Plein air pastel landscape painting of a home in BayView near Lake Michigan

Pastel painting 11.5 inches x 8.5 inches

Spring in Northern Michigan is a wonderful place for a plein air artist. The landscape is bursting with color and there’s always Lake Michigan for a perfect backdrop. I stopped by BayView, a neat little area filled with old Victorian cottages near Petoskey and painted this pastel painting. The sun was just coming up and the light and shadows on this old home drew me in. I was able to combine a painting of architecture with gorgeous blue-water seascape.

Gouache landscape painting of a fence in front of an old bungalow house.

Gouache painting    6 inches x 6 inches

I’m burning out a bit on pastel paintings of Italy, so I thought I’d give myself a new challenge. I’ve been meaning to explore gouache and for some reason, I never get around to it. This medium entices me because it is similar to watercolor, but much more forgiving because it can be applied opaquely. That means mistakes can be revised instead of thrown in the trash. I’m also hoping it might help me to loosen up a bit.

I started with this small landscape painting (or architecture painting depending on how you view the subject matter.) This little bungalow is right next door to my brother-in-laws house and I’ve always loved the way the light hits it in late afternoon. I only let myself use large brushes to cut down on fussing with details. I think it’s a good start…

Plein air watercolor painting of a porch on an old home with geranium baskets.

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6.5 inches    $100

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Pulled out the watercolors the other day and walked around downtown Saline. In the morning, the sunlight illuminates the old houses on the main road into town. I always swear I am going to try a new location but the sunlit porches tend to grab my attention. So….another watercolor architecture painting of my hometown!

Watercolor landscape painting of a beautiful old mansion in Savannah, Georgia

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 14 inches    $500

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Last month I was honored to be asked to do a watercolor painting demonstration for Taylor Jacobsen’s watercolor class — an art mainstay in our area. People have been attending his class for decades.

I chose to work from a cropped photo of a beautiful old, Savannah mansion that I had take a few years ago. I love to paintings of architecture and when I can’t do it in person, I work from reference photos. In this piece, I was attracted to the highlighted plant as the center of interest, and the zig zag compostion that leads your eye up to it. I decide to push the juxtaposition of the complimentary colors, blue and orange, to get a warm, glowing effect.

Pastel painting of fading geraniums in front of an old house.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 14 inches   $600

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

This pastel painting is an unusual combination of floral and landscape. I was wandering around downtown Louisville, in a neat historic section, when I ran into these fading geraniums. When I noticed the old, historic home in the background, I thought their juxtaposition would make an interesting image. I get all worked up about the way we treat our cities, trashing or abandoning whole neighborhoods in our rush to expand into the vanishing open areas. This piece was a bit cathartic for me. Ahhhh…. I feel better now!

BTW: If you get a chance, check out Tony Moffits blog. He puts out very useful and interesting information about art marketing. He featured my art work today in his blog and he also has a great site for artists looking for gallery representation. He graciously included me in his artist group on this site also.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 7.5 inches $200 + shipping

Please contact me if you are interested in this artwork.

This old place is right down the street from us. Its been there since the late 1800′s but they have boarded it up and I’m afraid they are ready to tear it down. There’s rumors that Wild Bill Cody’s cousin lived in this house and that Bill used to visit when he was in Michigan. I love painting old houses and I hate to see this old beauty go…

Watercolor painting 5 inches x 8 inches $100 + shipping

Please contact me if you are interested in this artwork.

Saturday morning the skies were clear and there were beautiful dark shadows. I found an old abandoned house south of town. The old rattan furniture was still on the porch as if the owners might come out any moment, even though they had been gone for years…

Watercolor painting 5 inches x 8 inches $100 + shipping

Please contact me if you are interested in this artwork.

Thought I’d post another one of the plein air watercolor paintings I did on our main street in Saline. I love all these old homes and the tons of history behind them. They’ve started renovating a lot of them and they just sparkle from the curb!