Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a rock garden surrounded by hostas

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5 inches x 7 inches $100

One more watercolor landscape from our latest garden site. It was my last watercolor painting of the day and I had really loosened up on this quick sketch. The only thing I didn’t catch was the little line of water cascading over the rocks…

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

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

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a sunlit creek and bridge in Michigan

Pastel painting 8 inches x 11 inches

I managed to loosen up a bit on this second pastel painting at Parker Mill. The sunlight created a sparkling effect that really caught my eye. Our plein air group is going to meet there again soon and I can’t wait to explore some more of the grounds. It really is cool to see what view inspires each of us and how we capture that feeling in pastel landscapes.

Plein air pastel painting of a winding, colorful river in Bellaire, Michigan

Pastel painting 8 inches x 11 inches

The last of my pastel landscapes from Northern Michigan. I stopped in Bellaire, at an old dam site, and saw this beautiful river scene. Like many other plein air pastel painters I’m a sucker for dramatic water views. But they can be somewhat difficult to capture on paper. The light and shadows on the water are constantly changing and creating interesting areas to paint. I find that if I stare at the scene for a bit and solidify in my mind what really attracted me to the view, I have a better chance of succeeding. In this case, the striations of color rippling through the water really stood out for me…

The Ann Arbor Women Artists have a wonderful exhibit showing now at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan. I was honored to have 2 pieces accepted. The artist reception is July 9th from 7-9pm. Please stop by if you can!

Plein air watercolor landscape of a southern Florida canal.

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches $100

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

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.

Pastel painting of rocks and reflections in a Michigan river

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches    SOLD  (Giclee prints are available)

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

This is my 27th RiverStone pastel painting. I keep coming back to this subject because it speaks to me in a very special way. I originally started this series because my art mentor, Mary Beth Koeze, suggested that I paint one subject over and over, and that I “paint bigger.” These scenes speak to me of a quiet moment in time, away from the hub bub of everyday life. They become almost abstract in their composition, yet I think each one of these pastel paintings has its own, unique personality. The series has been very popular with corporate art clients, especially health care institutions.

I have found a wonderful source for creating Giclee prints of my pastel paintings and am now offering a few of my favorite pieces for sale as reproductions. They have been purchased by quite a few health care organizations and other corporate entities to hang as art in their buildings. They are less expensive than purchasing original art and make wonderful gifts.

Wikipedia describes giclees as: Giclée (pronounced “zhee-clay”)  is an invented name for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink-jet printing. The word “giclée” is derived from the French language word “le gicleur” meaning “nozzle”, or more specifically “gicler” meaning “to squirt, spurt, or spray”. It was coined in 1991 by, a printmaker working in the field, to represent any inkjet-based digital print used as fine art. The name was originally applied to fine art prints created on Iris printers in a process invented in the early 1990s but has since come to mean any high quality ink-jet print and is often used in galleries and print shops to denote such prints.

My Giclees are available in many subjects, sizes and formats and are ready to frame. Please take a look at my Giclee Gallery to see all of the prints that are now available.

Pastel painting of a rushing river

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches SOLD

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Another in my continuing RiverStone pastel series–but this seemed to take a bit of a different turn than the others. Its inspired by the rushing waters in Montana’s creeks in the spring after the winter thaw. But it also reminds me of northern Michigan rivers. Bright, crisp and clean. I’m currently working on some new floral pastels, this time inspired by our own back yard treasures!

Pastel painting of water rushing over rocks in a creek bed

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches $850    (Giclee prints are available)

Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.

Here is the companion to the pastel painting I posted the other day. It is another “micro landscape” in my RiverStone series. Everywhere I travel, I take photos of rocks in riverbeds and streams. Back in the studio, I crop tightly on the images, sometimes adding or deleting elements to make the composition flow better. In these paintings, I eliminated a lot of extraneous information that I felt took away from the feeling of rushing water that I wanted to portray.

Pastel painting of water rushing over rocks in a creek bed

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches $850   (Giclee prints are available)

Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.

In the middle of this crummy winter, I thought I would revisit my RiverStone series. Most of my previous pastel paintings in this group of works featured calm, quiet water, but this time I decided to go for action! Water in motion is really difficult to portray so this is a good learning process for me. I painted two pieces at the same time in the hopes that they would work well together as a dyptich. I’ll post the second one in a couple of days…