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!
Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a distant ranch from the fields.
Plein air Watercolor painting 15 inches x 5.5 inches
This piece was painted sitting in the exact same position as the last watercolor landscape I posted. I expanded my view and worked in an extreme horizontal instead of vertical format. Its nice when you find a plein air spot that offers various interesting views. Sometimes I work on 2 or 3 paintings at a time, letting one dry while I start in on another. The golden fields that September excited me and I wanted to try to capture them in a couple of different ways.
Plein air watercolor landscape of ranch land in Montana
Plein air Watercolor painting 5.5 inches x 15.5 inches
When I visit new places, it helps me to jump outside my usual style and techniques. The countryside in Montana pushed me to work in different compositions and sizes. In this watercolor landscape I wanted to capture some of the enormity of the landscape, but from a close-up and personal viewpoint. I sat near one of the trout streams and looked out toward the distant mountains.
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 painting of farm buildings in the early morning light.
Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches
My friend Karen and I hit the plein air road last month while our husbands played golf. We didn’t have to travel too far from the golf course to find a scene we both liked. There were some old farm buildings, with peeling orange paint, just down the road. Karen set up for oil and I did a pastel painting while the bright morning sun was at its most dramatic. I had just enough time to start another pastel landscape before the guys called and were ready to be picked up. I will work to finish that one in the studio.
Watercolor cityscape painting of sunlit buildings in Siena, Italy.
Watercolor painting 14 x 21 inches
Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.
When we visited Italy, 6 or 7 years ago, we only had a half a day to spend in Siena. But I absolutely loved it. I hope to be able to visit there again and more thoroughly explore it. I shot some reference photos of the bright, warm sunlight and deep shadows on the ancient buildings. I love to paint watercolors of architecture so this made a perfect subject for me.
The spring after I returned from Italy, I had a well-received, one-person show of my Italian watercolors at the University of Michigan Health System. I am working on mounting another one when I return from this trip with the River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan
Watercolor painting of the old well in the center of Pienza, Italy
Watercolor painting 9 x 13 inches
Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.
Pienza is one of my very favorite towns in Tuscany. Like many of the ancient hilltowns in Italy, there is an old, old well in the center piazza where the townspeople drew water in years gone by. I’m not sure if they are still in working order, but they still serve as a meeting place for the local teenagers, mothers with children and old men. When I got back home, I wanted to do watercolor paintings of these ancient monuments. I thought Pienza’s well was especially beautiful and I loved the way the sun highlighted it in the afternoon. The intense light in Tuscany made it easy to leave the white of the paper showing in most of my Italian watercolors.
Watercolor painting of a steps and a flower pot silhouetted against an arch in Tuscany, Italy
Watercolor painting 9 x 13 inches
Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.
Around every corner in Tuscany, I found an interesting new scene to paint. The town we stayed in was built in the 1100s and it seemed that not much of the architecture had changed since then. As I worked on my watercolor paintings, I would think about the centuries of life that had happened on the streets of the small village of Barberino.
I’ve sold most of the paintings of Tuscany that I did on this trip but still have a few left. I’ll be painting many more Italian watercolors on my trip to Umbria.
Plein air pastel landscape painting of an old mill along the Huron River in Ann Arbor, Michigan
Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches
Our plein air pastel painting group met at a new location last weekend–Parker Mill. It’s the site of an old 1800s mill and is surrounded by woods and a beautiful little creek. Many of the others had painted here before, but for me, it was completely new. I was immediately taken by the old architecture and set up to capture the buildings while the early morning sun was still casting a warm glow on them. I love painting weathered old buildings in pastel, but I must be careful not to “over accessorize” them. I have to keep repeating my mantra….Simplify, simplify, simplify…
I painted another pastel landscape of the nearby river and it will post it in a couple of days.
Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a sidewalk pathway between buildings
Watercolor painting 10.5 inches x 6.5 inches $80
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.
Sometimes i do a watercolor painting just to see if I can capture what I see in front of me. It might be a simple scene like this one, not really monumental or impressive. I remember someone telling me that you can waste an awful lot of time trying to find the “perfect” watercolor landscape view to paint. When in reality, an artist should be able to translate almost any scene into a piece of art. Plus, I know that its only through constant sketching and painting of the everyday things around me, that I improve my skills. In other words, its not so important that you paint drop-dead gorgeous subject matter, as it is that you just keep painting!
And extra note:
I was very excited to find out that I has a pastel landscape painting accepted into the Great Lakes Pastel Society National Show at the Dow Museum of Art and Science in Midland, Michigan. One of my goals this year was to enter more national shows. I find that competing with the country’s best artists forces me to constantly increase the quality of my work. Below is the pastel painting that will in the exhibit from May 8th through August 1st.
Pastel landscape painting of a path wandering through a snowy field
