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.

Plein air pastel painting of a path in a park in Michigan with a bridge in the distance.

Pastel painting 12.75 inches x 5 inches

I painted this scene in Gallup Park in Ann Arbor a couple of weeks ago (right after I jumped into the lake to save my first plein air painting of the day). I have been challenging myself lately to stop looking for the “perfect” subject matter for my pastel landscapes, and just paint what i see in front of me. This is probably not the type of scene I would have searched for, but I am pleased with the results. If you’ve seen much of my work, you know I like to work with odd shaped compositions. This extreme horizontal worked well for a panoramic-type view.

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of buildings and a bridge over a stream

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches

When we were on a South Carolina vacation last spring, I didn’t get a lot of time to paint. But every day or so, I’d walk around the resort til I found something that grabbed my attention. This bridge was one of my favorite subjects for  watercolor landscapes. I posted a painting of a different view of the same bridge a while ago.

Just finished up a watercolor commission of a beautiful garden. Looking forward to giving it to my client, but won’t be able to post it til after the holidays because its a present!

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a sunlit creek and bridge in Michigan

Pastel painting 8 inches x 11 inches

I managed to loosen up a bit on this second pastel painting at Parker Mill. The sunlight created a sparkling effect that really caught my eye. Our plein air group is going to meet there again soon and I can’t wait to explore some more of the grounds. It really is cool to see what view inspires each of us and how we capture that feeling in pastel landscapes.

Plein air pastel painting of a curving bridge over a river.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches

This is a pastel landscape painting of the same Ann Arbor bridge that I posted a few weeks ago, just from a different vantage point. When we started painting around 9 am it was hot and sunny, but soon the sun went under the clouds and the view was completely changed. What was light became dark and what was dark became light. Its a common problem when you paint en plein air and the reason why it is important to get your highlights and shadows in early. In this  pastel painting however, I “chased the light”. I kept my skeleton structure and simply shifted all of the values to match the new view in front of me.

Plein air pastel painting of a bridge in midday sun at Island Park in Ann Arbor.

Pastel painting 12 inches x 19 inches     $300

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

I stopped by Island Park in Ann Arbor the other day to look for a good scene for a pastel painting I go there often to shoot research photos from my RiverStone Series, but this time I wanted to set up and paint plein air. There is a beautiful little Greek temple on the island, but I couldn’t get situated for a good view of it. I decided instead to do a pastel landscape of the main bridge. It was near midday and the shadow under the bridge was dark and dramatic compared to the light hitting the stonework.

Plein air watercolor painting of sunlit pillars on a fenced walkway

Watercolor painting 9.5 inches x 6.25 inches    $80

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

I’m all about light and shadow. Its always what attracts me to a plein air subject, even when I’m just hangin out at the pool. I did this watercolor painting of a fenced walkway specifically because I liked the way the sunlight and shadows played on the pillars. I also love architectural and sculptural elements so the little pineapples on the tops of the pillars were and added bonus!

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a beautiful pond with a bridge reflected in the water.

Watercolor painting 10 inches x 6.5 inches    $80

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

The resort where we stayed had some really intriguing landscaping. I was especially taken with this little bridge over one of the many ponds on site. I sat on the shore and did this watercolor painting during the sunniest time of the day. I like to choose subjects where there is a strong focal point and I can let some of the other background images fall out of focus. When I do paintings of architecture I pay more attention to  all of the structural details.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a bright Florida bridge reflected in a pond

Pastel painting 8 inches x 12.5 inches     $300

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

This is another pastel landscape, that I painted on a piece of white art spectrum paper that had been underpainted with a rose- colored wash. Warm red is a great hue for outdoor painting because it is a natural compliment to the many shades of green that are found in most landscapes. Placing two compliments (opposites on the color wheel) close together creates a dynamic, vibrating feel in a painting. And although I know this theory from years of study, I sometimes forget it in the passion of getting all the gorgeous colors on the paper. If I underpaint before I start, I don’t have to be focused on adding reds to my greens…they appear on their own!

As a pastel artist, I try to keep the idea of contrasting compliments constantly in mind. For instance, if I want to paint a water scene, which is predominantly blue, I will often use an orange paper. Or if I am working on a pastel portrait with lots of golden tones, I might use a muted purple sheet.

Little tricks of the trade…