Jeanne Williamson Ostroff

More New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 16:12:24 +0000

When I retired from my day job in July, I changed the daily background color to Light Ultramarine Blue on my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026, a year-long painting that documents the number of steps I walk each day.

The picture above shows how many steps I walked in August. The red icons show the 19 days I walked 10,000 or more steps, and the 3 black circles are for 9000 to 9999 steps. This amount of walking (especially in the summer when I don't like the heat) is a huge increase over last August when I was juggling working, walking in the heat, and whatever life events that didn't give me time to walk as much as I would have preferred.

In the picture below, you can see January through August with plenty of room of the rest of the year.

New Work: 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 30 Aug 2026 12:27:38 +0000

This is 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026, a mixed media painting created with the monoprinted texture of a construction fence with large squares, hand stamping, collage, machine stitching, and stiffen it so it doesn't sag. I make one 12" x 12" painting each month as a time to play or experiment with an idea or technique.

Street Markings as Art

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 14:24:22 +0000

Recently there was an article in the NY Times entitled "Behind the Mysterious Symbols Spray-Painted on Our Streets," with the subtitle "All over New York’s sidewalks and sewers, colored markings hide in plain sight, telling construction crews where to dig and creating accidental art."

I was so excited to read it because I have been curious about the symbols and colors for a very long time, and even made a few small paintings about the markings I saw on my walks when I was working for a nearby city, and as I walk in my neighborhood.

Below is a screenshot from the NYT times, and below that three of the paintings I created in 2021.

There are new markings in my neighborhood now, and I am considering a new larger painting that incorporates my old and new photos of them.

Screenshot from the NYT times

Future AT&T Work #1, mixed media on 6” x 6" board, created in 2021

Future Utility Work #2, mixed media on 6” x 6" board, created in 2021

Future Utility Work #1, mixed media on 6” x 6" board, created in 2021

Micro Gallery 01760 Exhibit Ending soon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 22:41:45 +0000

Saturday is the last full day to see my exhibit of eight small paintings at the Micro Gallery 01760 in Natick, MA. The gallery is outdoors on the wall on Adams St, in Natick Center, close to a lot of public art. The interior dimensions are 12” high, 29” long and 13” deep, which is perfect to exhibit eight of my nine Sewer Covers and the Sealed Crack Lines Around Them.

The paintings incorporate photos of sewer covers in my neighborhood and the sealed crack lines around them. The sealing of cracks is meant to help prevent further damage on the street.

Some neighbors described the process of crack sealing as loud and as less than desirable to look at. I see it as mark making and find them inspiring.

The paintings include acrylic skins of the photographs collaged on monoprinted, painted and stitched construction fence fabric, painting, stamped dots, and more stitching on 6” x 6” board, created in 2021.

Electrical Boxes and Smart Meters

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:52:42 +0000

I painted this electrical box and a second one a foot or so behind it in May 2016. Now that they have new Smart Meters, and I have a lot more free time, I think I may give both boxes a good cleaning and try to remove years of dirt and the stickers people put on them.

Last New Work in Progress for 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:19:59 +0000

This is my last new work in progress post for my 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026 painting. I have some more work to do, but as I am close to finishing it, my next post about it will be when it's complete.

More New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:15:02 +0000

After sketching different ideas for next steps in Photoshop last week, I painted the green lines around the large "squares" from the construction fence pattern for my 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026 painting, and then I trimmed it down to 12" square. I could call it finished but I am going to do more painting. It'll be finished sometime before the end of the month.

More New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:34:05 +0000

In July, I retired from my day job, and changed how I document the number of steps I walk each day on my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 year-long painting. Starting then, the background color behind all icons for the rest of this year is now Light Ultramarine Blue. Each month, I am pre-painting the days of each month, month by month ahead of time, and each week I collage on the icons for each day walked.

During the brief time I stopped working but was still on the payroll, the background was Light Phthalo Blue. Up until my last day in the office, I was painting Florescent Magenta on the days I was off such as weekends, vacation, personal, and sick days.

