Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a working farm and barns seen from the field.

Watercolor painting 9.5 inches x 6.5 inches    $125

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Getting into the watercolor mode! I was out on the back roads again searching for that perfect farm to paint.  The weather has been absolutely fantastic here in Michigan and the bright sunlight really makes the old red barns pop. I painted this watercolor landscape out of the back of my trunk. There was a lot of activity going on, but the hardworking farmers moved way to fast to paint them!

Plein air pastel landscape painting of an old farmhouse seen from the fields.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches

Wandering the farmlands of southeastern Michigan, I find many beautiful old farms tucked into the rolling hills. I did this pastel landscape painting just west of Saline. While I was painting, an old man who was cutting the lawn came up to my easel to chat. I thought he was the owner of the farm but he was neighbor who rented the land to plant his crops. He explained to me that the owners had recently moved to a senior home and that none of their children wanted to take on the hard work of farm life. So, over time, this old place built in the 1880s, will probably be abandoned. When I paint, I often wonder about the history of the site: Who lived there? What did the many generations of family experience here? Sometimes I’m lucky to learn some interesting little tidbits about my subjects and that makes them all the more fascinating to me.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of silos seen from summer Michigan fields.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches

This field is not far from my house in an area that is scheduled for a large business park development. It breaks my heart to see all of the beautiful woods and farmlands eaten up by urban sprawl. Its one of the reasons I keep painting  pastel landscape paintings of farms and fields. I’ll be able to remember them after the huge steel and glass monstrosities replace them…

Plein air pastel painting of an old farmstead near Belvedere, Michigan.

Pastel painting 12 inches x 4 inches     $150

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It was our last day “up north”. The boys had headed off to golf and I was wandering the countryside, generally headed toward the course where I would pick them up later in the day. I had had my fill of beautiful, sunny beach scenes and was pining to return to my beloved farm views. I stopped my roving studio on the side of the road to paint a pastel landscapes of this old farm. It looked like it hadn’t changed one bit since the depression. This is my favorite piece of all the pastel and watercolor paintings I did on our vacation. Its small but special!

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a barn seen from barren fields.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8. inches     $200

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Some of the fields around here are planted and starting to green up, but a lot of them are still full of the stubbly waste from last years crops. The acres of broken stalks make interesting texture for pastel landscapes. Sometimes spring is a difficult time for plein air because everything is so darn “perky” and green. It’s nice to find some gritty compositional elements to break up all of the emerald.

Plein air pastel painting of an abandoned farmhouse in spring

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8. inches     $200

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“on the road again….”

The back roads of Washtenaw County that is. As soon as the weather breaks, I start wandering the rural areas around Saline, Dexter, Ann Arbor and Chelsea, Michigan. I’m looking for that special scene that would make an interesting pastel landscape. For some reason, I’m obsessively drawn to old farms.  I’ve told my family that I think I may be a reincarnated country girl. I’ve painted this old, abandoned farm house a few times but the spring setting warranted another go. I really like trying to capture the effects of time on structures in my architecture pastels.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a spring farm seen from the fields

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 6 inches     $200

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Yeah! The first plein air pastel landscape of the year! I’ve been pining to get out and paint but much too wimpy to brave the cold. This  pastel painting was created on a burgundy sanded paper at an old farm site with last year’s sheared crops still visible in the fields.

Plein air watercolor painting of an old farm from across the spring fields.

Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches 100

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This watercolor painting was done just outside Petoskey on a huge hill that overlooks the town and Lake Michigan. Its an area I return to year after year. It has dramatic rural views, something I love to capture in plein air watercolor landscapes. This particular scene  created a “Z” composition.

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a road and fields on a Montana ranch.

Watercolor painting 15 inches x 5.5 inches $200

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I painted this plein air watercolor landscape when I was out west visiting my sister. She worked as a marketing director on the coolest ranch in southwest Montana. They raised and trained high-end quarter horses for sale. The ranch was stunningly beautiful and I painted alot out there for a few summers. You can see some of my other paintings from that time here.

But Beth has moved on and started a new business. She and our other sister, Lynn, now create and sell beautiful personalized jewelry in platinum, gold, silver and other metals. If you are in the market for a truly special piece of fine jewelry, checkout Sorella Jewelry Studio.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a distant farm from the autumn fields.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 8 inches       SOLD

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Some of the painters around Saline, Michigan are coming together to exhibit artworks of a special farm near our town. “Visions of Braun Farms” will be displayed in January and February of next year in downtown Saline. I have completed one piece, but on Sunday I thought I’d try another plein air pastel landscape painting of the beautiful old farm. The fields had all been plowed under and there was very little local color this late in November. But I was drawn to the buildings on the crest with the tractor tracks leading up to them. As I painted, a storm clouds appeared to be moving in so I included them to create a little drama.

Plein air pastel painting of a farmhouse and fields in late afternoon.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8.5 inches       $200

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What a perfect afternoon for plein air pastel painting! The autumn leaves have all dropped here in Michigan but the fields are still colorful and the light today was fantastic. I’ve wanted to paint Braun Farm in Saline for years now, and I finally got the push I needed when I found out that my pastel group is going to have a show with this farm as the only subject matter. Its a beautiful old place right near town, owned by a couple of brothers, who, I believe, have put the property in a land trust so it will never be filled with industrial sprawl. The light on the fields in late afternoon is almost dreamlike and sooooo peaceful. It was just begging to become a pastel landscape!

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a golden autumn field and distant tree line.

Pastel painting 9 inches x 6 inches       $100

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After the nice farmer man offered me his “back yard” to paint in, I drove way back in to his fields til I found this intriguing scene. I liked the strong diagonal of the grassy lane and the endless golden fields. The colorful little trees in the background made a perfect focal point. I painted quickly because now it was after five p.m. and REALLY cold. But I’m happy I stayed to add this pastel painting to my autumn landscape series. In a couple of months, when winter descends,  I’m sure I will be pining for this type of “mild” weather…