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

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

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of an old wall in an olive orchard in Italy.

Plein air watercolor painting   10  inches x 7  inches   $150

I’ve done quite a few pastel and watercolor paintings of this view in the olive orchard near La Romita. The light and the scene itself seemed to change completely depending on the time of day. I believe this one was done in the late morning. Below is another version of the same place, from a little farther back, that I did in pastel. This painting was done from a late afternoon photo reference and will be in my upcoming exhibit. I’ve noticed that all of my paintings of Italy seem to be in the same color palette, no matter what the medium…

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

The bottom 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 winding road in the Umbrian hills of Italy.

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5  inches x 13.5 inches   $300

Perched on our little hillside near Terni, we could view the Italian landscape rolling out into the distance.  This painting of Italy shows the winding road that leads up the 16th century monastery that was our home base. The buildings and surrounding olive orchards were purchased by an artist who has revamped La Romita into a wonderful place to take art workshops and experience the many hill towns in the area. Its been almost a year since my trip there and I am pining to return!

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of an Italian palm and roof line.

Plein air watercolor painting   10.5  inches x 7 inches   $150

We’ve chosen all of the watercolor paintings for my upcoming show so I thought I would post a few of the extra ones that are now available in my studio. This scene is of the high-pitched monastery roofline at La Romita School of Art where I took a two week class last fall. The sunsets were beautiful up there in the hills near Terni. We visited all the nearby hill towns, but I also painted many Italian landscapes right there on the grounds of the school.

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

Plein air watercolor landscape of an approaching storm over Montana mountains.

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5 inches x 7 inches     $100

My very last watercolor landscape sketch from Montana this June. Some of the weather was unusually fierce that week and it was fun to try and capture the tumultuous clouds that rolled over the mountains. You have to work quickly in these conditions and watercolor painting is probably as good as any medium for speed. But you have to be willing relinquish a little control and work with the surprises that appear on your paper…

We’ll be going to New Orleans for a visit soon. I am looking forward to doing some watercolor building paintings when I am down there. I’ve always loved NOLA and it’s very, very unique architecture and atmosphere.

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a road in the hills of Montana.

Plein air watercolor painting   7 inches x 9.5 inches $100

Another watercolor landscape from our  trip to Bonanza Creek Country Ranch in Montana. We had a great cabin, perched on a hill, that looked down on the little road leading to the stable. The view was fantastic. The walk up, after a hard day in the saddle…not so much. It was cloudy much of our time there and quite a few flood watches, which is unusual for them. One day after an all-day ride, I sat on our front porch and did this watercolor painting of the road and the mountains in the distance.

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of ranchland in Montana

Plein air watercolor painting   6. 5 inches x 10 inches

Montana in June was marvelous! They have had a lot more rain this year than usual (maybe TOO much!) and the land was lush, green and covered with wildflowers. We spent most of our time at Bonanza Creek riding the 35,000 acre ranch, soaking up the unbelievably beautiful scenery. A couple of days were spent on culling out “pairs” (a mother and baby cow) from the herd, team penning (separating specific cows into specific pens) and moving one of the herds to new grazing grounds. Of course, all of these tasks could have been done with one experienced rancher and a dog, but our group of 7 plucky cowgirls did an admirable job.

I didn’t have much time for plein air watercolor painting but I did manage to do a few quick sketches in the afternoons. Whenever I travel to a new location, it takes me a while to “get the lay of the land.”  And believe me, the land out there is amazing! How do you suggest endless fields and valleys that lead, miles away, to huge jagged mountain ranges? Especially when it is not the landscape that you are familiar with? This is my first attempt at a watercolor landscape of the daunting but very beautiful western countryside…