In this picture, you can see the August 1st icon is already in place, a little section of July to the left of August, a little of the Light Phthalo Blue in the diagonal upper right of August. and the Florescent Magenta background paint before that.

More Ideas For New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 12:23:24 +0000

Yesterday I coated what I had done so far on my monthly 12” square painting, 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026, with 50/50 watered-down matt medium. When wet, the bottom row was very badly puckered and I was considering cutting it off and replacing it with a different piece of fabric.

While it is a fabric painting, and fabric does pucker, the amount was really bothering me. Thankfully it's reasonably flat today after drying overnight.

While it was drying, I played with a few ideas about next steps in Photoshop. Here are two sketches. I think I'm going to use the idea in the first photo and do more after that.

While I like the idea in the second photo, and might try that in a different piece, it wasn't the right thing to do with this one.

More New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 20:33:38 +0000

I started working on my monthly 12” square painting, 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026, combining a piece of monoprinted and painted fabric of a construction fence from many years ago and a piece of fabric that has many layers of fabric paint from hand stamping the icons for my yearlong walking painting. I cut and stitched as you can see in these photos, and now I’m paused while I think about my next steps.

New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:38:47 +0000

I’m considering using some of these fabrics for my monthly 12” square painting, 12 x 12 x 12 August 2026. I think I may collage parts of the bottom left and/or top left fabrics which have paint from the icons I stamped for my walking painting, on to the blue and red stitched piece on the right.

New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 202

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 12:50:55 +0000

This is the month of July for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting, a year-long painting documenting the number of steps I walked each day. I have documented my steps in paintings since 2016.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps.

In July I walked over 10,000 steps 11 times and came close to that as represented by the circles (9000 steps +) two times, because of hot weather.

In July, the red lines are for hot days, and the orange is for when I was on vacation, which this time reduced my walking.

The base monoprinted grid is black. Before I retired from my day job, the Florescent Magenta background paint signified the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) when I was not at work, which usually gave me more time to walk for exercise than the days I am at work.

On June 19, I changed the background color to Light Phthalo Blue to signify the days I technically on “vacation” and still on the payroll at work, but actually retired from my day job and my email access ended. On July 1, the background color changed to Light Ultramarine Blue when I was fully retired. It will remain that color through the end of the year.

The second image shows January through July and plenty of room for the rest of the year.

On Exhibit at Gallery 01760

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 19:36:00 +0000

I am exhibiting eight small paintings at the Micro Gallery 01760 in Natick, MA. The gallery is outdoors on the wall on Adams St, in Natick Center, close to a lot of public art. The interior dimensions are 12” high, 29” long and 13” deep, which is perfect to exhibit eight of my nine Sewer Covers and the Sealed Crack Lines Around Them.

The paintings incorporate photos of sewer covers in my neighborhood and the sealed crack lines around them. The sealing of cracks is meant to help prevent further damage on the street.

Some neighbors described the process of crack sealing as loud and as less than desirable to look at. I see it as mark making and find them inspiring.

Planning Ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:40:08 +0000

I'm planning ahead by making sure I have plenty of printed stamped icons for the number of steps I walk each day. In this picture on the middle right you can see black icons for 4000, 5000, 8000, and 9000 drying. On the bottom, to the left of the scissors are the steps I have already walked this week, in red, for 10,000, 11,000, and 10,000 steps for this past Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. On the bottom left is the key to what the stamps mean, black for under 9999 steps, red for 10,000-10,999, and yellow for 20,000 or more. On the right side, the stamps are lined up in a row, lower numbers at the bottom and counting up by the thousands to the top. At the top of the photo are stacks for stamps ready to be used as needed, and above them, black, red and yellow bottles of fabric paint.

