Pastel floral painting of cascading flowers

Pastel painting   15 inches x 25 inches

This is a large pastel floral painting that I did a few years ago after visiting the San Diego Zoo. Funny that with all of the animals there, I chose to paint a bunch of flowers that were planted on a ridge. It was given an Honorable Mention award in the 2009 Pastel Journal 100 show. This piece will be exhibited along with many other wonderful pastel paintings at the upcoming Ann Arbor Pastelists show at the Ypsilanti Library from January 14 – March 15th, 2012. There will be an artist’s reception on Saturday, January 14th from 4 – 6pm. Hope you can stop by!

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Burgundy Art Spectrum Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel painting of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome, Italy

Pastel paintings   12.5 inches x 25.5 inches

I just love columns. In fact, most of my friends consider it a mild obsession. I have them everywhere in my house and office. They are so strong, stately and monumental. I especially love the columns that are topped with Corinthian capitals. So when I again visited the unbelievably beautiful Pantheon temple in Rome, I decided that I would try to capture some of the elements of Roman architecture that make my heart sing. In this pastel painting of Italy, I stayed true to the structural elements but bumped the color to create additional drama.

I was surprised an honored this week to find out that I was the Featured Artist on the Pastel News website. I subscribe to this site because I love to receive information about historical and current pastel artists. Never dreamed I would be one of them! Check it out here:

http://pastelnews.com/category/featured-pastel-artist/

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Aubergine Art Spectrum Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel cityscape painting of a small street in Umbria, Italy. SOLD

Pastel painting of an extreme close up view of ripe apples on a tree.

Early Christmas Present!

I was notified last week that I had TWO pastel paintings juried into the International Association of Pastel Societies Exhibit. A real thrill and a great end to the year!

It’s an amazing exhibit filled with gorgeous artworks. You can see the full show here.

Pastel painting of the rolling Umbrian countryside as seen from the hilltown of Assisi

Pastel painting 17  inches x 17 inches          SOLD       

I think Assisi was my favorite hill town in Umbria, Italy. It is perched way above the beautiful surrounding countryside and you can see for miles from the old city walls. The Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi is amazing and has frescos by renowned late-medieval artists Cimabue and Giotto. And I just loved the city itself. Sometimes certain places just speak to you, and Assisi and I had looooong conversations!

In this pastel painting I tried to capture some of the feeling of distance and atmosphere of the region. The forefront of the painting is fairly detailed but it falls away to almost abstract shapes in the background.

The reception last Saturday night was amazing! Thanks to the many people who stopped by to view and purchase my artwork. I appreciate your encouragement and support!

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Illustration board with Terra Cotta Art Spectrum Primer
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel painting of the interior of a cathedral dome in Umbria, Italy

Pastel painting 19  inches x 10 inches

When I was in Italy, I became fascinated with the interiors of the beautiful churches and cathedrals we visited. The gorgeous stonework and architecture was, of course, amazing. But there was something about the “spaces” of these places that really intrigued me. Within days of arriving in Umbria, I decided that I wanted to try and capture the spaces of of this country of my heritage in a large body of work. I did plein air watercolor paintings of Italy on site when I was there. and when I returned to the states, I worked on larger pastel paintings in my studio.  Whether it was a far reaching landscape, an intimate orchard scene, or an imposing cathedral interior, I worked to recreate that moment where you catch your breath and say….Ahhhh… Italy!

Hope you can join me at the artist reception!

“Faraway Places: history, objects, spirit & spaces”
Nov. 5th – Dec. 18, 2011
Reception: Nov. 5th 5-8pm
River Gallery, 120 S. Main St., Chelsea MI
www.chelsearivergallery.com

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Illustration board with Terra Cotta Art Spectrum Primer
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Oh. My. God.

I thought I would NEVER finish framing paintings of Italy.

But at 2:27pm today, I did.

25 large pastels and 16 watercolors. Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!

