Ed Eyestone For BYU Magazine

I finished these three pieces up a few weeks back for BYU Magazine to accompany an article by All American and Olympic runner Ed Eyestone.

First concept for opener

Eyestone shares several life lesson anecdotes in the article including the time when he gave his last ounce of energy during a race and collapsed short of the finish line.  His coach told him that he had "run like a horse" meaning that a horse will run until it collapses and never gives up simply because the task is too hard.

Final Drawing

A mule on the other hand, will simply stop and refuse to continue on when it tires, despite prodding. He had pushed himself until he dropped and that made his coach proud. This experience was the inspiration for the opening spread.

Another spot dealt with Eyestone's interaction with the team trainer when as a freshman, he wanted the same post workout massage as the senior runners. The Finnish trainer said "you don't waste the black powder on the small birds" but then relented and treated him the same as the rest of the team. This experience taught him that everyone is important.

The final spot dealt with how small things can help you reach your goals. Kyle perry had set the goal to run a sub four minute mile and then concentrated on all the small things that would help him reach his goal, including a strict training regimen and diet and focusing on a list of ten small things he would do every day as he trained. He dropped from a 4:05 to a 3:59.16. Concentrating on the small things had helped Perry reach his goal.

All pieces were drawn first in graphite and then scanned and painted in Photoshop. Handmade crackle texture was added at the end.

Barnes & Noble Tribeca Store Mural

Tribeca Barnes & Noble Facade Mural by Greg Newbold

Last spring, I was approached by Barnes and Noble about creating a full front facade window mural for their Tribeca, New York store. The store facade consists of floor to ceiling windows divided into six sections. The storefront look was a little tired and they wanted to upgrade by installing a site specific mural.

Existing Store front windows were pretty bland

The goal was to spice up the facade, make it more inviting and give a little flavor of what Barnes & Noble has to offer. Having never done a project that was specifically intended to be enlarged to building size, I was excited to tackle something this big.

Initial client provided direction sketch

We went through an initial round of sketches where the focus was to be primarily about what the store offered by way of services and ambiance on the inside. One of the main criteria was to feature the Cafe' cup, so I created a concept that included it prominently. The steam swirling above the cup would fall behind the store logo to add interest in an otherwise empty space.

First round idea sketch

Here is what the first concept sketch looked like with individuals browsing books and a group of kids enjoying a story time. They also wanted to give the impression that gifts other than books were a big part of the store vibe, so we went with some swirling Lego blocks and a gift card along with the books. I sent the sketch off and as sometimes happens, the concept was killed. After seeing what was requested, the client decided that they would scrap this approach and brainstorm something else and get back to me. Of course that's always disappointing, but I was paid a sketch fee and moved on to other projects.

Woolworth Building

Franklin Street Subway entrance with it's distinctive arched roof

A few months went by and then I got word that the Tribeca mural project was back on with a revised direction. This time, rather than focus on the inside of the store, they determined that the focus should be on the the Tribeca neighborhood and include a couple of landmarks that would be recognizable to everyone, namely the Woolworth Building and the Franklin Street subway entrance. The carryover from the first concept was the cafe' cup with it's swirling steam, which the client loved. I also needed to include a space that would be cut out to allow the events poster to be changed out every week as well as the hours of operation. I though it would be fun to have these areas as pages of a book.

Approved rough sketch

Final Drawing with adjusted Events and Hours sections

I set out to revise the sketch and try to capture a bit of the eclectic feel of the neighborhood and New York in general. I wanted something very NYC and after some discussion, we decided there was nothing that said New York more than a yellow taxi cab. Here's the rough sketch as it was approved and the final drawing that I used to create my Photoshop painting.

Final drawing with window template in place to check fit

I wanted a warm palette with nice contrasts of blue and lavender in the shadows and I think I achieved a nice color balance. I particularly like the angle of light coming from the late afternoon sun filtering through the clouds. Below is a later stage progression as I moved from underpainting to final details ( I forgot to save out earlier stages). The most evident areas of change were to the left side of the painting where you can see the purple undertones.

The scale was big for this project. It was determined that the art needed to be somewhere around 100 pixels per square inch on the full size reproduction, so I worked on a file that stretched the RAM capacity of my machine the final file was over 700 MB. I tried to merge layers as much as possible during the process in order to keep the file size down but even so, the finished file was the biggest I have ever dealt with. The upload alone to about three hours thanks to my less than lightning fast upload speeds.

