Plein air watercolor painting of colorful sailboats on the beach

Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches 100

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I saw these colorful sailboats on the beach every day and finally one morning, I braved the sand and wind to do several  watercolor paintings of them. The vibrant primary colors really shimmered in the bright sunshine.

Watercolor painting of two women talking while lounging at the pool.

Watercolor painting 5 inches x 5 inches       $80

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Lounging at the pool is the perfect time to catch up on all of the gossip you’ve missed over the last couple of months. These ladies talked non-stop while watching their kiddos in the water and made perfect unsuspecting models for a watercolor painter like me. Most people don’t even notice that I am sketching, but every once in a while someone will figure it out and come over to see their likeness. Nobody has had a bad reaction and I’ve even sold a few watercolor figure paintings at the pool!

Watercolor painting of a young woman in a bathing suit engrossed in a book.

Watercolor painting 4.5 inches x 7 inches       $80

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Nothing better than a good book at the beach! This woman was completely engrossed in her novel and never noticed me painting her. And she barely moved an inch the whole time. A perfect model for a  watercolor figure painting on a sunny lazy day.

Plein air watercolor painting of a hotel viewed from a Florida beach

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches $100

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We just signed up for a week in Florida again this December and it reminded me of a few plein air sketches I did last winter down there. I painted this watercolor painting sitting on a comfy chaise lounge on the beach. Ahhhhh!

Pastel painting 6.5 inches x 10 inches $100

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Every year we spend a long weekend in Charlevoix, Michigan. We natives call this area “Up North”. Although it is a vacation area, it is much less populated than “Down State” and there are lots of beautiful scenes to paint. While the boys golf, I wander around and park it when I find something that inspires me. This plein air pastel landscape painting captures a lonely bush in the sun on the beach on Lake Michigan. We are looking forward to our visit this year!

Watercolor painting of sunbathers beneath umbrellas on the beach

Watercolor painting 8.5 inches x 6 inches
$100

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What would a trip to warm weather be without the proverbial beach view? Every day the umbrellas would be claimed by sunbathers and their ocean-loving kiddles. With all the sand and wind, it was a little difficult to paint with watercolors, but I did sneak in this quick landscape sketch one afternoon.

Pastel painting of a grove of palm trees and a path down to the ocean

Pastel painting 5.5 inches x 7.5 inches $100 + shipping

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This was the colorful view from our condo window down on Sanibel Island. The hues were so bright they almost seemed psychodelic compared to the more subtle colors of Michigan–especially in winter!

This was the first trip that I brought my pastels along. I usually paint watercolor landscapes when I travel. I am much more comfortable with that medium and the finished paintings are easier to transport. But I found that if I wrapped the pastel sketches in wax paper, they made it home just fine.

Pastel painting of a palm tree against an ocean background

Pastel painting 6 inches x 9 inches $100 + shipping

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I’ll be taking a little getaway to paint in the warm weather soon. Last year I did a lot of plein air pastel paintings on Sanibel Island in Florida. I couldn’t wait to get down there and start sketching, but to my surprise, I had a very hard time of it. The bright sun, colors and atmosphere down south is very different than Michigan. I took me a couple of days to “get the hang of it”. To get me in the mood again, I will be posting some of my favorite little Florida pastel landscapes.

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches $800 + shipping

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With fall colors starting to take over, I had to do one more summery piece. I just finished this 4th pastel painting in my Treescape series. I called it “Breeze” because it reminds me so much of the sunny day up north with the leaves rustling in the wind. We were up near Petoskey and Harbor Springs and I was struck by how clean and clear the colors were, especially the new leaves which had just come out.