The Blackbird Sings

The Moon Series

Since returning from our week-long holiday by the coast in Aldeburgh (it was brilliant, by the way, and just what we needed - I was hoping to update from the cottage but it proved a little difficult, as I mentioned here on the other blog), I've started a new series of Moon paintings. These have been on my mind and in my sketchbook for a while, but I needed to set aside the time to work on them, and before I actually made a start, I needed to figure out how I wanted them to look.

It seems like such a simple subject and in many ways it is, but I wanted to find the right balance between detail and minimalism for the paintings - they needed to be striking, evocative, and simple, without being boring. To me - and I'm sure many others - the sight of the full moon hanging in an inky black sky dotted with little points of light, is beautiful and intriguing. Maybe the stark simplicity enhances the beauty? Anyway, I never tire of looking at it, and I love painting it. I have plans for this series; I've started small, but I've already begun measuring and cutting larger sheets of paper in preparation for huge moons, and I think they'd work well on canvas as well as paper. It has also come to my attention just how much young children are obsessed with the moon, so maybe I can develop something with this in mind...? For now, here are the first two from the series:

Moon 1

Original painting in gouache and acrylic ink on paper. 6x6"

© Natasha Newton 2013

Available here. [Update: SOLD]

Moon 2

Original painting in gouache and acrylic ink on paper. 7x5"

© Natasha Newton 2013

Available here. [Update: SOLD]

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Getting Into The New Project

As I mentioned the other day, I've started a new project for 2013 called A Bird A Day. I'm only a few days into this enormous undertaking but I'm really enjoying it so far. It's taking a fair amount of discipline to create and finish a new piece of work every day, as I've written about here, but I also think it's one of the best - and hopefully most rewarding - things I've decided to do in recent months.

Here's a little snapshot of the pieces I've made for A Bird A Day so far. The fifth piece will be up on the new blog later today (edit: tomorrow - I totally messed up today's piece, so I'm going to post two paintings tomorrow instead!) as well as in the shop. I won't be posting each individual painting on The Blackbird Sings blog (saving The Blackbird Sings for my other work and projects instead) but you can follow the project daily on this blog here, and see any pieces I add to the new shop here.

© Natasha Newton 2013

P.S. I'm still in Paris until Wednesday, but given that both the UK and France are covered with a thick blanket of snow and travel is somewhat disrupted, I'm not sure I'll be able to leave. ;)

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A Quick Update and Some Recent Pieces

Do you know what? 2013 hasn't been the easiest of New Years for Leon and I so far. On January 1st, we heard the very sad news that one of his close friends, the writer Simon Lane, had sadly died between Christmas and New Year. Leon has also been ill himself since December 27th. He had a strange cold virus with swollen glands before I arrived in Paris on the 18th, but seemed to get over it. However, on the evening of 27th, he came down with a fever and a very painful gland on the left side of his neck, which swelled over the following days and became enormous - we're talking tennis-ball-size kind of enormous - and he was also exhausted, had aching joints and so on. To cut a (very) long story short, we are now at the stage where, two weeks later - with a misdiagnosis, countless trips to various doctors, clinics and specialists, a course of antibiotics, and finally a definitive diagnosis of an infected lymph node stemming from a virus - he now has to go into hospital tomorrow to be put on an antibiotic IV drip for a few days to cure this thing once and for all. We're really sad about this, but glad he'll be getting some proper treatment. So I will be all alone in the apartment for a few days, but I'm going to try to immerse myself in my work and hope the time goes by quickly.

Unsurprisingly, with all of this going on, I haven't been able to complete much work over the past couple of weeks, but I do have a few new watercolour paintings to show you. Two of these have already sold (the bird was a commission), but Night Rain is currently available in the shop. I also have an exciting new year-long project for 2013 lined up - I'll tell you more about it in the next post. I'm looking forward to sharing details about that!

Night Rain

© Natasha Newton 2012

Available here. (Update: SOLD)

Imaginary Star Chart 4

© Natasha Newton 2013

SOLD

Akemi Bird (Meaning: 'Bright Beauty')

© Natasha Newton 2012

SOLD

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Nest Number Ten and Being Lazy

Hello there! I hope you all had a good Christmas and are enjoying the holiday period? I've been in Paris since the evening of 18th December and - despite my best attempts - I've had a pretty lazy week or so since I arrived. I've set up a nice little workspace on a fold-out table here in a corner of the apartment and I have actually managed to work on some new art here and there. But that's all it has been; just here and there. I think I worked so hard and for such long hours leading up to my solo show in the Autumn, and then I had work for another gallery and commissioned paintings to finish on top of that, that I've really needed (and relished) time to myself to just relax, read blogs and magazines, and do some research; sketching/making notes for the new paintings I want to start in 2013. I've come to realise that sometimes the 'down time' is as important creatively as the act of actually painting.

I'll tell you a bit more about our Christmas in Paris in the next blog post (we went to the Champs Elysees on Christmas Day for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and I took quite a few photos) and about the new art materials I bought yesterday at BHV (mainly clay - I'm going to work on some small sculptured pieces!). But for now, I wanted to post an image of the largest painting I made for the Ground & Sky exhibition at Snape Maltings Gallery, which I've mentioned on twitter but didn't get around to sharing on the blog at the time:

Nest Number Ten (SOLD)

© Natasha Newton 2012

If you'd like to see a much larger version of this image than I am able to post on the blog, please go here. Quite honesty, I'd recommend it - in reality the painting is a massive 100x100cm (39.5x39.5") and it's impossible to convey how it really looks via a computer screen, but the larger image is better than this tiny one. I've also cropped the image a little to focus on the nest itself- the real painting has more background space around the nest.

Anyway, the good news is that this piece has sold, and is going to be hung in a home in the mountains of Chamonix! I'm kind of envious of it... ;)

I'll be back with the Paris photo-blog soon and hopefully some more new work to show you too, if everything goes to plan...

Black Friday / Cyber Monday Free Worldwide Shipping!

As I mentioned in this post, I won't be running the usual Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale in my Etsy shop this year. But I am offering totally free worldwide shipping on EVERYTHING (yes, even the slightly more weighty ceramic pieces) if you enter this code at checkout: BFCM2012.

So, have a look at my newly-stocked shop and buy some Christmas presents (or treat yourself) safe in the knowledge that you don't have to add on any extra costs for shipping, no matter where you live! This offer will only be valid until midnight on Monday 26th November, so be quick!

www.theblackbirdsings.etsy.com

By the way, the new painted stones are selling fairly quickly and these are the only ones I have left before Christmas: Painted Stones - so again, please purchase soon if you see something you like. Don't forget to use your free shipping code! BFCM2012

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