Watercolor portrait of a young woman with a pink rose in her hair

Watercolor portrait of a young woman with a pink rose in her hair.

Watercolor portrait paintings   12 inches x 18 inches   and 11 x 17 inches

I was looking forward to our portrait painting class this week, but feeling that I wanted to shake it up a bit. I almost always work in pastel, a medium where I feel very comfortable and reasonably sure that I can capture a likeness. I wanted to push myself a bit and do something different. I decided to pull out the watercolors (all packed nicely in my new carrying case!) To really ramp it up, I decided to work on Yupo paper, a plastic substrate that doesn’t absorb the paint, but allows it to pool on the surface. I worked on two watercolor portraits at the same time so one could dry while I painted on the other. I wasn’t trying to capture an exact likeness. I just wanted to play with the medium. Its fun to loosen up every once in a while!

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Yupo
Medium: Da Vinci Watercolors

Pastel painting of the interior of an old Umbrian cathedral in Italy

Pastel painting of the interior of an old Umbrian cathedral in Italy.

Pastel paintings   12.5 inches x 25.5 inches each

I don’t usually post 2 of my paintings at a time on my blog. But these two belong together.

When I visited Umbria, I took a lot of photos of the interiors of many gorgeous cathedrals. I was enthralled by the architecture, arches, columns and stone work. But most of all I was inspired by the heavenly “spaces” that mere mortals had created. Each church had it’s own feel, and look, and “space”. Some were monumental and soaring, others were small and enveloping. I loved them all, and even though I am not a religious person, they made a huge impact on me.

For these two architecture pastel paintings, I used an extreme crop on my reference photos and then infused the dull grey stone interiors with color and light to bring them to life. These two pieces are currently on exhibit at my show of watercolor and pastel paintings of Italy at the River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan. It will be open until Dec. 18. Stop by if you have a chance! You can see some of the other pieces in the show here:

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

I will be giving an Artist Talk at the gallery at 3pm on Saturday, Dec. 3. Come on by and chat!

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

Plein air watercolor cityscape of the Cathedral in French Quarter of New Orleans.

Plein air watercolor painting   9 inches x 7 inches     $100

The only watercolor cityscape painting I kept from our trip to Louisiana. Despite my highest hopes, I just wasn’t able to settle down and work outdoors in the French Quarter. It is so picturesque with brightly colorful buildings and interesting signs, but “all that jazz” was also a bit disruptive to me. It almost felt like TOO much information. I’m hoping I will be able to capture some of the magic of the place painting the many reference photos I shot.

This little watercolor sketch of the Saint Louis Cathedral was done while quickly sitting in Jackson Square.

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

For all of you wonderful followers who noted how amazing it was that I was able to get so much detail into the painting in my last post, I have a confession to make. There was a slight typo in the size of the painting. The width is actually 11 inches wide. Not 1 inch as mistakenly posted originally. Talk about miniature paintings!!!

Every year I am honored to donate a couple of small paintings to the Circle of Art Event held at Saline Picture Frame Company in Saline, Michigan. All proceeds from this silent auction of original art benefit Food Gatherers, an organization that feeds the hungry in Washtenaw County. Over the last 6 years area artists have donated more than 2,400 small works of art and have raised almost $100,000 for Food Gatherers! The generosity of hundreds of artists, art collectors, as well as, a solid volunteer base have combined to make this a not-to-miss event ! The auction will be held May 15 from 12-5pm.

This year, I donated the watercolor paintings above, all painted en plein air locally. If you can, stop by and support this very worthy event! And if you need framing, Saline and Dexter Picture Frame are the places to go–because they are philanthropic and VERY GOOD!

Plein air pastel painting of water lilies about to open in the morning.

Pastel painting 13.5 inches x 9 inches

I’d never painted a water lily before last month. Suddenly, I am in love with them and can totally understand why painters through the ages have been drawn to them. Every leaf is interesting and unique and the bright flowers create a perfect focal point. But my favorite part is the endless variations of how sunlight hits the surrounding water, creating highlights and deep shadows.

The Naples Botanical Gardens has a huge variety of water lilies in their many themed “rooms.” I spent a few Tuesday mornings working on floral paintings there. This is the only pastel painting I did, but I experimented with quite a few watercolor versions.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of two towers against a sunrise.

Pastel painting 12 inches x 9 inches

Early one morning I packed up and headed out to the Everglades. But on the way, I was struck by the sun rising behind two beautiful towers at a high-end resort. I turned the car right around, parked the car down the hill and set up to paint a pastel landscape of the view. Even though the buildings were framed by palm trees, the scene reminded me of Italy.  I worked for about an hour in the early morning sun. Suddenly, I noticed a uniformed man getting out of a truck and heading toward me. He was really nice, but there was no doubt about it. He was throwing me off the property.  He saw my pastel painting. and knew I wasn’t a threat, but it was his job to keep riff raff off the resort. I felt like I had passed a plein air milestone.  ;o)

Another milestone: I was recently notified that I was awarded one of the 4 scholarships that the International Association of Pastel Societies gives to artists biannually. My scholarship will be to work with internationally known pastel artist Terry Ford. I love her work and am looking forward to attending one of her wonderful workshops!

Watercolor painting of a summer garden and patio

Watercolor painting 12 inches x 9 inches    SOLD

Pastel landscape painting of a sunlit river filled with rocks.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

This is the second pastel painting I did while demonstrating at Art Walk. It was kind of disconcerting to be painting with so many art lovers milling about and talking. People came into my booth and chatted for a while, and when I went back to my painting, I had completely forgotten what I was doing and why. It was a new level of concentration for me.

I was pretty happy with the outcome of this pastel landscape. It reminds me of the breathtaking river I came upon one sunny morning in Louisville, KY where we were visiting friends.