Final are mocked into place on facade

Here is a digital mock up of the store facade with the painting in place. Barnes & Noble is currently working on installation of the full size vinyl reproduction and I will post an update when I get pictures of it. It's kind of fun to know that thousands of people will enjoy my art on the streets of New York in the coming months and years.

Also, see a previous Barnes & Noble Project here

Just a Little Nibble Won't Hurt...

"Just A Little Nibble Won't Hurt..." - digital by Greg Newbold

I finished my scary version of this piece a little too late for Halloween last year, so it had to wait. I had originally done this as a poster for for the depressingly alcoholic stage play"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", which is scary for completely different reasons.

I just couldn't resist the allure of a gaping mouth and it called to me to turn it into a vampire. Next step is to combine the two into a gif or animation of some sort, but I haven't taken the time to figure out how that works just yet. Maybe next year! In the meantime, have a fun Halloween and stay safe!

September Gallery Sales

Approaching Storm- 36" x 24" Oil on canvas by Greg Newbold

September Still- 12" x 9" Oil on panel by Greg Newbold

I'm pleased to get word from Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery that two pieces from my recent show have sold. It's still hanging for a couple more weeks, so take a minute to swing by and see it if you are in town. I'm happy to see these paintings go to their new homes. Now, time to get some new paintings underway for the Art & Soup night at the beginning of March, 2016.

If you can go:

Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery
3295 South 2000 East
Salt Lake City, UT 84109

Hours- M-F 9:30 am-6:00 pm Sat- 10:00 am- 5:00 pm Closed Sun

Previous Post about the show
And another post as well

Murder Under the Covered Bridge

Murder Under the Covered Bridge- Digital by Greg Newbold.

Here's the finished version of the cover for "Murder Under the Covered Bridge. I posted the drawing concepts for this project  earlier on the blog and wanted to show how things turned out. I like how it all came together. Here's the final graphite drawing I drew and then painted over in Photoshop.

Lynne at Llewellyn Worldwide loved how it had a little WPA feel to it and commented how it reminded her a bit of Thomas Hart Benton. I take being compared to Benton as a high compliment. I'm not sure when this one will be released, but I am sure I will get a copy of it when it rolls out. 

Sunrise On The Oquirrhs

Sunrise On The Oquirrhs- 9" x12" Oil by Greg Newbold.

Another piece from my upcoming show at  Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery this Saturday, September 19th, 2015. The Afternoon of Art show will include my work along with fellow gallery artists Aaron Fritz, Claire Tollstrup and Jodi Steen. I will be there from 3:00 to 5:00 pm to chat. If you are in the area or can find yourself in town by then, I'd love the visit!

Location:
Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery
3295 South 2000 East
Salt Lake City, Utah

Come have a snack and see some nice art. If you are looking for early Christmas presents, then bring your wallet too!

A Little Early Christmas

I just finished this one for the Friend magazine. The funny thing about working for certain publications is the lead time. I end up doing summer images in March and Christmas stuff in August. This one was no exception as it will go to print in a few weeks to begin distribution right around Thanksgiving. I know not all magazines work this far in advance, but the Friend typically works so far ahead, that I often forget I even did something until it shows up in my mailbox.

The intent of this piece is to help remind folks that there is a bit more to Christmas celebrations than decorations and presents and that we should take a little time to remember the real reason for the season. It was nice to take a few days to think about the upcoming holiday and think about what it truly means. Enjoy!

Upcoming Landscape Show

Zion Exodus- 12" x 9" oil by Greg Newbold

I am pleased to be part of an upcoming landscape painting show at my newest gallery, Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery in September. The Afternoon of Art show will include my work along with fellow gallery artists Aaron Fritz, Claire Tollstrup and Jodi Steen.  I will be unveiling a number of brand new works including the one pictured above. An opening reception will be held Saturday afternoon September 11th from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Please come by to say hi, check out some great art, have a snack and maybe do some early Christmas shopping!

Directions to the gallery can be found here

New Murder Mystery Cover Sketches

Revised rough sketch as approved

I'm working on a new murder mystery book cover and thought I would give a sneak peek at the cover sketch process.

