Plein air pastel landscape painting of two old barns nestled in the crops.

Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11 inches   $200

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Popped out Wednesday evening to do a quick  pastel landscape painting out in the farm lands around Saline. All the crops seem thick and healthy this year which is wonderful for the farmers. Its a little difficult, however, for us plein air painters. The corn is so tall, its hard to see over the top!

While I was painting this pastel, the owner of the place came over to check me out. I could tell he was a little perplexed as to why I would want to paint his old barns. I told him that I thought they were beautiful. He opened up and told me all about the farm’s 100 year old history. (HE’D only lived there for 50 years!) I just love learning about the history of my area AND painting to my heart’s content…

Plein air pastel landscape painting of the mill in Saline, Michigan

Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11 inches   $200

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Here’s my second pastel landscape from the plein air event last weekend. This beautiful old mill is now a scenic location for weddings and events in Saline, Michigan. I sat across Michigan Avenue in  Mill Creek Park so I could capture the reflections in the water.

Our pastel group will have an exhibition at the Side Door Gallery in the Dexter Picture Frame Company in Dexter, Michigan. There will be many small, affordable masterpieces for sale. The show will be up from August 1- September 30 with a reception on August 28th from 6-8pm. Stop by if you have a chance!

Plein air pastel painting of a flower shed in a beautiful garden

Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11 inches   $200

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

We had a wonderful plein air day yesterday, Paintng Around Town in Saline. It started out VERY rainy, but by 10 am the clouds had cleared and more than 30 artists scattered around the city, creating pastels, watercolors, and oil paintings of the local scenes. I managed to get in 3 pastel landscapes. The above painting was done out at Saline Mills, a beautiful old mill site with gorgeous gardens and historic out buildings.

Congratulations to Sandra DiFazio and Toni Stevenson, who won the People’s Choice and Best of Show awards! And thank you to Linda Klenczar for making these fun painting days possible!

Pastel painting of Hostas in a garden.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 10 inches   $450

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

My husband has created magical gardens in our back yard over the last few years. Each week, another little riot of color will appear in a new spot. Then those flowers fade, and new ones appear. The one constant in this ever changing scene is the many hostas that he has planted. Although they are not as colorful as some of the other flowers, I’m drawn to their cool serenity. This floral pastel painting captures one of those hostas in the sun light.

Looking forward to “Painting Around Town”, a plein air event in Saline, Michigan tomorrow. It may rain a bit in the morning, but several businesses have also offered to host artists inside, too. Come by the reception at Two Twelve Arts Center from 4-6pm on Saturday night to see the beautiful paintings that all of the artists create!

Watercolor landscape painting of Portofino, Italy

Watercolor painting      10 inches x 8.5 inches SOLD

I just delivered this watercolor commission to a woman who asked me to create it as a birthday present for her best friend. They had recently visited Italy together and she wanted this watercolor landscape to commemorate their trip. THey both loved Portofino, a beautiful Mediterranean port on the east coast. I worked from a photo she provided but made composition changes and simplified the scene a bit. She was really happy with it. Now I can’t wait to hear what her friend thinks about her surprise art present!

Pastel landscape painting of water reflections beneath a dock and boat.

Pastel painting 12 inches x 18 inches   $650

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

This is the second pastel landscape in a series that I’m doing on water reflections. I’m really enjoying zeroing in on this “micro landscape” and exploring color and composition within a restricted space.  I especially like the way the rocks slowly recede into the water in this piece.

The first pastel in this series will be available at my new gallery in Harbor Springs in August. Tvedten Fine Art is a wonderful gallery filled with amazing art by Michigan and national artists. I am so pleased to be joining these talented artists including Margaret Tvedten, the owner and artiste extraordinaire!

Plein air pastel landscape of a sunlit lake near Douglas, Michigan

Pastel painting 9 inches x 6 inches   $100

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Yesterday I drove over to the west side of Michigan to drop off 7 new watercolors to the gallery that represents me in the Saugatuk-Douglas area. Button Gallery has recently taken over the huge gallery space where Petter Gallery operated for years. They have refreshed the art and created a gorgeous space to explore paintings and sculpture. It feels almost like a museum only friendlier. They don’t currently have a website but you can find information on them here: http://saugatuckdouglas.com/button.htm

While I was there, I stopped in the quaint, arty town of Douglas and did this quick plein air pastel landscape of Kalamazoo Lake near the end of Main Street. The sun shining on the water intrigued me and the water lilies and weeds made for some interesting texture.

Plein air watercolor painting of rolling hills near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches $100

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

My 2 sisters and I are total Civil War Geeks. I don’t mean we actually dress up and re-enact battles, but we really love to read about that time period. We decided to take a “Girl’s Roadtrip” down there for a long weekend and were absolutely floored by the whole experience. No tacky tourist trap, this. The countryside and farmhouses were very much as they were in the 1860s and the museums were astounding.

One afternoon we sat up on Seminary Ridge and I painted this watercolor landscape of the rolling hills looking out toward Dwight Eisenhower’s farmhouse. I only had a half hour but the Pennsylvania scenery was just drop dead gorgeous and I couldn’t pass it up.

Plein air watercolor of peonies in full bloom in a garden

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 7 inches $100

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Our friend’s garden has given me endless beautiful views to paint and I have taken full advantage of it. In the spring, when everything started blooming, I captured their beautiful peony bushes in a plein air watercolor landscape. I need to make another visit to see what is blooming now!

Plein air pastel painting of a farm and golden field

Pastel painting 11 inches x 5.5 inches   $200

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

This is another pastel landscape of the same farm in my last post. Completely different view and format. I spend so much time driving around trying to find the “perfect” scene, but this just goes to show that you can sit yourself on one acre of land and make multiple paintings of the same subject.

I really love doing these types of house portraits and have done quite a few commissions for people who want to have their homes made into pieces of art that they can keep forever. If you, or someone you know would like a similar keepsake, contact me at:

jill@jillwagner art.com

Plein air pastel painting of a shaded farmhouse surrounded by fields of golden wheat

Pastel painting 8 inches x 10 inches   $200

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

This is a plein air pastel landscape of the farm I fell in love with on Sunday. It was such a perfect day and the wheat field was so massive and awe inspiring, that it just took my breath away. I spent a good 2 hours in the midday sun painting 2 farmscape views. I would have stayed longer if the sun and bugs hadn’t wore me down.

A big thank you to all my pastel buddies over at the WetCanvas.com pastel forum. Whenever I am in a quandry about a painting, this talented group of pastel artists always gives me good advice to improve it. Its really great to have fresh eyes view your work because sometimes the artist is just too dang CLOSE to it!

Pastel pet portrait painting of a chocolate labrador

Pastel painting 8 inches x 10 inches   SOLD

I delivered this pastel pet portrait painting to my client yesterday morning. I think she liked it. When she saw it she hugged me and got all “verklempfed.” There is nothing like creating a piece of art that really connects with the new owner. Absolutely makes my day!

I spent the rest of the day painting plein air pastel landscapes of the the countryside north of Ann Arbor and will post some of those images in the next few days.

Looking forward to the Saline Paint Out on Saturday, July 25th. We will paint all around the Saline area and then have a reception at the Two Twelve Arts Center from 4-6pm with the paintings available for sale.  If you are interested, contact Taylor Jacobsen at

salinemills@provide.net