“Faraway Places: history, objects, spirit & spaces”
Nov. 5th – Dec. 18, 2011
Reception: Nov. 5th   5-8pm
River Gallery, 120 S. Main St., Chelsea MI

http://www.chelsearivergallery.com

Plein air watercolor painting of a potted olive tree in an Italian courtyard.

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5  inches x 13.5 inches   $300

Late in the afternoon, after we had visited and painted the hill towns of Umbria, our group of artists would come back to the monastery for a siesta before dinner. Some of us would paint in the studio, an old chapel from the 1600s. I often wandered the grounds and worked outside, trying to capture the light that makes paintings of Italy so special. This little potted olive tree and dramatic, diagonal shadow in our courtyard caught my eye.

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Saunders Waterford Watercolor Paper
Medium: DaVinci Watercolors

Just returned from a whirlwind visit to the Big Apple to see the Pastel Society of America Exhibit. The National Arts Club is housed in an amazing old mansion on Gramercy Park filled with ornate carved woodwork, beautiful stained glass and historic artwork. The exhibit displayed 180 gorgeous pastel paintings in every possible genre: landscape, figurative, still life, and abstract. I pored over each and every one of them. It was inspiring to see work from so many well-known pastel artists that I admire, and exciting to have my work displayed among theirs.

My friend Kathy and I spent the rest of the weekend visiting the sites and shopping of course! There is absolutely no place like New York.

Now the hard work begins. Patti and Deb from the River Gallery reviewed my Italian paintings and chose 48 works to be included in my upcoming show. OMG. I will be framing forever…

Plein air watercolor painting of a gargoyle in a New Orleans fountain.

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5 inches x 7 inches     $100

I did this watercolor painting in the same New Orleans courtyard where the stone goddess lives. There were gargoyles all around the fountain wall, and I thought it’d be a hoot to paint one of them. The water flowing from his mouth was a real challenge to get down on paper…

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Saunders Waterford Watercolor Paper
Medium: DaVinci Watercolors

Plein air watercolor painting of a statue of a young woman in a New Orleans courtyard.

Plein air watercolor painting   7  inches x 9.5 inches   $100

Here is my second watercolor painting of the lovely young stone woman in our courtyard last week in NOLA. Its always challenging to do figure paintings in watercolor, but it helps when your model doesn’t move a bit and she’s all in one color!

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Saunders Waterford Watercolor Paper
Medium: DaVinci Watercolors

Plein air watercolor painting of a statue in a New Orleans courtyard.

Plein air watercolor painting   7  inches x 9.5 inches   $100

We are back from a wonderful family trip to New Orleans! We took in lots of history, museums, music, and amazing food! What I didn’t do much of is paint. I had the best intentions to do many watercolor paintings of buildings when I was down there. But the truth is, the colorful city scenery was overwhelming to me and it was unbearably hot unless you were in deep shade. Plus, there was just so much to do and see. I tried a few architecture sketches, but was unhappy with them and but them directly into the trash. I took lots of photos for reference and managed to do a couple of watercolor paintings in the old courtyard of our condominium.

I was drawn to this 1800s-style sculpture of a young woman holding a basket and attempted two pieces with her as the subject.

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Saunders Waterford Watercolor Paper
Medium: DaVinci Watercolors

Art lovers and friends,

I can’t believe that I am writing my 500th post. What started out as a little blogging experiment to encourage me to paint every day, has become almost a way of life for me. I committed to this process, and now, over 3 years later, I can truthfully say it HAS forced me to paint more often. Even when there was dishes to wash and closets to clean and weeds to pull, I painted. And in so doing, I have increased both my skills and self confidence.

As you can imagine, I’ve also increased the amount of paintings in my studio. Many of the artworks you have seen in this post have sold or have gone off to one of my galleries. But I have many wonderful pieces that have not found homes. Soooo in celebration of my 500th post I’m giving…

25% OFF

all in-studio artworks

August 18 – September 8, 2011

Check through the previous posts on my blog and if you find a piece you like, and it is in my studio, I will give you a 25% discount. Its a WIN-WIN proposition. You will have a wonderful piece of art…and I will have a bit more room to create another one!