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!

Pastel portrait of a young football player

Pastel painting 12 inches x 18 inches

All male testosterone in figure drawing session last week! This strapping young football player posed in his uniform for the class. In this pastel portrait I decided to take a step back from all the color I usually use, and work only in black and white pastel.

Maybe I was overloaded from the 5 hours it took me to completely revamp my pastel set-up in my studio. I’ve known for a long time that I really needed to take off the papers on each stick and arrange all of them by color and value–not by brand, the way I had for years. Everything I’ve read says that this is the best way to work. I finally bucked up and did it. I broke each pastel in half and put one half with the code number on it in a storage box. Now, when I run out of a color, I can go to my stock, get a new stick, and know which pastel to reorder at Dick Blick’s.  I usually use NuPastels and a variety of soft pastels. Here’s what my new set-up looks like:

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Steel Gray Paper
Medium: Black and White Rembrandt Pastels

Orchard 1 - Pastel painting of an extreme close up view of an apple tree in the fall.

Pastel painting 20 inches x 20 inches    SOLD   (but giclee prints are available)

I am sooooo excited! I just found out that one of my pastel orchard painting was accepted in the Pastel Society of America Exhibition. I’ve entered a few times, hoping to be part of this worldwide pastel experience, and am so honored to have an acceptance! Orchard 1 will be shown at the National Arts Club in New York City from September 6 – October 1, 2011. John and I are hoping to attend the Materials Fair and Awards Ceremony and Dinner.

With this acceptance, I will be able to apply for the use of the coveted “PSA” after my signature on all pastel paintings. (“Signature artist members are privileged to use the PSA initials after their name, a meaningful designation for the art community and for potential art buyers.”)  But that process may also include some rejections along the way. Just part of the ongoing art journey…

I was just interviewed  by Peter Trippi, Editor of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, one of the best art collector magazines in the world! He was on an art tour of the area and of course, wanted to visit the River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan. Peter chose a few artists from the gallery’s wonderful art makers–and I was one! 10 or so of my framed pieces were up and i brought along some of my new pastels of Italy which will be in my show in November. We discussed my work in detail and also the state of pastel painting in general. He’s a very interesting, informed and passionate advocate of the arts. I really enjoyed spending some time with him.

Peter also reviewed the work of Dan Barry and Elaine Wilson. I wish I would have thought to snap a photograph of all of us together. My mind was obviously not focused on photo ops…

No promises were made but we’ll be watching the magazine for possible mentions!

Below is one of my paintings of Italy that we discussed.

Pastel painting of the columns and arches in a Italian cathedral.

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…

Plein air watercolor painting of a fountain in Naples, Florida.

Plein air watercolor painting    6.5 inches x 10 inches

One day when we were in Naples, I wandered down to the Bayfront to check out the art galleries. There was an interesting fountain in the courtyard that was just made for a plein air watercolor painting…

The Ann Arbor Area Pastelists are having a show at Mallets Creek Library on Packard Road in Ann Arbor from March 19-April 28. We will be having an artist’s reception on Sunday, March 20th from 2-4 pm. If you have time, please stop by and visit us. I will have 2 artworks in the exhibit. Wonderful paintings by accomplished artists and munchies, too!

Watercolor landscape painting of a walkway through a forest

Watercolor painting 9.5 inches x 14 inches
Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.

If you haven’t visited FineArtAmerica.com yet, you should give it a look. It’s a great website full of all types of art: photography, sculpture, paintings, drawings, ceramics, glass and more. There are thousands of artists represented, each with a unique outlook on art and life.

I recently posted some of my favorite paintings on the site and have made them available for purchase as originals or prints.  The print prices are very reasonable and the quality is excellent. Orders usually ship within 2 weeks. You can go to my page by clicking here or typing in Jill Stefani Wagner in the search box at FineArtAmerica.com.

In my area, you will find pages of watercolor and pastel paintings. Simply click on one and you will see the formats and sizes available: stretched canvas, framed and unframed prints, even note cards!

If you are looking for