Joanna Barnum Watercolor

Previous Halloween Art Countdowns! While there is NOT a new one for this year, I do have limited copies of Revelry of Ravens and Lanterns Burn Bright. These can be enjoyed ANY year from October 18-31, if you have not yet experienced these editions, or would like to gift the experience to someone else.
https://www.joannabarnum.com/shop

Jack-O-September is studying hard! Can you feel the promise of fall in the air?

https://www.joannabarnum.com/shop?category=Jack-O-Lantern+of+the+Month

Dragon Con Art Show booth 208 in the lower floor of the Hyatt! Come visit me!

*ACT NOW* Order closes on August 23rd. Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween artist, Joanna Barnum, has created a simply bewitching shirt design to commemorate Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween 2024! If you can’t attend the show this year, you can still order a shirt. When you go to her website to order, you will see two options, EVENT PICK UP or SHIPPED to you. Just select which option fits your narrative.
Shirts are $30.00 (all proceeds go directly to the artist) Pre-orders will close on AUGUST 23, so don’t dilly dally!
To order shirts shipped to you, please purchase via the SHIPPED version listing instead.

Jack-O-August is doing some star gazing.

https://www.joannabarnum.com/shop?category=Jack-O-Lantern+of+the+Month

It’s my pleasure to present the Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween commemorative t-shirt! Many thanks to event coordinator Jennie Hepler-Takens for inviting me to create this year’s shirt.

They are soft Bella + Canvas black jersey t-shirts, available in both unisex and women’s relaxed fit styles, and will be expertly screen printed by Sage Screen Printing in Baltimore.

You can choose to pick up your shirt in person at Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween in Marshall, MI on Sept 28, or you can have one shipped to you. Shipped shirts will go out around Oct 1. Preorders end on August 23 so don’t delay! I will only be ordering a very limited quantity of extra shirts in a few unisex sizes to have on hand at the event for those who did not preorder. Please preorder to ensure your choice of size and style!

Find the appropriate links for event pickup or shipping of your Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween shirt in my shop: https://www.joannabarnum.com/shop

*CODE ORANGE*ACT NOW*
Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween artist, Joanna Barnum, has created a simply bewitching shirt design to commemorate Bewitching Peddlers of Halloween 2024! If you can’t attend the show this year, you can still order a shirt. When you go to her website to order, you will see two options, EVENT PICK UP or SHIPPED to you. Just select which option fits your narrative.
Shirts are $30.00 (all proceeds go directly to the artist) Pre-orders will close on AUGUST 23, so don’t dilly dally!
To order shirts shipped to you, please purchase via the SHIPPED version listing instead.
https://www.joannabarnum.com/shop/bewitching-shirt-pickup

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Joanna Barnum creates expressive dark fantasy watercolor art depicting strong emotions, powerful characters, and eerie landscapes. She is interested in balancing realism with texture and atmosphere. Her signature technique includes the innovative use of masking fluid to splice and layer imagery.
Joanna earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2006, and has since made her living as an artist across the realms of fine art, illustration, and teaching. She is a Signature Member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society, and served on the board of the Baltimore Watercolor Society for nine years.
She has been an Art Renewal Center Finalist in Imaginative Realism and was awarded the Carl Folke Sahlin Medal in the American Watercolor Society International Exhibition. Joanna’s work has also been included in the Splash: The Best in Watercolor series from North Light Books and she has written articles for Daniel Smith Artists’ Materials on her approach to watercolor. She was part of a small group of artists invited to visit and create work inspired by the James Webb Space Telescope for an exhibition at NASA Goddard, and her work is in the permanent corporate collection of Ten Percent Happier.
As an illustrator, Joanna’s work has been included in American Illustration, Illustration West, and Infected by Art. She was a Chesley Award Finalist for “Best Gaming Related Illustration” for her work on Overlight with Renegade Game Studios and has also worked with clients including Wizards of the Coast, Wyrmwood Gaming, AARP, Cricket, Faerie Magazine, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. She is also the creator of “Lanterns Burn Bright: A Halloween Art Countdown.”
Joanna currently lives in Harford County, Maryland with her husband Mike.

