"Harmony" Juried in the 41st Annual Arts of the Terrace Juried Art Show and was Awarded Second Place!

I can smell the rain! Autumn is almost here and it's time for the 41st Annual Arts of the Terrace Juried Art Show at the Mountlake Terrace Library Complex! This year my new graphite drawing, Harmony, was selected in the Drawing, Painting and Prints category!  Also excited to learn that Harmony was awarded Second Place! 

Harmony© Barbara A. Freeman
  Graphite and Mixed Media on Claybord  12" x 9"

The show runs from September 21st through October 5th, at the Mountlake Terrace Library Complex, 23300 58th Avenue West in Mountlake Terrace. (map)  The show will be open to the public starting September 21st through October 5th, 2019.  The show will be up for two weeks, hope you get a chance to see it.  I'll be at the show on Sunday, September 22 from 3 to 5 so stop in and say Hi!  I'd love to meet you!  Otherwise, you can catch the show during library hours...

Mountlake Terrace Library Hours:

Monday - Thursday: 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Friday - Saturday: 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

Sunday: 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Arts of the Terrace is one of the major juried art shows held in the Pacific Northwest and attracts top artists from throughout the region.  Always a great show!

Harmony© Barbara A. Freeman

  Graphite and Mixed Media on Claybord  12" x 9" - Framed

Harmony has been slow in coming together.  I've had this image in my head for quite sometime as one in a new series.  My first attempt went really well until I was ready to spray varnish on it.  I really hate that part as I  am not the best at spraying anything!  I don't know if it was too humid or the varnish was old, or what?  Somehow I managed to spray it unevenly and a large area too heavily which ran.  After much screaming (to myself), I waited a few days to be sure it couldn't be saved. It couldn't!  So, I decided to start it over and just enjoy the process.  I ended up expanding the trees and adding darker values which I think made it stronger than the first go round.  However, I was a wreck when it was finished and time to seal it.  This time I used the gloss varnish even though I prefer the satin finish and after a few coats, it proved acceptable!  Relief!

As always, thank you for reading about my new work and I hope you like Harmony as much as I enjoyed creating it! 

26th Annual Shoreline Arts Festival Coming this Weelend

I will have two drawings in the  26th Annual Shoreline Arts Festival held on June 25th - 26th at the Shoreline Center.  The Shoreline Arts Festival provides two extraordinary days of visual arts, music, hands-on crafts and even a little theater.  Plus there will be delicious food trucks. This creative community event, sponsored by the Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council, is FREE and will be held at the Shoreline Center, 18560 1st Ave NE.

My two works in the juried gallery are Time Passages, and Special Delivery.  The Juried Art Exhibit is one of the highlights of the Arts Festival. It features over 300 artworks from regional artists in 2D, 3D, and photography.

Time Passages  © Barbara A. Freeman

Graphite and Mixed Media   12" x 9"

Time Passages  © Barbara A. Freeman

Graphite and Mixed Media   12" x 9" 

Time Passages is a new work that I was so happy to have finished, framed and placed in a show!  I actually completed this one twice, or so I thought!  On the first finished image I had problems with the fixative, it could not be saved.  Then on the second finished one, the medium streaked due to not being thin enough and my rushing! Grrrr!  Each were on different surfaces, first one done on film, second on claybord.  Thankfully, the third time was the charm and I am really happy with the final piece!  It was drawn on Arches Hot Pressed Art Board which is a smooth, acid-free, archival, durable board.  I had to spend so much time on this image that after awhile, each one took on a life of their own!  I seem to be stuck on the image of a crow as a messenger and of course, trees are almost always in my work!  I did learn some things along the way and hopefully my persistence paid off!

Special Delivery  © Barbara A. Freeman

Graphite and Mixed Media on Film   9 3/4" x 7 5/8"

Special Delivery  © Barbara A. Freeman

Graphite and Mixed Media on Film   9 3/4" x 7 5/8"

This is the third time I have submitted work to the juried show which is located inside the center.   Last year we arrived earlier in the day and wandered around both inside and out to see all the fun things going on.  It's supposed to be a nice weekend weather wise so hope you can come on out to the Shoreline Arts Festival and see all it has to offer! Be sure to have a look at the work in the juried art gallery as well as the artist marketplace, music, theatre and food. There is so much to see and do for the whole family and it's FREE! Hope to see you there!

26th Annual Shoreline Arts Festival

June 25- 26

Sat 10am-6pm  Sun 10am-5pm

Shoreline Center

18560 1^st Ave NE

Shoreline, WA 098155 (map)

Beer Garden - New this year: After their famous Arts Festival Breakfast (8:30am-11:30am), the Shoreline Senior Center will be reopening its doors for festival goers to come in and enjoy cold beer, bar food, and lively entertainment at the first ever Festival Beer Garden. Performances of clog dancing, folk songs, hula, and more can be enjoyed from both the Beer Garden and the adjacent Family Room. Open 1pm to 6pm on Saturday and 1pm to 5pm on Sunday, it will be the perfect place to beat the summer heat!