You may remember the cover art a year or so ago for "Murder on the Bucket List". This was the first book in what was hoped to be a series of mysteries involving a group of seasoned older ladies. Well, the book apparently did well enough to merit a sequel and so I get to do this cover as well.

Rough sketch options

This one called Murder Under the Covered Bridge. The opening scenes involve a period photo shoot and the protagonists discovering a body on the banks of a river spanned by a classic New England covered bridge. I came up with four possible solutions from which the client selected one. I did a revision of the idea to better accommodate the type treatment and it was approved. I'll be working up the final drawing and art next and will post the final art when it is finished up.

Haycropolis On Loan To Utah AG's Office

Greg Newbold and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes with "Haycroplolis"

I'm pleased to announce that my painting Haycropolis is on loan to the office of Utah State Attorney General Sean Reyes. The 36" x 60" painting  is on temporary loan  and will hang in their conference room until it finds a permanent home or I retrieve it for another show. I am honored to have my work hang at the Utah State Capitol and hope many people enjoy it during it's stay there. Sean is an old friend as well, so it's fun for him to have a piece of mine on the wall for a little while.

Haycropolis- 36" x 60" oil on canvas by Greg Newbold

Haycropolis is still for sale. Please contact me if you have interest in having it become a permanent fixture in your home or office.

See more about the creation of Haycropolis in a previous post here.

Hazy Grazing

Hazy Grazing- 9" x 12" Oil by Greg Newbold

Here's another small painting that I just delivered to David Ericson Fine Art. It will be on display along with a bunch of other great work by the gallery's artists for the upcoming Gallery Stroll on August 21st. This marks the first $100 dollar sale at Ericson and although this particular painting will not be included as a $100 option, there will be  Greg Newbold painting in that group. The hope is lure in some potential collectors that have not really considered original art as an option and get them excited about owning actual one of a kind art from talented and  accomplished  local and regional artists.

Some of you may recall the start of this painting from a previous post.

As I almost always do when taking a field study to finish in the studio. I fix things that weren't working and change things to suit the intent of the piece. Here I have adjust a lot of  the values to add drama, softened the sky and the mountain edges in the distance to give a hazier mood to the piece and added the cows which were just quick smudges at the study phase. I also exaggerated some of the color for contrast and visual appeal as well. There are always things I might do differently when I reach the final signature stage, but for the most part, I am satisfied with how it turned out. Each choice I make along the road of creation yields a certain result and collectively all my choices lead to the final product. I try not to second guess too much what might have been since I would have to make a different set of choices along the way to get a different outcome. That type of introspective thinking is better often better left for the next painting. Learn, evaluate and move on to the next one.

Mount Olympus - Fall

Mount Olympus-Fall 8" x 10" oil by Greg Newbold

Here's a little commissioned piece that I finished recently. This shot of Mount Olympus actually is the view out my front door and I have had many opportunities over the years to capture some pretty dramatic lighting. You may remember a previous epic painting of this view in winter that I did a couple of years back called Autumn Dusting. Since this is a small painting at just 8" x 10", I used it as an opportunity to make a study for a larger painting. Of course I don't always polish my studies as much as I did this one. I like the dramatic sweep of the clouds and the shadows they cast across the peak as well as the bit of dappled light that makes the foothills come alive. This one will be fun to paint at the 30" x 40" scale that I have chosen. I'll post the large version once it is finished.

Also if interest is the fact that I had to ship this one to the recipient collector in Norway, so this is officially my first painting residing in an international collection. Fun stuff!

Fiddler on the Roof Poster

Fiddler on the Roof- Digital Over Graphite, by Greg Newbold

For several years I have done at least one poster for Pioneer Theater Company. They are the regional professional theater here in Salt Lake City and always do a knock up job on their productions. I like to support the arts here in town and they are kind enough to supplement the budget by throwing in a few show tickets. This year I was offered  the chance to create a new poster for this season's production of Fiddler on the Roof. I enjoy a good challenge and the task at hand here was to create a piece of art that would be both iconic and recognizable but fresh at the same time.

As I scrolled through the dozens of Fiddler poster versions I found online, I realized that almost all of them depicted the "fiddler" sawing away while perched precariously on the roof. I find nothing inherently wrong with going with the status quo, but I wanted to do something that might separate this production from the countless other versions out there. I came up with three idea sketches that I proposed to the theater.

