Pastel landscape painting of a summer sky filled with cumulus clouds in Michigan.

Pastel paintings   18.5  inches x 15 inches

Ever since I was little I have kept my eyes to the skies and have reveled in the millions of compositions, colors and textures that happen there every day. It has always been a goal of mine to tackle some pastel landscapes where the focus is on clouds and light, not on the land below. This is my first large-scale studio attempt inspired from photos I took last summer when I was painting en plein air. I learned a lot on this one and plan on learning more in the sky studies to come!

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

Pastel landscape painting of a stone path in a garden.

Pastel painting 9 inches x 12 inches

I found this sweet little path at one of our garden sites and knew I wanted to capture it in a pastel landscape painting. I loved the way the dappled sunlight fell on the rocks and plants. Our garden painting group has already amassed quite a lovely series of images for our summer show. I have posted them on a Picasa website for viewing purposes. Check them out at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/108892146623391728929

Click on the album images and you will be able to see various artists’ paintings of each site. It is really interesting to see the different styles and views that each artist chose.

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Kitty Wallis White Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel landscape painting of a Michigan field in July.

Pastel paintings   14 inches x 10 inches

Another pastel painting from one of our garden sites. Its not your usual garden painting filled with flowers and beds. This home was surrounded with acres of both formal and natural plantings, and fields and woods. I was really drawn to the open fields, rimmed with trees and the lone blue spruce made a nice focal point. I chose a rust-colored Art Spectrum Colourfix paper to start, so that the warm tone could peak through all of the greens and blues in the painting. Doing that helps to create a little interest and vibration between the colors.

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

Plein air landscape painting of a rock garden in front of a home.

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5 inches x 7 inches

The light shining through the silhouetted trees attracted my attention at this lovely home. I had to paint quickly because the heat that morning was overwhelming. But that kind of weather can actually be a good when doing watercolor landscapes. The washes and layers of color dry quickly, which helps me avoid creating pools of muddy color. Sometimes my mind and hands work faster than the medium allows. I get excited to get all my thoughts down before the previous layer has dried enough to accept another pass. Watercolor paintings take a bit of patience and forethought…and sometimes I have it…and sometimes I don’t!

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

Plein air pastel landscape painting of an old house and field in Saline, Michigan

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches

Had a little bit of time on Monday afternoon–not enough to go out searching for a great scene, but just enough time to do a quick plein air painting. There’s a field by our house that I’ve always loved, so I hopped in the car and set up for a pastel landscape under a large shade tree. I didn’t have a special view in mind so I just spun around and around til I found subject matter that I liked. I did a quick underpainting in watercolor on Kitty Wallis pastel paper using some of the techniques that Marla Bagetta had described to us in her workshop. Then began layering color, little by little. I loved the way the sunlit Queen Anne’s Lace was highlighted against the shadowed old house…

Plein air pastel painting of pine trees in field.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 6.5 inches

My dog, Roxy, and I trucked out to the pond peninsula near our house on Saturday afternoon. We love it out there because Roxy can explore off-leash, and I can paint without worrying that she will be run over by a speeding car full of teenagers. Win-win. This little stand of pines looked like a good subject for a pastel landscape. I wanted to work in a relatively monochromatic color scheme. Everything in Michigan is sooooo verdant right now. As a plein air artist, that can be kind of overwhelming. I decided that I could either avoid all of the green, or embrace it. And in this case, I was happy with the outcome!

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of old barns near Saline, Michigan

Watercolor painting 9.5 inches x 9.5 inches    $300

Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are relaxing after all of the festivities!

I’ve been working diligently on my Italian paintings but will not be posting them until after my show. I have also been trying to make order out of a studio filled with paintings and art supplies. It is a daunting task!

This plein air farmscape watercolor was accepted into the Annual Michigan Watercolor Society Exhibition a few years back. I usually use a horizontal composition to capture the wide space of the farms I love. But for this one, I chose a square format and left some of the painting loose and unstructured. I wanted to create a watercolor landscape painting where the viewer is drawn in, through the field, to the focal point of the bright red barn.

Pastel landscape painting of a snowy winter field with a stream running through it.

Pastel painting 5 inches x 7.5 inches

Between helping with my new grandson, work, and the holidays, I haven’t been getting much painting done! I’ve been pining to do a winterscape so I slipped this small pastel painting in this afternoon. This field is near our home and I often take my Aussie, Roxy, for walks along the little creek. Its barely noticeable from the road and feels very secluded. I painted another larger pastel landscape of this area a year ago. I can’t wait to go back this spring and try a plein air version.

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of trees in a field.

Watercolor painting 5 inches x 7 inches  $80

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a storm approaching a distant farm as seen from the road.

Watercolor painting 11 inches x 9 inches

There was a storm rolling in when I set up to do this watercolor painting but I was sure I could get it in before the downpour started. You can imagine how detrimental raindrops can be to a watercolor painting. Even more so when you are painting on Yupo, a plastic material that causes paint to sit on the surface instead of seep into the paper. I painted fast and loose and got the watercolor landscape finished just as the first drops came down.

Just found out that River Gallery placed 3 giclee prints of my larger paintings in the new Pepsi Headquarters in Michigan. Giclees are a great way to own quality fine art, without paying the full price of an original work. Almost all of my paintings are available as high quality giclee prints. Please contact me if you are interested owning one!