Pastel portrait painting of a young mother and her son at the ocean.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 13 inches   SOLD

My collector has given his wife this portrait painting for Christmas, so I can finally post it without spoiling the surprise! He called me on Christmas day to tell me how much she liked it…and how she cried when she opened the package. What a joy to make someone happy by making the art I love to make. Another part of my life that I am very thankful for.

I hope you all have a wonderful new year!

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Kitty Wallis White 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 landscape painting of a path in the hills of Umbria, Italy.

Pastel painting     6  inches x 6 inches  SOLD

This little pastel painting of Italy is from the front of the La Romita monastery in Umbria. A wonderful, little bus would come and pick us up here every morning to take us out to exciting new explorations. Very good memories for me!

This year marks a real transition for me. After years of a fulfilling career in advertising, I have sold my agency to my partners and am moving on to become a full-time artist. I’ve reached some of my goals during these last 12 months, including winning an award in the Pastel Society of America Show, and organizing, painting and exhibiting over 45 paintings of Italy at a well attended show. (30 of the artworks are off to new homes!) But the best part of this journey for me is the process. I hope to spend many years painting en plein air and in the studio, stretching my skills and finding new joy in art.

During this holiday season, I reflect on how much I have to be thankful for in both my personal and my art life. I especially appreciate the people who take this journey with me and follow my blog. Thanks so much for your continued interest! Happy holidays and may you have wondrous and art-filled New Year!

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

Plein air watercolor painting of the hills around Terni, Italy

Plein air watercolor painting   7  inches x 10.5 inches    SOLD

I painted this plein air watercolor painting, sitting at the monastery at La Romita looking down on the valley near Terni, Italy. Depending on the time of day, the distant mountains would turn completely different colors. Sometimes they were a pinkish-purple color at late afternoon, but in the morning, when I did this particular painting of Italy , they were a beautiful, cool blue…

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

Pastel landscape painting of a distant village in the Umbrian hills of Italy.

Pastel painting     27.5  inches x 13.5 inches   SOLD

Another pastel painting of Italy where I am exploring the long distance views from the Umbrian hill towns. I’m not sure if this is really a village or a small villa that grew and grew over the years. Some of the family plots became compounds over the years, with each successive generation adding another addition or building to the original villa. Regardless, they create beautiful focal points in the undulating countryside.

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

Pastel landscape painting of Umbrian farm land and distant hills of Italy.

Pastel paintings   12.5 inches x 25.5 inches          SOLD

In this pastel landscape of Italy, I was trying to capture the breathtaking views that you see from the walls of the many hill towns around Umbria. You can see almost forever into the distance, and in all directions. But I also was playing a bit with the idea of breaking the scene into a more abstract composition, where fields, roads, and forests become nothing more than colors and shapes arranged in a pleasing way. You could say that I made the “earth move”, because I rearranged, eliminated and added elements in the Umbrian countryside just to fit my own artistic needs!

Just a few more days to check out my exhibit of Italian pastel and watercolor paintings at the River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan. It comes down December 24th, so stop by if you can!

http://www.chelsearivergallery.com/artists/Jill_Wagner/Jill_Wagner_Pastels_1.htm

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a pathway behind a monastery in Umbria, Italy.

Plein air watercolor painting   10.5  inches x 6.5 inches    SOLD

We stayed in a wonderful old monastery during our workshop in Italy. The grounds surrounding the La Romita School of Art were almost as impressive as the little hill towns we visited every day. Instead of working in our chapel studio in the afternoon, I spent a lot of time wandering the paths and olive orchards nearby. I would find a view I liked, set up, paint a watercolor painting of Italy and then move on to the next interesting scene. Pure heaven…

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a small lake tucked into the hills of Umbria, Italy

Plein air watercolor painting   10.5  inches x 6.5 inches   SOLD

This is one of my favorite plein air watercolor paintings of Italy. Our trusty bus dropped is off at a teeny, tiny little hill town. Our group walked and walked up to the very top of the town to visit a wonderful ancient church. I looked off to the side and saw this beautiful treasure in the distance. It seemed so pure and sparkling in the Umbrian landscape, I just had to paint it!!

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

Plein air watercolor painting of the door of a small chapel in Umbria, Italy.

Plein air watercolor painting   4.75  inches x 6.75 inches   SOLD

Little, tiny watercolor painting, but close to my heart. I sat on the stairs in front of an old chapel in the heart of a Umbrian hill town to create this painting of Italy. It was cold and damp but the intimate scene drew me in…

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

Pastel landscape painting of the river that runs through the city Prato in Italy.

Pastel painting 11  inches x 17 inches    SOLD

A couple of years a go I visited Amsterdam and Prato, Italy with my friend Susan. We stayed in Prato’s ancient central Piazza. On days when we weren’t exploring Florence or the Tuscan countryside, we would wander the old streets and riverbanks of the city. This scene really captured my imagination. I painted an Italian watercolor painting of it on site and enlarged it into a pastel painting later in my studio. This view probably looks exactly the same as it looked hundreds of years ago. That’s part of what I find fascinating about Italy. So much of the city and countryside has been untouched by our modern architecture. I am sure that is both a blessing and a curse to current Italians, but it is a joy to the traveler!

I have special holiday gift for all of my readers! Sorella Jewelry Studio makes gorgeous personalized jewelry in silver, gold, platinum and paladium. Pendants, rings, charms, pins, almost anything you could want, personalized with your own name, date, wording, or symbols. (I own quite a few of their beautiful pieces!) They are giving a 10% discount until November 20th! Just go to SorellaJewelry.com and use code “pre11″

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

Pastel cityscape painting of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy

Pastel painting 9  inches x 12 inches  SOLD

I usually try to stay away from the famous tourist sites in Italy. They have been painted and photographed so many times, that it is hard to say something new about them. But on a couple of my trips to Florence, I stayed in a small hotel located on the Arno River right at the end of the Ponte Vecchio. I spent many happy hours painting plein air watercolors of Italy from this viewpoint. So it has special significance to me, in ways that other well-known sites don’t.

I thought that, plus a new exploration of color warranted a pastel painting of the famous bridge.

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