Plein air pastel landscape painting of a single bird sitting on a rock formation near a canal in Florida.

Pastel painting 6 inches x 8 inches     $100

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One morning when I was out looking for a place to set up for  pastel paintings, I saw this neat rock formation along one of the canals near our condo. When I began sketching, a black water bird of some type landed on one of the large rocks–and stayed there for the next hour! It was if it was posing for me, so of course, I had to take advantage it! This a small pastel landscape piece, but I really like the painterly effect of the rocks…

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a marsh in the Everglades in Florida.

Pastel painting 12 inches x 8 inches     $300

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Another pastel painting from the Everglades when we were down south. I was just fascinated with the landscape of the marshes. It is so rich and mysterious. And I loved the hundreds of birds, turtles and various other creatures that moved in and out of my view. Not a bad way to spend a warm sunny pastel landscape day.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of the the sun rising over the Everglades in Florida

Pastel painting 12 inches x 8 inches     $300

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The Everglades in southern Florida are pastel painting heaven. When we stayed in Naples, I spent one whole day driving back and forth on the Tamiami trail. Whenever I saw something that caught my eye, I would park my traveling studio (the family SUV) at the side of the road and set up shop out of the the back. The wandering rivers catch the light and make wonderful scenes for a pastel landscape.

Pastel painting 17 inches x 11 inches     $650

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Another pastel painting from right here in Saline. This creek is just off the main road going into town. And let me tell ya, I almost got run over while shooting my reference shots from the tiny bridge! (I can see the headline in our local paper: Pastel Artist Expires Shooting Precarious Photographs…) But I just had to do it. The reflections were so beautiful, especially in contrast to the bright snow on the rim of the river. I took about 20 photos and cropped and revised the composition until it felt right for the pastel landscape I had in mind. I’m really happy with the results!

Pastel landscape painting of the wide river that winds through Prato, Italy.

Pastel painting 6.5 inches x 6.5 inches     $100

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I’ve done hundreds of watercolor paintings of Italy, but no pastel paintings. For some reason, I’ve always visualized Tuscany only as a watercolor subject. The other day, I thought I’d try a scene of Prato, the small town I visited a few years ago, this time in pastel. My friend Susan and I stayed in the old city center for a week a couple of years ago. On our last day there, we took a long walking tour and stopped to sketch along this beautiful river. My current obsession with water and reflections made this view a perfect one to experiment with for a pastel landscape.

Watercolor landscape painting of a beautiful old mansion in Savannah, Georgia

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 14 inches    $500

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Last month I was honored to be asked to do a watercolor painting demonstration for Taylor Jacobsen’s watercolor class — an art mainstay in our area. People have been attending his class for decades.

I chose to work from a cropped photo of a beautiful old, Savannah mansion that I had take a few years ago. I love to paintings of architecture and when I can’t do it in person, I work from reference photos. In this piece, I was attracted to the highlighted plant as the center of interest, and the zig zag compostion that leads your eye up to it. I decide to push the juxtaposition of the complimentary colors, blue and orange, to get a warm, glowing effect.

Pastel landscape painting of Mill Creek in Saline, Michigan

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches     $650

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Back from a wonderful trip down south. A little cold and windy but MUCH better than the bitter cold in Michigan right now. I painted a lot of plein air pastel paintings in Florida over the last week and will post them soon.

I finished this pastel landscape just before we left on our trip. Mill Creek wanders through Saline and the city’s parks. In this piece I wanted to capture the contrast between the light-filled, early morning mist and the vibrant patch of sunlight in the foreground.

Plein air watercolor painting of two women by the pool.

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Another unsuspecting pair of models falls prey to the wandering watercolor artist! I wonder if they would recognize themselves lounging at the pool? They stayed put just long enough for me to create a watercolor figure painting of them.

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a umbrella table next to a pool.

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Afternoon by the pool. The luscious, dark colors of the pool reflection drew me into this scene. Some people came down and sat at the table halfway through the watercolor painting and I had to recreate that area by memory…

Plein air gouache landscape painting of an approaching storm over the ocean in Florida.

Gouache painting 6 inches x 9 inches $100

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Although we had wonderful weather on our trip, one day a huge storm moved in toward our island. I sat on our deck and tried to get the feel of the turmoil in a gouache seascape. It was dramatic for a while, but luckily the storm only created a short, refreshing rainfall. Since gouache is opaque, I was able to overpaint the waves in white to highlight the gazebo on the shore.

Plein air watercolor painting of a palm tree in a nature preserve in Florida.

Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches $100

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I visited a nature preserve near Naples, Florida in hopes of doing a large watercolor landscape of the area. I quickly became totally overwhelmed by the immenseness of the acreage and settled on doing a watercolor painting of a single distressed palm. I wanted to capture some of the fading brown leaves next to the vibrant new growth.

Plein air watercolor landscape of a southern Florida canal.

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches $100

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While we were in Florida last December, we drove by this picturesque canal right off a busy highway. The next day, when John was golfing, I returned to capture it in a  watercolor painting. The palm trees made a perfect frame for the bridge and slow flowing water.