Watercolor landscape painting of the hills of Umbria viewed from the town of Assisi

Watercolor landscape painting   12 inches x 5 inches   SOLD

When I was at La Romita in Umbria, Italy, I brought along my usual Saunders Waterford watercolor paper. But I also brought along a few sheets of Yupo paper. Its helpful for me to switch back and forth between a traditional, absorbent substrate and a slick, non-absorbent one. I am easily bored and frustrated with one approach and moving to another paper sometimes opens up new possibilities.

The countryside of Umbria looks like a quilt of different patterns and I tried to capture a bit of that feeling in this watercolor landscape of Italy. With Yupo paper, you can push the colors around and even lift areas back to the pure white paper.

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Yupo
Medium: Da Vinci Watercolors

Pastel landscape painting of a distant village in the Umbrian hills of Italy.

Pastel painting     27.5  inches x 13.5 inches   SOLD

Another pastel painting of Italy where I am exploring the long distance views from the Umbrian hill towns. I’m not sure if this is really a village or a small villa that grew and grew over the years. Some of the family plots became compounds over the years, with each successive generation adding another addition or building to the original villa. Regardless, they create beautiful focal points in the undulating countryside.

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

Pastel landscape painting of Umbrian farm land and distant hills of Italy.

Pastel paintings   12.5 inches x 25.5 inches          SOLD

In this pastel landscape of Italy, I was trying to capture the breathtaking views that you see from the walls of the many hill towns around Umbria. You can see almost forever into the distance, and in all directions. But I also was playing a bit with the idea of breaking the scene into a more abstract composition, where fields, roads, and forests become nothing more than colors and shapes arranged in a pleasing way. You could say that I made the “earth move”, because I rearranged, eliminated and added elements in the Umbrian countryside just to fit my own artistic needs!

Just a few more days to check out my exhibit of Italian pastel and watercolor paintings at the River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan. It comes down December 24th, so stop by if you can!

http://www.chelsearivergallery.com/artists/Jill_Wagner/Jill_Wagner_Pastels_1.htm

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

Pastel landscape painting of an old villa on a hill in Umbria.

Pastel painting 19  inches x 9 inches

Everywhere you look in Umbria, you see beautiful old villas perched on hillsides. Most of them are hundreds of years old and have been increased in size by each successive generation of the family. They end up looking like compounds, or even little villages. The breathtaking countryside, filled with olive orchards and grape vineyards, rolls away into the distance.

I really pushed the color in this pastel painting of Italy. I worked with bright complimentary colors, green and red, while still keeping the relative values intact.

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a small lake tucked into the hills of Umbria, Italy

Plein air watercolor painting   10.5  inches x 6.5 inches   SOLD

This is one of my favorite plein air watercolor paintings of Italy. Our trusty bus dropped is off at a teeny, tiny little hill town. Our group walked and walked up to the very top of the town to visit a wonderful ancient church. I looked off to the side and saw this beautiful treasure in the distance. It seemed so pure and sparkling in the Umbrian landscape, I just had to paint it!!

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

Pastel landscape painting of a Italian farm in the rolling hills of Tuscany.

Pastel painting    24  inches x 36 inches  SOLD (Giclees are available)

This is one of my favorite pastel paintings and is the signature piece for my upcoming show. It is very large, by my standards, but it is also very personal piece for me.

Mary Beth Koeze was a good friend of mine and a wonderful art mentor to me. She encouraged me to get back to my art and to always push harder. One of her many words of wisdom to me was “Paint bigger.” Along with our friend Cecily, we painted in Tuscany for 3 weeks, traipsing the countryside, soaking up the scenery. When she passed away recently, I was given some of her really large pastel boards. When I got the nerve up to create this piece on one of those boards, I realized that, for many reasons, it had to be titled “Mary Beth’s Tuscany.”

“Faraway Places: history, objects, spirit & spaces”
Nov. 5th – Dec. 18, 2011
Reception: Nov. 5th 5-8pm
River Gallery, 120 S. Main St., Chelsea MI
www.chelsearivergallery.com

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Art Spectrum Colorfix MultiMedia Painting Board
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel landscape painting of fields and forest in Montana

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 18 inches

Thought I’d post more work from my Montana travels. I shot the reference photo for this pastel painting on the back of a horse as we traveled to a secluded valley with ancient indian paintings on the rock walls. So many neat things to experience out west and sooooo little time! I don’t bring my pastels with me on these trips. Its too rugged and they would be reduced to a pile of dust! But I take hundreds of photos to bring back and use as reference in my home studio.

Wishing you all an exciting, happy, and prosperous New Year!

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of the countryside around Gettysburg, PA

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6.5 inches    $150

Please contact me if you are interested in this artwork.

I found that visiting Gettysburg was a life changing experience. The horror of the battles that occurred there is astounding. But the strange thing is that the countryside where one of the Civil War’s most grisly confrontations happened is very serene and bucolic. And it looks very much now the way it looked before the war. How could something so horrible happen in such a place…or in any place for that matter?

While we sat out on Seminary Ridge to have a picnic, I painted the watercolor painting above of the rolling hills. The view is very similar to the pastel landscape “Tranquil Fields” which I painted in my studio and posted recently. Again, it is amazing how different a scene looks using another medium.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of summer fields

Pastel painting 11 inches x 11 inches

ArtWalk was a great experience last weekend. We had hundreds of art lovers, students and artists at the Stone Arch Arts and Events in Saline. During the show, I set up my easel and demonstrated pastel painting.  I worked on this pastel landscape on Sunday in my booth and finished it up Monday in the studio. It is inspired by a photo I took while in Gettysburg, PA, but it reminds me a lot of Michigan scenes.

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

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8. inches     $200

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

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 landscape painting of rolling fields and a farm in the distance.

Pastel painting 9 inches x 6 inches    SOLD

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

The fields are all starting to turn and the colors are becoming more like autumn here in southern Michigan. In the late afternoon, the sun casts a warm, golden light on the farmland near our home. To me, it is simply irresistible.

I am constantly drawn to this type of  pastel landscape painting, over and over again. I swear it is because, in some earlier incarnation, I was born and raised on a MidWest farm very much like this one. I can’t explain my fascination with barns, and crops and fields in any other way. I certainly don’t know much about that lifestyle. I just can’t stop painting farmscapes!

Plein air pastel landscape painting of rolling fields in early morning.

Pastel painting 6 inches x 9 inches   $100

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Finally got a chance to get out and paint this morning! 8:30 am, out in the fields with my dog, Roxy. The sun was in and out, and every once in a while, the light on the fields was heavenly. On mornings like this, painting plein air pastel landscapes is pure joy!