Plein air pastel still life painting of an elk skull, flowers and stone wall.

Plein air watercolor painting   6. 5 inches x 10 inches

The lodge at Bonanza Creek is comfortable and inviting. It’s surrounded on one side by a stone wall with western paraphernalia arranged among the rocks. One day, after riding, I decided to do what I rarely do: a watercolor still life. Granted, the elements are a little different from the usual apples, lemons and wine bottles. But it seemed appropriate for this Michigan artist visiting Montana!

Watercolor still life painting of a single orange and shadow.

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches

A very simple piece today. This week I have been spending my studio time working on a set of large paintings of Umbria and haven’t done many small pieces.

This is another still life painting from my work shop in Italy, painted on Waterford cold press paper (my favorite!). Below is a painting of oranges that I posted a while ago, done at the same time, of the same oranges, but on Yupo plastic paper. You can see that the paper has A LOT of affect on the final outcome of painting. If you want to control the outcome, it s very important to have a vision before you start painting and choose your paper accordingly. If you don’t need total control, experiment with different substrates!

Still life watercolor painting of two oranges.

Watercolor painting 11 inches x 9 inches

When I was in Italy, one of our instructors, Fritz Kapraun, encouraged us to paint some of the local flora of the region. He has a wonderful way with watercolor and inspired us all. There was a lovely orange tree on site and a few of us tried painting the fruit on our studio days.

I painted this watercolor painting on Yupo paper. I love the “serendipity” of this surface. You can’t really control what will happen with the paint on Yupo. It puddles and congeals in ways that you can’t imagine ahead of time. You just have to go with the flow and relinquish your ability to direct the outcome. Something that is very liberating for a control freak like me…

Pastel painting of freshly cut lilacs in a vase with sunlight streaming in.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 14 inches   $600

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Every year our backyard bursts out in purple and lavender blooms to herald the coming of spring. I love lilacs almost as much as hydrangeas so I decided to paint the ever present vase of them on our kitchen table. But, like most of my work, the real subject of this  pastel painting is light. The way the sunlight streamed through the window and lit up the vase was the real attraction for me.

Pastel painting of a wine bottle and empty glass

Pastel painting 4.5 inches x 8 inches $100

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The last of my recent still lifes features my empty glass and a half full bottle of chardonay after a long night of pastel paintings. I think I like this piece the best: It’s colors are vibrant and strong and it “sits” nicely in its space. I think I will continue to assign myself small still life paintings every once in a while. They really are wonderful for training your eye to “paint what you see, not what you know”…

Pastel still life painting of a glass, beer bottle and key

Pastel painting 4.5 inches x 8 inches $100

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As my “still life night” wore on, I moved to some different subjects. John had just finished one of his non-alcoholic beers and the arrangement on the table caught my eye. I used dark colored, sanded paper for these pastel paintings. I like the way the paper color (dusky purple in this case) peaks thru the pastel and unifies the color scheme. Also, since in pastel you work from dark to light, it saves time in that there is no need to create a dark underpainting.

Pastel still life painting of 2 red apples on a white plate

Pastel painting 5.25 inches x 7.75 inches $100

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I don’t usually paint many still lifes. But every once in a while I get the urge to paint from life and I’m too much of a whimp to paint outside in the winter. I recently painted this pastel as a compositional study in ovals and circles. I also experimented with a very limited color palette…

Close up pastel painting of a potted palm

Pastel painting 5.5 inches x 7.5 inches $100 + shipping

Please contact me if you are interested in this artwork or a commission

The patterns that palms make fascinate me. They are so rhythmic and yet each one is very individual. For this pastel painting, i focused my attention on a single pot sitting on a restaurant deck. Sometimes zooming in a on the “micro landscapes” around us can be just as interesting as the big view scenes. And of course, the bright sun and shadows really make this piece sing!