Pastel portrait painting of a bearded man with hat.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 16 inches

Ken was a new figure drawing model for me and I just loved his leather hat and coat. Top it off with his greying beard and he reminded all of us attending class of a Civil War general. I’m not an artist who loves to do pastel portraits of people in fancy costumes, but this model’s attire seemed to compliment his rugged features perfectly. Really fun to paint!

This artwork was created with
Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Burgundy Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel portrait of a woman in gardening gear.

Pastel painting 13 inches x 14 inches

I painted this pastel portrait the week before our trip out west. Carol came all decked out in garden wear so in my figure drawing of her, I envisioned her in a lovely, plant-filled location.

Pastel portrait of an African American man with hat in profile.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 16 inches

If you have ever attended a figure drawing or portrait session in Ann Arbor, you have probably drawn George at some time or another. He has been a model for years in this area. He has a wonderful presence and facial structure and endless patience. I did this pastel portrait of him a couple of months ago in our nude drawing class. It was just a 20 minute sketch but I think I caught a little bit of his personality…

I am framing like crazy this week. My gallery in Harbor Springs, Michigan, Tvedten Fine Art, asked me to bring up 15 paintings when I visit this spring. I am so pleased that they have faith in my work and can’t wait to deliver a whole new batch of art to them!

And River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan has honored me with an exhibit of my Italian paintings in November and December! I have been consistently working on a new body of pastel works which will be shown along side the plein air watercolors I painted at LaRomita School of Art in Umbria last year. I have not posted any of them because I want to keep them under wraps until the show opens…

Nothing like being busy!!!

Pastel portrait of a man with cap.

Pastel painting 12 inches x17 inches   $300

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Its been a while since I’ve been able to attend my pastel figure drawing session. With the holidays and travel, I always ended up skipping it. It was great to get back in the groove this week. We are going to mount a portrait exhibition in late February at the Side Door Gallery at the Dexter Picture Frame Shop. Our fearless leader thought it might be a good idea for the artists to act as models for the next couple of weeks. Jim is a fine watercolor artist and was the first hardy soul to volunteer. We all loved his jaunty cap and serious expression.