Plein air pastel landscape painting of palm trees near a lake.
Pastel painting 11 inches x 8.5 inches
This pastel landscape was painted around 10 in the morning on a bright, sunny day. The patterns and textures of the palms down south are endlessly fascinating to me. Unfortunately, it is easy to get caught up in recording every leaf and shadow. I was pretty happy with this particular pastel painting. because I was able to capture the essence of the scene without getting caught up in minutia.
Plein air watercolor painting of a palm tree against a blue sky.
Plein air watercolor painting 6 inches x 9.5 inches
Hard to believe I was in sunny Florida just days ago. The sky was a bright clear blue that we won’t see here in Michigan for months. All of the colors down there felt so tropical and unfamiliar to me. Very unlike the muted hues of Michigan right now. It always takes me a while to switch gears and feel comfortable with a completely new color palette–especially one that is so bright and vibrant. I painted this watercolor landscape of palm trees sitting in the shade under a canopy to protect myself from the harsh rays and glare. I WISH that was my problem here in the frozen tundra…
Pastel plein air painting of the Everglades in early morning.
Pastel painting 8 inches x 12 inches
I was so pleased to be juried into the Pastel Society of North Florida’s National Exhibition. Last weekend I found out that the pastel landscape above was given an Award of Exceptional Merit by juror Margaret Dyer. This is my first national award, and is especially important to me because Margaret is one of my favorite pastel artists. I met her years ago at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. She was so kind to spend time discussing art with me. I learned that she too had been a graphic artist and had finally made the jump into full time professional fine artist. I purchased 3 of her figurative paintings and they are some of my most treasured possessions.
The award came with a wonderful gift certificate for Terry Ludwig pastels and a year’s subscription to Pastel Journal, my favorite magazine. Nothing like a little encouragement to keep an artist working on her pastel paintings!
Plein air watercolor cityscape painting of a sunny art gallery in Naples, Florida
Watercolor painting 10 inches x 6.5 inches $80
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It was pretty cool and cloudy down south but I managed to get in one watercolor painting on a sunny Sunday morning in Naples. The city is filled with quirky little galleries that carry every type of art imaginable. I love visiting each one when we are in town. Galerie Soleil is bright yellow and reminded me of the warm buildings in Italy. Gotta grab the chance to do some more paintings of architecture…
Pleinair watercolor painting of a beautiful fountain surrounded by palms in Florida
Watercolor painting 6.5 inches x 10 inches $100
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When we were on Marco Island I noticed this beautiful fountain in a high-rent shopping area. It was a bit awkward, but i plopped my messy plein air self down on the ground in the middle of the fancy stores and began a watercolor painting. Sometimes you just have to live in your own little art world and not worry what others are saying about you!
Plein air pastel landscape painting of a bright Florida bridge reflected in a pond
Pastel painting 8 inches x 12.5 inches $300
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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.
Plein air pastel landscape painting of palm trees and their shadows along a resort walk in Florida.
Pastel painting 8 inches x 12 inches $300
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As a plein air pastel artist, I am always looking for 3 crucial elements when searching out a scene to paint: A dynamic composition, a strong sense of light and shadow, and of course, beautiful color. Sometimes I may find a majestic, monumental view that contains all of those elements. Other times it may be a simple, every day scene such as this shadowed walkway that caught my eye down in Naples. For this pastel landscape, I painted on white art spectrum paper that I had underpainted in various rust and rose tones. You can see the color peeking through all over the painting. I like to do this technique to unify and add some sizzle to the color.
Plein air pastel landscape painting of the the sun rising over the Everglades in Florida
Pastel painting 12 inches x 8 inches $300
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The Everglades in southern Florida are pastel painting heaven. When we stayed in Naples, I spent one whole day driving back and forth on the Tamiami trail. Whenever I saw something that caught my eye, I would park my traveling studio (the family SUV) at the side of the road and set up shop out of the the back. The wandering rivers catch the light and make wonderful scenes for a pastel landscape.
Plein air gouache landscape painting of an approaching storm over the ocean in Florida.
Gouache painting 6 inches x 9 inches $100
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Although we had wonderful weather on our trip, one day a huge storm moved in toward our island. I sat on our deck and tried to get the feel of the turmoil in a gouache seascape. It was dramatic for a while, but luckily the storm only created a short, refreshing rainfall. Since gouache is opaque, I was able to overpaint the waves in white to highlight the gazebo on the shore.
Plein air watercolor painting of a palm tree in a nature preserve in Florida.
Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches $100
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I visited a nature preserve near Naples, Florida in hopes of doing a large watercolor landscape of the area. I quickly became totally overwhelmed by the immenseness of the acreage and settled on doing a watercolor painting of a single distressed palm. I wanted to capture some of the fading brown leaves next to the vibrant new growth.
Plein air watercolor landscape of a southern Florida canal.
Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches $100
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While we were in Florida last December, we drove by this picturesque canal right off a busy highway. The next day, when John was golfing, I returned to capture it in a watercolor painting. The palm trees made a perfect frame for the bridge and slow flowing water.
Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a water fountain on Marco Island, Florida
Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches 100
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We are going to be taking a southern vacation soon so I thought I would post some of the watercolor paintings I did on my last trip to Florida. We stayed in a beautiful condo on Marco Island and the weather was wonderful. You would think that I would be in painting heaven. But I find it very difficult to warm up to the colors and atmosphere of tropical locales. I must be too entrenched in the Michigan’s moody woods and rolling hills to fully appreciate doing watercolor landscapes in Florida. It always takes me a good few days to readjust my pallet.
This painting was done from my favorite position. In a lounge chair at the pool with a glass of wine!