Thank you for reading about my work and the shows I'm participating in.  Enjoy your summer and be sure to include a visit to some of the many creative art festivals happening this year.  Support to your local artist!

Graphite on Dura-lar Matte Film WIP Completed!

As you will see, this has gone through some changes since my last post. I decided the inside of the tree wasn't happening for me. I didn't like the rocks, they were too distracting, taking away rather than adding interest.

You can see in the photo above, my solution was to darken the interior and rocks, to lessen their importance. Yet, I still didn't think this was how I wanted it to look. I stopped for the night to let it rest and see it with fresh eyes the next day.

Next day, I still didn't like it, so I took a chance and changed it. Getting rid of the rocks and opening up the passage allowed the light to come through. Now there was a place for the rabbits as well as the viewer to escape to.

I continued to clean up some areas and add more darks. The black rabbit needed to have the dark fur smoothed. I then flipped the page over and worked on the underside. Adding some graphite to the underside of the black rabbit made the blacks richer and the strokes more even.

This is when I also started to add a bit of color to the rabbits ears and the inside of the tree.
The above is a closer view of the two rabbits and the inside of the tree. In the finished work below, I lifted up some of the graphite on the inside of the tree and added a bit of warm sienna colored pencil to the light, extending it out to the rabbits fur. I did some further defining of the body of the two rabbits and added a touch of acrylic color for the two eyes. The tree seemed too bent, so I widened it with some more bark on the right side, and also darkened the left side. The finished work is below.

It's Not All Black and White, © Barbara A. Freeman
Graphite and Mixed Media on Film, 7" x 7"

Below is the finished work in the frame I'll be using. I wasn't sure how this piece was going to turn out. I did not intend to have two rabbits, and didn't know what I was going to do with them. I knew I didn't want to put a door in the tree, but the tree was going to play a role in the scene. I knew that having rabbits as a subject could end up being too cute. Cute was not what I wanted either. I think the two rabbits mirroring each other has helped to make it more mysterious rather than cutesy. Or at least I hope so! However, how can rabbit NOT end up being cute! I'm happy with the results. Thank you for following along with me on this.

It's Not All Black and White, © Barbara A. Freeman

Graphite and Mixed Media on Film, 7" x 7"

Graphite on Dura-lar Matte Film WIP Update # 2

Finally, I've gotten a batch of my work shipped and two batches delivered! One more delivery to go! I'll say more about that after I've completed this piece.

I decided not to enter this work into the show with the deadline of April 16th, and instead, I'll enter it into the one with the April 23rd deadline. It was almost finished enough, but enough wasn't where I wanted it to be. There was more that needed to be done to take it up a notch. Here is more of the progression.

Above, I've started bringing the drawing down into the grasses on the left side and adding the knot hole on the front tree.

I had gotten a lot of work done in the above photo, adding more to the front tree and drawing in one of my subjects.

I'm not sure why I decided to do what I did here, but after spending some time looking at it, I decided the piece needed something more. I love the spots on the rabbit and the way his eye is surrounded with the dark fur. It came to me that the reverse would be interesting, so I gave him a twin, or mirror image.

You can see a close up of the two above. Trying to reverse this rabbit was a challenge, especially doing the eye.

Above is a view under the magnifier to work on the rabbit's eye. I am using my 0.3 with a darker, softer, lead.

This photo is current with where I am now in real time. You can see why I wasn't satisfied with calling this finished, but it is so close. I'm going to add color on the reverse side in places and I'm not sure if I like the rocks inside the tree. I've added the grasses and leaves in the foreground. I still think the opening inside the tree needs work.

I hope the next time I post, this will be a completed work with a title, (the hardest part)! Thanks for taking the time to read this and see my work in process.

Graphite on Dura-lar Matte Film WIP Update

While I'm in the process of framing, almost finished thank goodness, I thought I'd show the progress of my current work.

This first photo as in the last post photo shows my tools and photo reference with the addition of the putty. I use it to lift up the graphite when an area is too dark, or to create texture. The putty is the dirty looking bit on the edge of my drawing easel. It's very useful for cleaning up areas. I also use it to hold my work in place on my drawing surface. I sometimes use a tiny piece on the tip of a *blending pencil. It's something I came up with when working with miniatures and needing to get in tiny places to clean up the graphite. It a very useful thing to keep around in your studio. The downside is it can make oil marks where it sticks, so don't let it sit on your art work, AND, don't get it in the carpet, voice of experience!!

* The Prismacolor Colorless Blender pencil has no color, but has a firm tip which is used to push the colors together or soften edges in colored pencil work.

I've made a lot of progress here. You can see where I've added the tree in the background, right side, as well as worked on the tree on the left. I've also added some twisted branches extending from the knot on the foreground tree.

On the above photo, I've worked on the larger tree, drawing it further down the left side. I also worked more on the upper right background adding some foliage, showing some dark shadows and defining some grasses.

