Joy Newton Designs: Jewelry, Home Decor and Decorative Accessories in the News.

Joy Newton's botanical art collection grows and grows

by Betsy Wittemann

Joy Newton's studio in a large outbuilding by her 18th century white house in the historic district of West Granby, is warmed on a cold spring morning by a cheery pellet stove and a mellow springer spaniel named Chester. "He's a wonderful studio dog," said the artist, whose brown-an-white dog pads around quietly and then curls himself onto the floor by the large desk/table where she works.

Joy has always been attracted to the world of nature. She grew up in the Boston suburbs, but spent summers on Cape Cod "with a great exposure to wildlife," she said. Later, she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at Parsons School of Design in New York City, and started her career doing scientific illustrations-actually drawing insect- for the Smithsonian's Institution's Department of Entomology. She also worked for several years for National Geographic magazine.

In addition, said the founder and owner of Joy Newton Designs, "I've always had a love for interior design. I call it interior gardening." These loves have joined forces in her business which she started over six years ago. Her botanical designs-which she paints in watercolor from the original object, whether it is a branch from pear tree on her property or a bunch of radishes-are reproduced in a variety of decorative object including vases, trays, platters, bowls, paperweights, greeting cards, jewelry and more.

Joy paints using Sennelier watercolors from France, a medium she said has a particularly deep intense color. She was working on a new painting of a papaya, whose rich pale orange flesh attracted her. She said it will become one of her new summer designs this year; she also intends to include grapes, lemons and limes as she expands her collection. In summer, she pointed out, "It's all about the color." She does about six new paintings a year. She is particularly fussy about getting the right fruit or flower to work from. Last year, she said, she wanted to paint plums for her holiday collection. She had heard there were some historic orchards of plum trees in the area and found one just over the state line in Massachusetts. She asked the owner of the orchard if she might have a branch from a tree with some plums still hanging from it. This she carefully carried back to her studio and worked from it. "I have been known to carry home sea grapes from a trip to Florida," she said, laughing.

Joy's original watercolors are reproduced by a printer and the objects themselves are subsequently cut out of the prints in an exacting matter. The "cut-outs" are artistically arranged and applied to functional objects that have been prepared first by being coated in white paint. These may have started life as terracotta pots and vessels, wood trays and glass items, but now are all in a pure white color that "sets off" the botanical designs. The original forms are sometimes Italian or other European pottery & glass. She searches diligently to get the right product as a base for her artwork.

After the designs have been applied, the objects are "protected with UV protection and sealed eight times." She said it takes about four to six weeks from start to finish to complete a single object, although many are in process at one time. One assistant works on a permanent basis and two part-time assistants are employed periodically.

The intensity of the color and the exacting nature of the designs--asparagus spears, hydrangea petals in varying shades of blue, the seed pods of the magnolia, a stunning purple eggplant--seem to jump from the background on which they have been artfully arranged and then applied.

Her products range in price from $3.50 for greeting cards to about $300 for some of her larger bowls and trays.

Joy has recently added paperweights, which are clear glass with stunning botanical designs at the base, to her collection. She also has a jewelry line. The pendant and earrings show the botanical designs: the backing or chains are sterling silver.

Joy said it is important for an artist to work alone and she treasurers the morning hours by herself at her desk, or sometimes hours late at night. But her early evenings are much focused on her son. As a wife of a landscape architect, who has his own designs business, and a mother, Joy has a busy life. She said it is absolutely necessary to separate her business from her personal life, although she admits that when hiking with her husband and son on weekends, she is often peering into the woods and seeing the possibility of new designs.

Joy's collections are carried at many stores including the museum store of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford and at Gledhill Nursery in West Hartford. They may be ordered directly from the artist, who also holds two special "showings" of her products-one in early summer and one at holiday time-for interested buyers.

You can e-mail Joy at joynewtondesigns@cox.net to request an invitation to a show. The artist will be participating in the Atheneum's annual "Fine Art and Flowers" exhibit in early May. She will be on had at a special show at Gledhill on August 6 and 7. Something that she especially is looking forward to is attending the New York International Gift Show, in 2006 and is "to the trade only." She feels it may spark a great deal of interest in her work, which already is collected by devotees.