side of the composition.
The other thing to NOT do is to keep the foreground so separate from the background that you use totally different colors to paint each. Generally speaking, you need to mix background colors into the foreground, and vice versa, so that the whole painting will hang together. But I didn’t want the painting to hang together. I wanted the butterfly to really be suspended above the background. And it worked, because the butterfly is purposely painted with warm colors, sharp edges, and high contrast, while the background is painted with cooler colors, soft edges and mid-range values.
What I don’t like about the painting is that some parts of the background are really overworked. The ultramarine blue pigment tends to look a little grainy instead of smooth. And I really did labor over some parts of the background, painting them in and then washing out what I had done and redoing it. My Arches paper is fairly forgiving, but the washes could be much smoother and less muddy if I had painted them once and left them alone. I am getting better at the watercolors as I go, anyway.
What I really like best about this painting is the feeling of movement, and the impression that the butterfly is really flying in a 3-dimensional space. I like that I painted it by mixing the colors in layers on the paper, too. It gives the color a fine luminous quality.
All in all, I am pleased with it, and I think that I am ready to sign it.

Now I have the ultramarine blue over the burnt sienna, so my tiger’s stripes are black. The burnt sienna shows a little at the edges in spots, which I like. It makes the black more interesting. I used a dry brush for the butterfly’s fur. (Did you know that butterflies are furry?) I still see a couple of small places that I want to tweak on the tiger, but basically he is finished.
The next stage will be to put the final touches on the tiger, and finish the lilac leaves in the foreground. Then I will step back and take a looooooong look at it, and decide if I need to adjust values or colors in any area. We are getting close to the home stretch now.

This photo shows the next stage in the painting. I have scrubbed out the lilacs a little with a dilute Winsor violet wash and a stencil brush. I want the flowers to be just a little out of focus, so they stay in the background.

And I have started the butterfly’s black tiger stripes. I don’t like using a black pigment straight out of the tube when I need black. Black pigment is black because it reflects almost no light back to your eyes. It looks dead next to the other colors. A mixed black still has the particles of the individual colors on the paper, so it looks more lively, even if it appears black.

I am mixing my black in this painting by putting down a layer of burnt sienna followed by a layer of ultramarine blue. That makes a very satisfactory black that you can push toward warm or cool very easily. You can see here that I have put the first layer of burnt sienna on the wings. At the upper left corner I have tried a small patch of ultramarine blue on top to see how the color is. I think it will do just fine. The next step will be to put the finishing touches on the burnt sienna layer, and then start laying down the blue on top of it.

I really wanted the butterfly to appear to float above the flowers and leaves in the background, and it looks like I am succeeding. Keeping the background cooler in color, lighter in value, and slightly blurred will do the trick. I also am pleased with how the composition is working out so far. I included a lot of strong diagonal lines so that the whole painting would have a feeling of motion.

I have begun a watercolor painting of the tiger swallowtail on the lilacs. It is 12’ by 12’ in size. I am working from a photo that I took last summer. In the two-part image here you can see the painting on my desk on the left, with the first layer of paint on it. In the image on the right you can see it with the second round of glazes applied. The colors are deepened and more details added. You can see my reference photo on the wall behind the painting. What you can’t see is that I also have my computer on the desk to the right with the original photo up on the screen.

I am trying something new here. One of the characteristics of watercolor paint is the transparency of the paint. It is almost like working with stained glass, where the white paper provides the white in the painting and also reflects the light back through the paint to your eye. I have two options when it comes to mixing the colors. I can mix them on my palette, which is the most common approach. Or I can use pure color straight from the tubes and mix the colors by layering washes of transparent paint, one color over another.

In this painting I have chosen the latter approach. The colors will hopefully be more brilliant, if I am careful. I must choose paint colors whose pigments are transparent (some pigments are more opaque than others). And it helps if they are colors that stain the paper well too, so that applying succeeding layers of color does not lift the layers underneath.

The leaves, for example, have layers of sap green, phthalo blue (a very greenish blue), and lemon yellow. The lilac flowers are mostly Winsor violet, with touches of permanent rose. The first layer on the wings was lemon yellow. I followed this up with some Winsor yellow deep in the darker areas and a touch of Winsor violet to shade it.

I will keep posting photos of my progress as I go, so you can check back once in a while and see how I am doing with it. Watercolor painting is always a risky business. I am hoping to be able to get the color I want without overworking the paper. Let’s see if I can do it….

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I charge a base fee plus extra for versals (large capital letters) or embellishments. Contact me for pricing and more information.