Because I've been framing and getting all my new miniatures ready for the shows and my website, I've not had time to work on this. I'm hoping to do so this evening. I'm a bit further along in the drawing than this post, but almost caught up in real time. I hope to share more progress photos soon. Friday is my deadline for this to be finished. If I don't make it, I have another show I can submit it to on the following week and I know I can make that! Either one will be fine.

My newly titled and scanned works are up on my website in the Miniature Gallery, as well as the one metalpoint in the Drawing Gallery. You may notice I've added a few changes from when I posted them here. I'll be showing them framed later when I submit them. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Your comments are always appreciated.

Graphite on Dura-lar Matte Film WIP

While I've been madly getting my work ready for the four show deadlines this month, I thought I would share a new work that I'm also desperately trying to finish!! I am currently working on a new small work, done with graphite on Dura-lar Matte film. You may recognize the characters I'm using as they have appeared in my work before. This will be a 7 x 7 inch, square format, with the same set of trees with a rabbit, so far, as the star instead of a crow this time. The rabbit is the same one that I've used in two of my new silverpoint miniatures, shown here in earlier posts. In this work, his pose is slightly different, with his head turning a bit more in the viewer's direction. I'm not sure where I'm going with this yet. I'll just have to let it unfold.

When I am working with subjects that I like, I tend to want to continue to work with them, to further their poses and settings. They are never exactly the same and instead evolve in their shape and story. I hope you like this one and follow along. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't run into any problems and can manage to finish it in time for my deadline!



Here you can see more of the tree's texture added as I moved down the surface. I've been very careful not to get the marks too dark to begin with.

This shows the photo I'm using for reference. I've included the eraser, brush, to whisk away bits of graphite dust or lint, and I use the piece of soft cotton fabric to rest my hand on to protect the surface from oils and scratches. My pencil is 0.3 HB. I'll switch to harder and softer leads as the work progresses. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

I'm Still Here!

I know I've been absent now for awhile, but I'm still here. I'm trying to get one more miniature finished and am almost there! The new work is on Dura-lar Matte in graphite with some acrylic touches. I'm always anxious as to the outcome at this point because the drawing is all finished and now I'm adding the fun touches that bring out the magic. It's at this point where it will either be just as I'd visualized, or I could make it a total mess! The drawing is of a forest and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The magic is in the tiny bits I'm doing right now. I hope to have it ready to show in the next day or so. I will show it regardless of the outcome. I think it's important to show the blunders along with the successes. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the success on this one! Now back to work!

Part Two, "Finding Time"

After being chained to the table in my studio all weekend, I finally decided to call Finding Time finished! It's been a really close call since yesterday, August 3rd was the deadline! I'm wondering though, since one of the options of submission is by email, if the deadline is by time or date? I declared the work finished by 6:30pm last evening and took it over to my web master's office (husband Wayne) for the scan. One problem, the scanner wouldn't come up!! He's recently done an upgrade for the Macs so now needed to do the same for the scanner drivers. After some minor mutters, sotto voce, he got them installed and the scanner to work. However, then he had to redo all the settings! I stayed out of his office until it got quiet. : )

Finally, after a record breaking heat wave, scanner problems, and lots and lots of graphite foliage and grass, I finally got the email with my info and jpg attachment of my work sent off around 8:30pm! Now all I have to do is hope that it's considered within the deadline. If not, well, it will be ready for the next show!

Submission for an exhibit for the Arts Council of Snohomish County, called, Of Clocks and Crows.

Finding Time, Graphite on Film, 8 1/4" x 10 1/2 "

The First Tale of "Finding Time"

I regret that I have not had time to add to my blog. I have a larger graphite drawing that I am working on that has a deadline of August 3rd. The work was coming along great, no problems, and looking good. Then we had a heat wave and without air conditioning in the house, my studio on the second floor was very uncomfortable, to say the least. It has been difficult to sleep and think. By Wednesday it was 89 degrees downstairs, I can only imagine what it was in my studio. It felt like a sauna! Fortunately, we had a reservation at a hotel* for that night. We packed up and on the way there, the temperature outside was 103! I took my work with me, and was able to work a bit there. Not as much as I would have liked though, lighting in a hotel room is not the best.

Thankfully it has gotten back to normal with a high today predicted to be around 80! Relief! So I've been back busy working again and hoping I will have it finished and ready to submit by the deadline of Monday!!!

Ironically, the title of my work is, "Finding Time"! More to come on this new graphite drawing after I make my deadline!

This is the exhibit I will be submitting to: The Arts Council of Snohomish County is seeking artwork with a clock and/or crow theme for the exhibit: Of Clocks and Crows. The exhibit opens with a reception on September 3 and runs through October 20, 2009. All mediums are invited to participate.

*The hotel stay was one of many gift certificates that were in an awards basket that I won last year from the Lynnwood Arts Commission for the Mellow Yellow Exhibition at the Lynnwood Library Gallery. The piece that won was Seen Better Days