The first one was to be a close up of the protagonist Tevye that would focus simply on his face in a tight crop. I really liked this idea and was hoping this would be the favorite. I didn't find any other versions of Fiddler that employed this idea.

My second sketch was the typical fiddler shot but a little closer in than the long shot which allowed me to give the guy a lot of expression and character. This one was my second favorite and I felt like this would be another decent approach if it was chosen.

My third idea was the classic typical approach with the fiddler perched on a rooftop holding his violin. I played with the shapes of the figure in this one with the intent of taking a more graphic approach than normal to give it a different look than the rest of the posters I saw during my research.

I hopefully launched all the ideas off to the client and fully expected one of them to fly. I was a bit behind schedule already, so I needed to jump on the final rendering quickly. Well, two and a half of the ideas were shot down cold. It was felt that idea one would be too easily confused with Santa Claus. I disagree as the beard color in the final rendering would not have been white, but OK. One down, I still had two options left. Idea three died a fiery death because the  graphic approach was deemed to feel too much like a children's theater production than a full fledged professional theater offering. Understood. Now it was down to number two. In my zeal to do something new, I had forgotten that Tevye never actually plays the fiddle in the production, so it didn't make sense to portray what appeared to be the protagonist (Tevye) as the player. We agreed to adjust the idea and deep six the violin. I submitted a new drawing which was approved.

Final Approved Idea

Because of the different crops needed for the various advertising applications, I needed to add significant acreage to the sides and a bit to the top and bottom to give several cropping options. I rendered out the black and white drawing in full value and then started adding the color.

The final color version took about three days working time to complete and I am pretty happy with the result. I think it's a very classic looking approach to  a well known musical but at the same time, I think it is quite different than most of the posters I have seen. I feel like I got the balance right.

10th International Art Competition

Fear Not Little Flock- Oil on Canvas mounted on board
24" x 32" by Greg Newbold

I am pleased to announce that my painting "Fear Not Little Flock" has been accepted into the 10th International Art Competition and will be on exhibit at the Church History Museum from September 29, 2015 until August 15, 2016. No word yet on purchase awards or awards of merit yet, so fingers are still crossed. Anyone interested in purchasing the painting can contact me directly but you won't be able to take it home until next fall! The Church Museum is currently undergoing extensive renovations and this exhibit will be one of the featured shows to kick off the grand reopening. I am excited to be part of it.

Recent Gallery Sales News

Siegfried Pyre- Grand Canyon, North Rim; 24" x 24" Oil on board by Greg Newbold

I found out yesterday that I have been having a really good week of sales at my newest gallery Evergreen Framing Co. & Gallery. All six of the paintings in this post have sold. Evergreen is a full service gallery and frame shop that along with paintings represents artists who create an eclectic selection of art pieces and handcrafted gifts. I am pleased to join their talented group of artists. It doesn't hurt that they are the closest gallery to my neighborhood either, making them effectively my "local" gallery.

Falling Shadows-Pulpit & Altar, Zion; 8" x 10" oil on panel by Greg Newbold

Third Wheel; 9" x 12" oil on panel, by Greg Newbold

Six of my paintings have sold in the last little while and I could not be more pleased with the news.
Sometimes sales are slow and then inexplicably, a whole bundle of collectors appear. I'll take it!

Freshly Mowed; 8" x 10" oil on panel, by Greg Newbold

Provo Bay; 8" x 10" Oil on panel, by Greg Newbold

Virgin River Ripple; 8" x 8"; Oil on panel, by Greg Newbold

I am slated to be part of group show at the gallery there in September, but with these recent sales, I will need to restock them before that, so I am going to be a busy boy! Thanks Evergreen for the shot in the arm. Now back to work.

Barnes & Noble Table Topper

I had to keep this project for Barnes & Noble under my hat for a while but I just got the green light to show it. I got the cal a few weeks back to work on a table display poster for kids to showcase books that have been turned into movies.

Rough concept sketches- the center sketch won out

The poster will roll out nationwide and may already be sitting atop displays in your very own local B&N bookstore! I'm really excited to have had the opportunity to work on this one.

Detail of the adventurous kids

Always fun to do a fat little pencil

The client loved it so much, I am currently working on two other projects for them. I will show more of those projects when they are final, but suffice it to say, I am pleased that my work seems to be a good fit for Barnes & Noble and hope to continue working with them for a long time to come!