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 cityscape painting of a tower in Sienna, Italy.

Pastel painting    9  inches x 19 inches

The thousands of towers that rise from the cities and countryside are iconic symbols of Italian architecture. They were used for protection, to create beauty and to establish the status of influential families in Italy. Each one is different and many of them are mini architectural masterpieces. I was especially drawn to this sunlit tower in Siena when I visited in 2006. This scene inspired a watercolor and this pastel painting of Italy.

I worked on a board painted with a rough primer to create texture on the piece.

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

Pastel architecture painting of the interior of an Italian cathedral

Pastel paintings   12.5 inches x 25.5 inches

Although 2/3 of the work sold, I still have a few pastel paintings of Italy available from my show last fall at the River Gallery. This was my first exploration of cathedral architecture. It’s obviously a rendition of columns, arches and windows, but what I was really doing was playing with both reality and abstraction. I like to zoom in on interesting structural areas and reduce them to shapes, colors, light and shadow. And I especially like infusing different hues into the somewhat monochr0matic shades of beautiful Italian churches.

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

Pastel painting of the interior of the Pantheon in Rome, Italy

Pastel paintings   12.5 inches x 25.5 inches

I just love columns. In fact, most of my friends consider it a mild obsession. I have them everywhere in my house and office. They are so strong, stately and monumental. I especially love the columns that are topped with Corinthian capitals. So when I again visited the unbelievably beautiful Pantheon temple in Rome, I decided that I would try to capture some of the elements of Roman architecture that make my heart sing. In this pastel painting of Italy, I stayed true to the structural elements but bumped the color to create additional drama.

I was surprised an honored this week to find out that I was the Featured Artist on the Pastel News website. I subscribe to this site because I love to receive information about historical and current pastel artists. Never dreamed I would be one of them! Check it out here:

http://pastelnews.com/category/featured-pastel-artist/

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

Pastel cityscape painting of a small street in Umbria, Italy. SOLD

Pastel painting of an extreme close up view of ripe apples on a tree.

Early Christmas Present!

I was notified last week that I had TWO pastel paintings juried into the International Association of Pastel Societies Exhibit. A real thrill and a great end to the year!

It’s an amazing exhibit filled with gorgeous artworks. You can see the full show here.

Pastel landscape painting of a path in the hills of Umbria, Italy.

Pastel painting     6  inches x 6 inches  SOLD

This little pastel painting of Italy is from the front of the La Romita monastery in Umbria. A wonderful, little bus would come and pick us up here every morning to take us out to exciting new explorations. Very good memories for me!

This year marks a real transition for me. After years of a fulfilling career in advertising, I have sold my agency to my partners and am moving on to become a full-time artist. I’ve reached some of my goals during these last 12 months, including winning an award in the Pastel Society of America Show, and organizing, painting and exhibiting over 45 paintings of Italy at a well attended show. (30 of the artworks are off to new homes!) But the best part of this journey for me is the process. I hope to spend many years painting en plein air and in the studio, stretching my skills and finding new joy in art.

During this holiday season, I reflect on how much I have to be thankful for in both my personal and my art life. I especially appreciate the people who take this journey with me and follow my blog. Thanks so much for your continued interest! Happy holidays and may you have wondrous and art-filled New Year!

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

Plein air watercolor painting of the hills around Terni, Italy

Plein air watercolor painting   7  inches x 10.5 inches    SOLD

I painted this plein air watercolor painting, sitting at the monastery at La Romita looking down on the valley near Terni, Italy. Depending on the time of day, the distant mountains would turn completely different colors. Sometimes they were a pinkish-purple color at late afternoon, but in the morning, when I did this particular painting of Italy , they were a beautiful, cool blue…

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Saunders Waterford Watercolor Paper
Medium: DaVinci 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 cityscape painting of sunlight cascading across the entrance to a home in Umbria, Italy.

Pastel painting 11  inches x 17 inches   $800

I’m always saying that my art is all about light and shadow. It’s what draws me to almost every subject I paint and  what I’m constantly exploring. This pastel painting of Italy is a perfect example. I came upon this little alleyway while I was wandering through an Umbrian hill town. Although the scene itself was interesting, it was the way the sunlight cascaded across the wall and steps that really drew me in.

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a pathway behind a monastery in Umbria, Italy.

Plein air watercolor painting   10.5  inches x 6.5 inches    SOLD

We stayed in a wonderful old monastery during our workshop in Italy. The grounds surrounding the La Romita School of Art were almost as impressive as the little hill towns we visited every day. Instead of working in our chapel studio in the afternoon, I spent a lot of time wandering the paths and olive orchards nearby. I would find a view I liked, set up, paint a watercolor painting of Italy and then move on to the next interesting scene. Pure heaven…

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

Pastel cityscape painting of the corner of an old building in Umbria, Italy.

Pastel painting 19  inches x 9 inches

The subject matter of this pastel painting of Italy might have been found in any town in Europe. You can see beautiful, quality craftsmanship in these structures and also the years of careful maintenance and restoration. It seems to me that Europeans value their historical buildings more than we Americans do. Maybe we could take some cues from them and restore our older buildings instead of ripping them down just to replace them with steel and glass behemoths.

Ooops, sorry to get off on a rant…. I am really thankful for sooooo many things in my life! Hope everyone has a MAHVELOUS Thanksgiving!!

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