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Barbara Benedetti Newton,
"Luminesence"

Barbara Benedetti Newton, born 1943 in Puyallup, Washington, attended public school in Auburn, cosmetology school in Renton, and Burnley School of Professional Art (now renamed Art Institute of Seattle) where she studied with William Cumming among others.

In 1965, Newton began her professional art career as a fashion illustrator for a major Seattle department store. Married the same year to artist William Iles, they relocated to San Francisco where Barbara continued to work as a freelance fashion illustrator. After returning to the Seattle area, they purchased a filbert farm with 1902 farmhouse on Vashon Island.

For Barbara, a 20-year hiatus from art followed. Her creative energy was used to raise their son and daughter, grow cut flowers for resale, develop a flock of wool breed sheep and work at nearby K2 Ski Corporation. She began work in the K2 factory then quickly moved on to Master Scheduler of Production and later, Buyer.

In 1990, after several life-changing events and with the support of her second and final husband, Jay Newton, Barbara left K2 after 16 years to return full time to art. The humble colored pencil became her path back and her introduction to color. Working exclusively in colored pencil for more than a dozen years, Newton became one of the masters of the medium and co-authored Colored Pencil Solution Book, published in 2000. A valued instructor at Frye Art Museum in Seattle and at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Oregon for more than a dozen years, Newton retired from teaching in 2006.Her work has been included in American Artist, International Artist, and The Artist’s Magazine, as well as numerous other publications.

In 2002 Newton began exploring other mediums and has been working primarily in soft pastel since then. Making the transition from a precise, time-consuming, transparent medium to spontaneous, fast-paced, opaque soft pastel has been a journey of discovery. With a change of medium, Newton also departed from her trademark light-filled still life subjects to impressionistic landscape scenes.

She is a Charter Member, Signature Member, past president and 10 Year Merit Member of Colored Pencil Society of America; Signature Member of the Northwest Pastel Society; a juried member of Women Painters of Washington and a member of the Eastside Association of Fine Arts, Pastel Society of the West Coast and the Pastel Society of America.

Newton is represented by American Art Company, Tacoma, WA; Jeffrey Moose Gallery, Seattle, WA; State of the Arts Gallery, Olympia, WA; and The Attic Gallery, Portland, OR.

 


Editorial
by Barbara Benedetti Newton
November, 2010

The approach of the holiday season is the time of year that commission work is most abundant - if that is something you are willing to do. The financial aspect is comforting because as a commission, it is a sure sale but it also has to be a creative “fit.”
Many years ago I produced commission portraits in colored pencil. It is a slow medium and my client list had grown to a 6-month wait. When I finally got around to the portrait of a woman’s husband, I learned he had recently passed away. She now wanted the portrait more than ever and gave me several reference photos. I was pleased with the completed drawing, believing I had captured the likeness I saw in the photo. And, when I delivered the work, she agreed that my painting looked just like the photo.
“But, he didn’t really look like that,” she reminisced. He was more…well, more… more everything of course. I made her suggested changes until she was happy and she went on to purchase more paintings from me (not commissioned portrait work).
Another client gave me a reference photo of her darling chubby-cheeked daughter. I finished her portrait only to learn that the child had a mouth full of bubble gum in the photo and wasn’t really that “fat.” After a couple dozen portraits, I quit doing commission work. I had done my time – I thought.
Last week, the owner of one of my galleries phoned. He reminded me of a pastel painting of mine that he sold in 2004. He went on to tell me that recently a couple came into the gallery asking about it. Six years later and they are still thinking about it, wishing they had purchased it.
“That’s nice,” I commented.
“Well, actually, they are wondering if they could commission you to paint another one?”
“No,” I said, without even a polite pause.
I went on to explain how much my painting style has changed. The gallery owner anticipated my response and acknowledged that of course it wouldn’t look like the same painting. He implied that the couple realized this too and were still interested. I wondered aloud where the reference photo for that painting might be. We ended our phone conversation with the understanding that I would look for the reference photo and think about it. I hung up and promptly, deliberately, put it out of my mind.
A few days later he followed up with an email asking if I had considered the opportunity? I felt guilty so I began looking for the reference photo, searching through two computers and a stack of cds. No photo. Then, as a last resort to clear my conscience and be able to say that I had made every effort, I looked through an old 3-ring binder of painting history. There it was! It is a photo of our side yard tree it’s younger days, ablaze in fall color.
Out of curiosity, I put a new sheet of paper on my easel and with photo in hand, began to block in areas of color. I thought I would just play for a while to see how much resistance I felt to painting the same subject twice. I don’t remember the process of painting this tree the first time, but I was enjoying it now. I didn’t look at images of the previous painting to avoid being influenced in painting the scene a second time. I also painted on the same type of paper (Canson Mi-Teintes) and in the same size (19 x 25 inches).
With big bold strokes I dared something to go very wrong so I could walk away and say I tried. But, nothing bad happened and I ended up with an updated version of a previous painting and an interesting experience.
Now, when I compare the two finished paintings, I see how my work has grown. I am more comfortable with the medium so my work is less labored and more spontaneous. I have learned to eliminate a lot of unnecessary detail that is in the reference photo. I now interpret scenes with more overall light and atmosphere rather than the dramatic spot lighting of my early landscapes.
I have sent the painting off to the gallery. Maybe the clients will like it and maybe not. Either way is okay because I believe this “commission” came to me as I way to reflect on my work. I would not have done this exercise on my own but now that I have, I encourage you to try it!
 

Original "Drama Queen" 2004,
19 x 25 inches,
pastel on Canson Mi-Tienteson Mi-Tientesx


"Drama Queen II" 2010,
19 x 25 inches,
pastel on Canson Mi-Tientes