Pastel portrait of an African American man with hat in profile.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 16 inches

If you have ever attended a figure drawing or portrait session in Ann Arbor, you have probably drawn George at some time or another. He has been a model for years in this area. He has a wonderful presence and facial structure and endless patience. I did this pastel portrait of him a couple of months ago in our nude drawing class. It was just a 20 minute sketch but I think I caught a little bit of his personality…

I am framing like crazy this week. My gallery in Harbor Springs, Michigan, Tvedten Fine Art, asked me to bring up 15 paintings when I visit this spring. I am so pleased that they have faith in my work and can’t wait to deliver a whole new batch of art to them!

And River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan has honored me with an exhibit of my Italian paintings in November and December! I have been consistently working on a new body of pastel works which will be shown along side the plein air watercolors I painted at LaRomita School of Art in Umbria last year. I have not posted any of them because I want to keep them under wraps until the show opens…

Nothing like being busy!!!

Pastel painting 13 inches x 18 inches

Another figure drawing session on Monday. This is my second pastel portrait of Jan. She had just returned from Mexico and had lovely color in her face!

One of my pastel buddy’s is about to judge her first art show and she asked me for some input. Don’t know if any of you are considering being a jurist, but thought I would share my thoughts…

Yes, the first jurying process is daunting. I did an art center’s annual show a couple years back. I’d judged advertising awards before so I felt I had a little experience, but art is sooooo different. I’ll tell you what I did. Not that it is “correct” or “right” just an example of a way to do it.

I think their were around 300 pieces and I needed to get it down to 50 or so. I first vowed that I would not be swayed by my own personal style or types of art that I liked. I walked around and viewed all of the pieces, with absolutely no judgment, twice. Then I went thru and picked the ones that I felt were obviously not well done, either in structure, technique or subject matter. They were pretty obvious. That eliminated about 20%. One more round eliminated another 10%.

Then it got hard. I excused pieces that looked like they were exact copies of photos and looked for art that seemed to have a viewpoint or concept that elevated them to a higher level. Expressive brushwork, or composition, or subject matter that showed that an artist had an inner vision of what they wanted to create, and had somehow made it visible to the viewer.

It is so subjective. And you feel that you might be breaking someone’s heart. But by process of elimination, I got down to my 50 works. Then I just went with my gut and picked the 6 top winners that blew my socks off. One was 6 x 6 inches, another was absolutely humongous.

Very exacting it is not. But I did my best and felt, at the end, that I had been fair…

Pastel portrait painting of a woman

Pastel painting 13 inches x 18 inches

Another fun day at our figure drawing session on Monday. Misty had modeled for pastel portrait painters before and had a great presence about her. Somehow she reminded me of a woman in the 1920s or 30s and I think I picked up a bit of that in my painting of her.

Gouache landscape painting of a barn along a road in winter

Gouache painting    8 inches x 6 inches

Continuing to play with gouache. This barn is just down the road from our house and every time I drive by I think of what a nice landscape painting scene it is. I painted it once in pastel and gave it to the owners, who also do a lot of landscaping work for us.  Loving the ability to use opaque paints and layer the colors.  Feels almost like acrylics but with a touch of watercolor’s looseness.

Gouache landscape painting of a fence in front of an old bungalow house.

Gouache painting    6 inches x 6 inches

I’m burning out a bit on pastel paintings of Italy, so I thought I’d give myself a new challenge. I’ve been meaning to explore gouache and for some reason, I never get around to it. This medium entices me because it is similar to watercolor, but much more forgiving because it can be applied opaquely. That means mistakes can be revised instead of thrown in the trash. I’m also hoping it might help me to loosen up a bit.

I started with this small landscape painting (or architecture painting depending on how you view the subject matter.) This little bungalow is right next door to my brother-in-laws house and I’ve always loved the way the light hits it in late afternoon. I only let myself use large brushes to cut down on fussing with details. I think it’s a good start…

Pastel portrait of a seated man.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

Carmen has been kind enough to pose for us quite a few times at our figure drawing sessions. I always feel that my pastel portraits make him look stern but he really is a wonderfully warm man who is always a pleasure to talk to.  Click here to see a previous pastel painting I did of Carmen last year.

