Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a working farm and barns seen from the field.

Watercolor painting 9.5 inches x 6.5 inches    $125

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Getting into the watercolor mode! I was out on the back roads again searching for that perfect farm to paint.  The weather has been absolutely fantastic here in Michigan and the bright sunlight really makes the old red barns pop. I painted this watercolor landscape out of the back of my trunk. There was a lot of activity going on, but the hardworking farmers moved way to fast to paint them!

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a spring farm seen from the fields

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 6 inches     $200

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Yeah! The first plein air pastel landscape of the year! I’ve been pining to get out and paint but much too wimpy to brave the cold. This  pastel painting was created on a burgundy sanded paper at an old farm site with last year’s sheared crops still visible in the fields.

Plein air watercolor painting of an old farm from across the spring fields.

Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches 100

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This watercolor painting was done just outside Petoskey on a huge hill that overlooks the town and Lake Michigan. Its an area I return to year after year. It has dramatic rural views, something I love to capture in plein air watercolor landscapes. This particular scene  created a “Z” composition.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of rolling fields and a farm in the distance.

Pastel painting 9 inches x 6 inches    SOLD

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The fields are all starting to turn and the colors are becoming more like autumn here in southern Michigan. In the late afternoon, the sun casts a warm, golden light on the farmland near our home. To me, it is simply irresistible.

I am constantly drawn to this type of  pastel landscape painting, over and over again. I swear it is because, in some earlier incarnation, I was born and raised on a MidWest farm very much like this one. I can’t explain my fascination with barns, and crops and fields in any other way. I certainly don’t know much about that lifestyle. I just can’t stop painting farmscapes!

Plein air pastel landscape painting of two old barns nestled in the crops.

Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11 inches   $200

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Popped out Wednesday evening to do a quick  pastel landscape painting out in the farm lands around Saline. All the crops seem thick and healthy this year which is wonderful for the farmers. Its a little difficult, however, for us plein air painters. The corn is so tall, its hard to see over the top!

While I was painting this pastel, the owner of the place came over to check me out. I could tell he was a little perplexed as to why I would want to paint his old barns. I told him that I thought they were beautiful. He opened up and told me all about the farm’s 100 year old history. (HE’D only lived there for 50 years!) I just love learning about the history of my area AND painting to my heart’s content…

Pastel painting of old, dilapidated barns and out buildings

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches $300

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Sunday was another gorgeous day to paint plein aire. I’ve been pining to paint this place but there are “no trespassing” signs posted all over it. Yesterday I decided that as long as I sat out on the edge of the road, I wouldn’t be encroaching. I set up and began to work on the pastel painting, and sure as shootin, up drives the landowner. I thought I was in big trouble but he was a delightful older man who told me the whole 200 year history of the farm. He was honored that someone still thought it was worthy of notice and welcomed me to walk among the ruins. This type of real world history fascinates me and made the pastel landscape all the more relevent to me…