If you missed out on the “Farther Together” game mats at Gen Con, I do still have some stock online. Been great meeting you all so far!

Good morning Gen Con! Art Show table 8.

Jack-O-July is definitely a pumpkin! Really! Just a pumpkin enjoying some spooky summer beverages.

Third quarter Jack-O-Lanterns of the Month are ripe! July, August, and September as larger prints and postcards.

“Farther Together” Raven galaxy tote bags! The lovely model is my husband Mike.

“Jovial,” a watercolor sketch of a hyena. This one is also looking for a home.

Showcasing some of the animal watercolor sketches I made for Anthrocon that I still have. This is “Emerald,” a jaguar.
https://www.joannabarnum.com/shop/jaguar-sketch

“Beautiful Dreamer” completed. A handsome white goat with poppy flowers in watercolor, in an antique frame with original domed bubble glass. I made prints too.

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"Farther Together," original watercolor. A flock of ravens and the majesty of the milky way. They know that when we go together, we can touch the stars.

I also made prints, tote bags, and game mats with this art, I'm so happy with how they came out! They are all available now:
https://www.joannabarnum.com/shop

So far the FOX 🦊 is our top print at Anthrocon! Halfway through the stock we brought after the first day. Find me at I09/I10 in the Dealers’ Den.

Good morning Anthrocon! It’s my very first furry event with my animal themed art! I love the vibes here, I’m so excited.

It was an honor to help select work for The National Watercolor Society's 104th International Open Exhibition along with fellow jurors Keiko Tanabe and Mary Ann Beckwith, and a delight to be able to choose work that exemplifies the very best of water media from artists who wield technical skill in service of personal voice. Work that not only demonstrates mastery of the medium, but mastery of conveying emotion, story, mood, or viewpoint. Congratulations to the artists selected this year, and thank you for sharing your powerful work with us!

A friend helps take care of some goats and invited me to meet and photograph them! This beautiful gent’s name is Lord. Finishing up this painting to put in an antique oval bubble frame and bring to Anthrocon next week.

A few small mood studies I did before “An Inhabitant of Carcosa,” to work out the vibes and colors I wanted.

PROCESS for An Inhabitant of Carcosa. Going backwards from the final large painting, the small color study, the small preliminary drawing, and the even smaller black and white value study.

Being invited to create a piece for "Character in Context" at the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art was an opportunity for a deeper disciplined exploration of preliminary process via traditional media.

When it comes to my personal work, with no client involved, I'm often eager to race ahead to the final. And when it comes to collaboration with clients, shared sketches and preliminaries are often done digitally for the sake of expediency under tight deadlines.

My typical process includes initial scribbly symbolic sketches, photography sessions with models exploring a variety of possibilities, and extensive Photoshop reference mockup. When there is no client to report to, I often allow the Photoshop mockup alone to serve as the final sketch.

While those steps were also a key part of my process for this project, I slowed myself down, spending more time on initial studies exploring mood and color, and created tight final sketches in traditional media that are more elaborate than what I often do. While leaving a lot to chance and discovery in a final can sometimes lead to amazing things, just as often, I've kicked myself for not taking a little more time to definitively work out my values and colors in advance. Any time I do spend more time on preliminary work, I never regret it, and learn tremendously from the process.

If you want to see "Character in Context" in person it continues through July 27 at the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art in Trinidad, CO. You can also see the show on their website.

A number of my process pieces and studies are still available:
https://www.joannabarnum.com/an-inhabitant-of-carcosa

Jack-O-June is under the sea in the hot temps we’ve been having here. Hope your month is going well! This friend is in the form of an original watercolor with oval mat, prints, and postcards. Part of the Jack-O-Lantern of the Month project. Three more jacks will arrive in July!

Opening night of Character in Context at the A.R. Mitchell Museum of Western Art was tremendous! Such an honor to be included with this incredible group of contemporary illustrators, exhibiting in such a beautiful and historic space. The show runs through July 27, so if you are near Trinidad, CO please check it out or peruse it via the Mitchell’s website. Two of my studies found collectors opening night but there are others looking for homes! Many, many thanks to Elliot Lang for curating and pulling off this exhibit as well as Cody Kuehl and the staff and board of the Mitchell.

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