Every year I am honored to donate a couple of small paintings to the Circle of Art Event held at Saline Picture Frame Company in Saline, Michigan. All proceeds from this silent auction of original art benefit Food Gatherers, an organization that feeds the hungry in Washtenaw County. Over the last 6 years area artists have donated more than 2,400 small works of art and have raised almost $100,000 for Food Gatherers! The generosity of hundreds of artists, art collectors, as well as, a solid volunteer base have combined to make this a not-to-miss event ! The auction will be held May 15 from 12-5pm.

This year, I donated the watercolor paintings above, all painted en plein air locally. If you can, stop by and support this very worthy event! And if you need framing, Saline and Dexter Picture Frame are the places to go–because they are philanthropic and VERY GOOD!

Watercolor painting of an old store front.

Plein air watercolor painting    8 inches x 13 inches

I’ve always liked doing architecture paintings, whether in pastel or watercolor. And I especially love extreme close-ups, where I can play with the idea of realism breaking down into an almost abstract composition. I’m not positive, but I think this storefront was on the main street of Charlevoix, Michigan where we spend time in the spring. But it really doesn’t matter exactly where it was. It could be a scene from any town or city in America.

Pastel portrait painting of a a young woman

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

I did this pastel portrait of a pretty young woman at one of our figure drawing sessions about a month ago. I missed last week so am excited to get back this week. Practice, practice, practice…

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a slough in Florida.

Plein air watercolor painting    9.5 inches x 6 inches

This is the last of my watercolor sketches from down south. I painted this plein air watercolor painting near Six Mile Cypress Slough, a wildlife preserve in southwest Florida. Most of these wetland areas have been filled in over the years to create land that can be built upon. But when that happens, all of the plants and wildlife suffer. The animals, reptiles, birds and insects have to move on to another area or die. It was fascinating to walk this protected area and just listen to all of the sounds of wetland life, without people and traffic interfering. There were so many watercolor landscapes there, “waiting to happen” but I only had an hour or so to explore. I did take a lot of reference photos and am thinking of doing a series using the slough as subject.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of marsh land near the Naples Botanical Gardens

Pastel painting 11.5 inches x 8.5 inches

As a Michigan artist I don’t get many chances to do plein air paintings of tropical landscapes. So when we visit Florida, I make it my business to focus on pastel landscapes of the beautiful southern marsh lands. This painting was done in the Naples Botanical gardens.

My pastel painting, Everglades Morning, which won an award of Exceptional Merit from the Pastel Society of North Florida, just received a third place award from the Ann Arbor Women Artists. We are having a wonderful exhibit, filled with exceptional artwork, at the Ann Arbor Public Library through May 1st. Stop by and explore if you have a chance!

Plein air watercolor painting of Tin City in Naples, Florida

Plein air watercolor painting    6 inches x 9.5 inches

Just got back from two interesting “art trips.” My friend Cecily and I dropped off samples of our work to an art consultant who is filling a new hospital complex in Fort Wayne, Indiana with art works. We made the first cut and are awaiting word on whether we have been chosen to create commissioned work for the project. Many thanks to artist Valerie Mann for alerting us to the opportunity!

And I just returned from a gallery tour of Chicago. I walked through the River North area which has an unbelievable array of interesting galleries. I was inspired by the work there and the experience has given me lots of new ideas for my own work. Always good to get out of your own little head and see what others are doing.

While John golfs in Naples, I wander around the city and surrounding areas looking for interesting things to paint. I stumbled upon an interesting area of the city near the docks called Tin City. I’d never been there before. It appears to be part of an old group of fishing shanties that has been converted to small shops and restaurants. I sat under some shade and did a quick plein air watercolor painting of the site.