New Work: 12 x 12 x 12 July 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:16:55 +0000

12 x 12 x 12 July 2026, is influenced by my experience at Noah Kahan's first of four concerts at Fenway Park in Boston. It rained all day that day including through the entire concert. I think we got over 2" in total. We were two of 38,000 people all dressed in various types of rain gear, watching the concert and having a wonderful time!

Besides watching Noah and this band, and the videos in the background, play on stage, I was also watching the rain in the spotlights, hoping to see if it stopped, so I didn't have to put my hand outside of my rain poncho to feel if it was still raining or not.

This mixed media painting includes two monoprinted pieces of construction fences as the metaphor for the spotlights. The dots symbolize the wristbands that lit up on everyone's wrists (assuming their wrists weren't hidden under their gear like mine was so I could keep dry). I stitched the "rain" with my sewing machine, and coated the fabric with watered down matt medium to stiffen it so it doesn't sag.

More New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 July 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:03:42 +0000

While watching Noah Kahan at his concert at Fenway Park in Boston in the pouring rain on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, I was also watching the rain in the spotlights in hope it would stop raining. This is work in progress for my July 12 x 12 x 12 mixed media painting which is inspired by my experience. Using monoprinted sections of two different construction fences as the metaphor for the spotlights, I added the dots which symbolize the wristbands that lit up on everyone's wrists (assuming their wrists weren't hidden under their gear like mine was so I could keep dry). Next I will stitch the "rain" in with my sewing machine, and then I'll stiffen the fabric and finish this painting.

New Work in Progress: 12 x 12 x 12 July 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 13:02:57 +0000

We had a wonderful time at Noah Kahan’s concert at Fenway Park in Boston despite the pouring rain Tuesday evening! Besides watching him play, I was also watching the rain in the spotlights in hope it would stop raining. The top photo is work in progress of my July 12 x 12 x 12 mixed media painting which is inspired by my experience watching the rain and also from the photo that my husband took of the rain in the spotlight. I'm using monoprinted sections of two different construction fences as the metaphor for the spotlights. I will stitch the "rain" in with my sewing machine after doing some additional surface design on the fabric.

Canvas Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 21:09:39 +0000

Almost everyday for well over five years, I brought this red canvas bag with me to my day job at a nearby city because it was the perfect size to carry my lunch bag and any other stuff I was bringing in that day. It used to have the logo of an organization that worked with cities and towns in Massachusetts. They gave it out one year at the annual conference they have in January. I attended their conference every year for 12 years, including when I had my previous job I had a a nearby school district. I don't remember which year I got it, but I really like it because it's similar to an LL Bean bag but the handles are long enough to carry it on my shoulder. Since the day I got it, I wanted to paint over the logo (no offense to the agency), but I never had the time. I do now, and I did. I traced a construction fence pattern and had fun painting with no plan except to cover the logo and have fun.

New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 16:12:05 +0000

Now that it's July, and I have retired from my day job, I am making changes for how I document the number of steps I walk each day for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 year-long painting project.

For this year, when I was working, I was using Florescent Magenta background paint to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, which usually gave me more time to walk for exercise. I painted it after I added the icons for the number of steps by the thousands.

On June 19, I changed the background color to Light Phthalo Blue to signify the days I was technically on "vacation" and still on the payroll at work, but actually retired. I pre-painted those 12 days.

Now I have not only changed the background color again, this time to Light Ultramarine Blue, but I am now going to pre-paint the days of each month for the rest of the year. This paint, and the Light Phthalo Blue, are opaque compared to the Florescent Magenta which is not, so it'll be a very different look for the black on white monoprinted grid of the construction fence.

The second image shows a glimpse of January through July before I add new stamps through Saturday of this week, and the following weeks and months through the rest of the year.

New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 15:36:10 +0000

This is the month of June for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting, a year-long painting documenting the number of steps I walked each day. I have documented my steps in paintings since 2016.

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps.

In June I walked over 20,000 steps two times thanks to being away and without a car on both days, and over 10,000 steps 13 times because of warmer (but not hot) weather.

