Plein air pastel painting of an old farmstead near Belvedere, Michigan.
Pastel painting 12 inches x 4 inches $150
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.
It was our last day “up north”. The boys had headed off to golf and I was wandering the countryside, generally headed toward the course where I would pick them up later in the day. I had had my fill of beautiful, sunny beach scenes and was pining to return to my beloved farm views. I stopped my roving studio on the side of the road to paint a pastel landscapes of this old farm. It looked like it hadn’t changed one bit since the depression. This is my favorite piece of all the pastel and watercolor paintings I did on our vacation. Its small but special!
Plein air pastel landscape painting of a Lake Michigan Beach near Charlevoix
Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches
Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.
Right near the Charlevoix light house on Lake Michigan, there is a beautiful pristine beach. Most of the bathers swim near the park area and this sandy stretch stays relatively empty. I sat under one of the covered picnic areas and painted this pastel landscape in the shade. I liked the simple, bold and dynamic composition of this scene. While I was setting up, two old advertising friends from Ann Arbor strolled up, hundreds of miles from home. I tell ya, its amazing how we are all connected in this big old world…
Plein air watercolor landscape painting of boats at the dock on Round Lake in Charlevoix, Michigan
Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9.75 inches $100
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I brought my watercolors up north this year too. I was mostly focusing on pastels but I did do a few watercolor landscape paintings of the dock area in downtown Charlevoix one afternoon. The sun was high and the water sparkled in the light. It always takes me a while to get back in the mode when I switch between painting mediums. I will be doing a lot more watercolors this summer because I want to be in good form when I travel to Italy for my painting workshop in the fall!
Plein air pastel landscape painting of the rocky shoreline along Lake Michigan near Charlevoix.
Pastel painting 6.5 inches x 6.5 inches $100
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.
Another pastel landscape scene from the shores of Lake Michigan. It’s amazing how the color of the water and landscape changes at different times of day. In fact, it changes by the hour. After spending an 90 minutes or so on this small pastel painting, the view in front of me didn’t look at all like the one on my easel. The water had become much lighter and the shoreline in the distance a dark, midnight blue…
Plein air pastel landscape painting of a path leading to a Lake Michigan beach near Charlevoix, Michigan
Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11 inches
When I was painting the previous pastel landscape post, a man who was walking his dog came by to chat. Turns out he was a plein air pastel painter to0. And in yet another “small world” example, he also winters in Naples/Bonita Springs Florida, near where my husband and I spend time during the cold Michigan winter months. My new friend, Mike Coltman told me about some great art associations down south and also directed me up the beach a bit to a place that he likes to paint. I followed his directions and found this lovely scene to capture in pastel. Thank you, Mike!
Plein air pastel landscape painting of the shoreline near Mount McSauba in Charlevoix Michigan.
Pastel painting 12 inches x 5 inches $150
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There are so many beautiful points along Lake Michigan just made for pastel landscapes. I went out on the farthest point of the Mount McSauba natural preserve to paint this piece. I really enjoyed working with horizontal compositions on this trip. Its good for my creativity to work in different formats and paint different subject matter. I get bored easily and would go insane if I had to paint the same thing every day! Of course, it probably means I will never become an expert at anything. Oh, well, life is too short. So many paintings, so little time…
Plein air pastel landscape painting of trees along the Lake Michigan beach near Charlevoix.
Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11 inches SOLD
The weather was perfect when we were “up north.” I was wandering along the Lake Michigan coast near the Charlevoix lighthouse and saw this colorful scene peaking through the trees. It was early morning and the light on the field and lake drew my attention. It seemed like a good view for a pastel landscape so I opened up my trunk and painted from my mobile studio. That’s one of the things I love about pastels: very easy to work on the road!
Plein air pastel painting of flower filled porch in Harbor Springs, Michigan
Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 5 inches $150
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After painting the pastel cityscape on my previous post, I stayed at the same spot and pivoted for a view of this intimate porch scene. Harbor Springs is full of beautiful old summer homes with intricate, Victorian architecture. I love capturing the unique details that make intriguing and personal house portraits. Contact me if you are interested in a special piece of art to commemorate your home in watercolor or pastel!
Plein air pastel painting of adirondack chairs in front of an old bed and breakfast in Harbor Springs, Michigan
Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 12.5 inches
We spent Memorial Day Weekend “up north”, as usual. I look forward to this trip every year. We go with 4 of our favorite friends, and each of us spends time relaxing and doing what we love best. For me, it is painting en plein air in watercolor and pastel. I painted 9 pieces over the 4 days we were there and will post some of them over the next couple of weeks.
This pastel cityscape was my first piece. I set up on the front lawn of a beautiful old bed and breakfast right on Main Street in Harbor Springs. I felt a bit exposed, but the early morning sunlight hitting the stark white chairs was just to good to miss!
Later in the afternoon, I dropped new work off to Tvedten Fine Art, my new gallery in Harbor Springs. Margaret’s beautiful space was overflowing with inspiring new art. I am so honored to be among her stable of artists. She sold one of my pastel landscapes , “The Secret Place”, that weekend. Yea!
Plein air pastel painting of a garden path and coral bells.
Pastel painting 11 inches x 5.5 inches $150
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.
I sat on the deck the other morning a painted a pastel landscape of the new garden John planted last year. It’s coming up beautifully and every new plant is a luscious, colorful and welcome addition. He doesn’t think of himself as an artist, but I beg to differ!
Only a few days left: Spring Cleaning Sale through June 15th! Any small blog painting ($300 or less) on sale for 30% off! Please contact me directly for your special piece of art.
Colorful pastel portrait of a young women in the Fauvist style.
Pastel painting 10 inches x 13 inches
A couple of weeks ago the Great Lakes Pastel Society held our first convention. I was honored to be a presenter speaking about the business of being an artist. We had some high caliber artists who did demonstrations and workshops. Brenda Mattson held a landscape drawing workshop and brought along some new Richeson products for us to use. I decided to take advantage of the reduced convention price and purchased their new 12o hard pastel set. Its supposed to be light fast and has a lot more colors than NuPastel offers. God knows I don’t need more pastels…but I couldn’t help myself.
I brought the set to our figure drawing session last week and went crazy with color. Our model, Angela, is a beautiful young woman with classical features but I wanted to push the envelope with my pastel portrait of her. After I got home, it seemed to me that I might have been channeling the Fauvists of the early 1900s…
Plein air pastel painting of the windows of a stately mansion.
Pastel painting 10 inches x 5.5 inches $100
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.
The last of the pastel paintings I did at the Curtis Mansion in Saline. It was late afternoon and the light was flagging, as was my strength. But I couldn’t waste the chance to do one more pastel house portrait of this local historical site. I may never have a chance again and I figured I could go home and collapse when I finished…and I did!
