Plein air pastel landscape painting of a barn and other farm buildings.

Pastel painting 9 inches x 6.5 inches   $100

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Another  plein air pastel landscape of the farmlands around Saline, Michigan. I painted this one in the late afternoon again, waste deep in a field of wheat. It was a great location except for the millions of bugs that almost ate me alive. And of course, I forgot my bug repellant!

I’m so excited about the 4 commissions I am working on this month! I will be posting a few of them in the next couple of days.

And, (oh my god!), I’ve joined the twitter nation. If you liked to follow my tweets, catch me at http://twitter.com/jillwagnerart

Have a great 4t of July weekend!

Plein air pastel landscape of a farm and fields of spring wheat in late afternoon

Pastel painting 8 inches x 10 inches   $200

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When I paint from life outside, I usually set out in the morning. For a change, I decided to try some pastel landscapes in the afternoon light. For plein air painters, morning and afternoon are the prime times because of the lovely yellow-orange light and the great shadows at those times of day. I found this luscious field of spring wheat south of town and set up all of my equipment on the side of the road. Quite a few people stopped by to chat and one woman asked to take my photo while I was painting. Turns out this is her favorite view and she has taken photos of the scene every month or so to catalog the seasonal changes. I was happy to oblige but darn it! I forgot to ask her if she would like a pastel painting of her favorite spot!

Pastel plein air landscape painting of an old farmstead

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8.5 inches $200

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This beautiful old farmstead sits right in the middle of a whole gaggle of subdivisions. It seems to be holding on to its proud farming tradition and had a certain spunky diginity to it. I hadn’t captured it in my watercolor farmscape series yet so I thought I’d give it a try in pastel. While I was painting, the one and only policeman in our township stopped by and sternly asked me what I was doing. I must have looked pretty darn suspicious there, sitting on the side of the road– with my pastels….

Plein air pastel landscape of meadows near a wetland in spring

Pastel painting 9 inches x 6 inches $100

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This is my second plein air pastel landscape from this weekend’s outing. Everything in southern Michigan has turned green and lush at last! I took a lot of photos when I was out so I could paint more Treescape pastels in the studio when we get our traditional rainy spring days.

Watercolor painting of farm and fields along a country road.

Watercolor painting 8.5 inches x 6.5 inches
$80

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The fields are turning green here and I am getting excited about getting out and doing plein air watercolor paintings again. There are still many old farms in the Saline area of Michigan that I haven’t captured yet. But soon I will have to widen my scope and head farther west. At some point, I hope to have documented nearly every farm in the area with a landscape painting.

Watercolor painting of green farm fields in Michigan

Watercolor painting 9.5 inches x 5 inches $100 + shipping

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It hardly seems possible that just a few months ago I roamed the countryside painting  landscapes of local farms. I captured this place, a bit west of town, in June when all of the crops were just beginning to explode. I liked how all the fields seemed to be pointing toward the farm buildings with their steel roofs highlighted by the hot sun. Watercolors are great for creating texture like the rough foilage of the crops in the forefront of this painting.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 10 inches $450 + shipping

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I decided to take another look at the beautiful old oak tree that was my subject in the Treescape pastel painting I posted on December 20th.  I love the how strong, yet ancient it looked out there in the field all alone. Instead of focusing on its strength and texture, I wanted to show its “separateness” in this piece so I chose a square format that allowed more of the receding landscape to show. I really find it fascinating how the same subject can inspire different approaches.

Watercolor painting 8 inches x 5 inches $100 + shipping

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I’ve been a little under the weather and not painting much this week. Thought I would post a watercolor landscape that I did on one of my last plein air forays in late sumlmer. This is a typical farm spread out in our neck of the woods: rolling hills and patchwork fields. The sky is what really attracted me and I tried to capture it boldly with as few strokes as possible…

Watercolor painting 8.5 inches x 5 inches $100 + shipping

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A grey day in western Washtenaw County, Michigan. It was drizzling and the clouds were gathering. But an amazing thing happens when the sun is hidden behind the clouds. The colors of the landscape become much more saturated and rich. The grazing sheep added a pastoral effect to the scene.

Pastel painting 13 inches x 9 inches $300 + shipping

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Can’t stop painting fields plein air right now. They’re too luscious! It will be fall soon enough and then winter when I can only paint couped up in the studio. Got to grab the great outdoors when I can!

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 4 inches $100 + shipping

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The fields in Michigan are so lush and beautiful right now. We have had lots of rain and the crops are going crazy. This farm caught my eye and I just had to sit down and paint it…