The base monoprinted grid is black, was Florescent Magenta background paint to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, which usually gave me more time to walk for exercise than the days I am at work.

Starting on June 19, I changed the background color to Light Phthalo Blue to signify the days I technically on "vacation" and still on the payroll at work, but I actually retired from my day job and my email access ended. Starting in July, the background color will change again when I am fully retired.

Under some individual days, there is a painted line of color to represent reasons that may lower or raise the number of steps I walked that day, such as snow, rainy, extreme hot or cold, illness, and vacation.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

The second image shows January through June and plenty of room for the rest of the year.

New Work: 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 11:25:47 +0000

The focus of 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12” square painting, was to help me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day.

This week was my first day of not working my day job anymore. Technically I am on "vacation" through the end of June, and starting July 1, I will be fully retired.

I have been using Florescent Magenta paint in the background of some squares on my Dates in a Life Walking Project to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, because it usually gave me more time to walk for exercise.

I decided to mark the time I am on "vacation" by using Light Phthalo Blue in the background, and then, starting July 1, I will use Light Ultramarine Blue for the rest of the year.

It was helpful to take advantage of my time working on my June 12 x 12 x 12 to help plan my Dates in a Life Walking Project painting going forward.

More New Work in Progress" 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:08:24 +0000

I haven't had time this work week to work on my 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12” square painting, is helping me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day.

Here, in reverse order, is what I painted last weekend.

I'm looking forward to doing more painting this weekend, hopefully starting after work tomorrow afternoon.

More New Work in Progress" 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 13:10:08 +0000

12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12” square painting, is helping me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day, I added red circles next to the black ones.

Currently I paint Florescent Magenta in the background of some squares to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I have not been at work, because it usually gives me more time to walk for exercise.

My days are going to change soon, and I’m trying to decide what color I will use instead of the Florescent Magenta so I can highlight that. By experimenting with one of the blueish paint colors in this photo, I will be able to make a good choice.

New Work in Progress" 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:08:14 +0000

The theme for my 12 x 12 x 12 June 2026, my monthly 12" square painting, is to help me decide how to transition the background color in my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting to document a big life change that I expect will increase how much I walk every day.

The fabric in the photo is the same grid as my walking painting. While the circles are smaller than the icons I use to document my steps by the thousands, they leave me a good amount of space to try different color options.

Currently, I have been painting Florescent Magenta in the background of some squares to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I have not been at work, because it usually gives me more time to walk for exercise.

My days are going to change soon, and I'm trying to decide what color I will use instead of the Florescent Magenta so I can highlight that. Hopefully working on this piece, and experimenting with one of the blueish paint colors in this photo, I will be able to make a good choice.

New Work in Progress: Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:02:35 +0000

This is the month of May for my Dates in a Life Walking Project 2026 painting, a year-long painting documenting the number of steps I walked each day. I have documented my steps in paintings since 2016.

In May I walked over 10,000 steps 19 times thanks to warmer weather, and more sunlight after work. On May 20, the high daytime temperature in eastern Massachusetts was 47 degrees and it rained just about all day. I didn't have wearing long johns on my bingo card for May!

I use a system of symbols to represent each thousand steps. Instead of showing exactly how many I walk. The black icons represent up to 9999 steps walked each day, red represents 10,000-19,999 steps and yellow represents 20,000-29,999 steps.

The base monoprinted grid is black, with Florescent Magenta background paint used to signify the days (mostly weekends, but also including holidays, vacations days, and sick days) I was not at work, which usually gives me more time to walk for exercise than the days I am at work.

Under some individual days, there is a painted line of color to represent reasons that may lower or raise the number of steps I walked that day, such as snow, rainy, extreme hot or cold, illness, and vacation.

The painting is created with monoprinted textures of a construction fence as the background, handstamped rubber erasers on fabric which are collaged on the background grid, as well as handpainting and stitching on stiffened fabric.

The second image shows January through May and plenty of room for the rest of the year.