Pastel plein air landscape painting of an old farmstead

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8.5 inches $200

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This beautiful old farmstead sits right in the middle of a whole gaggle of subdivisions. It seems to be holding on to its proud farming tradition and had a certain spunky diginity to it. I hadn’t captured it in my watercolor farmscape series yet so I thought I’d give it a try in pastel. While I was painting, the one and only policeman in our township stopped by and sternly asked me what I was doing. I must have looked pretty darn suspicious there, sitting on the side of the road– with my pastels….

Plein air pastel landscape of a bridge reflecting in a river.

Pastel painting 8 inches x 10 inches $200

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Monday was a gorgeous, blue-sky, spring day in Ann Arbor.  I made a bee line to Gallup Park to do a few pastel paintings. Sometimes plein air wori is difficult in spring because EVERYTHING is green. To counteract that, I usually look for some additional color to perk up the scene. This foot bridge fit the bill!

Plein air pastel landscape of meadows near a wetland in spring

Pastel painting 9 inches x 6 inches $100

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This is my second plein air pastel landscape from this weekend’s outing. Everything in southern Michigan has turned green and lush at last! I took a lot of photos when I was out so I could paint more Treescape pastels in the studio when we get our traditional rainy spring days.

Plein air pastel painting of a wetland creek in early spring

Pastel painting 6 inches x 9.25 inches $100

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Ah…the trials and tribulations of a plein air painter….

I went out Saturday looking for farms to paint and was waylaid by a beautiful wetland area just springing to life. I set up my pastels and new ShadeBuddy umbrella in front of this languid stream and went to work. About half way thru, a huge gust of wind came up and catapulted my umbrella 30 feet into the nearby swamp. I waded in up to my ankles and couldn’t reach it so finally had to walk about a mile around on “no trespassing” land to fish it out. I’m sure the passers by where laughing their dungarees off, but I wasn’t givng up my new purchase!

But in the end, I was very happy with the outcome of this pastel landscape. It really captures the colors and atmosphere of the scene.

Pastel painting of old, dilapidated barns and out buildings

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches $300

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Sunday was another gorgeous day to paint plein aire. I’ve been pining to paint this place but there are “no trespassing” signs posted all over it. Yesterday I decided that as long as I sat out on the edge of the road, I wouldn’t be encroaching. I set up and began to work on the pastel painting, and sure as shootin, up drives the landowner. I thought I was in big trouble but he was a delightful older man who told me the whole 200 year history of the farm. He was honored that someone still thought it was worthy of notice and welcomed me to walk among the ruins. This type of real world history fascinates me and made the pastel landscape all the more relevent to me…

Pastel painting of winter snow

Pastel painting 10 inches x 10 inches SOLD

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There’s no doubt about it. Spring, summer and fall in Michigan are glorious. Winter, however, can be a bear. We just received another 4 inches onto the 12 inches of snow we got last week. The HIGH will be in the single digits the next 3 days. I decided not to fight it but to glory in the beauty of my own back yard. This pastel landscape shows the sparkling, golden light peaking through the trees.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 10 inches $450 + shipping

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I decided to take another look at the beautiful old oak tree that was my subject in the Treescape pastel painting I posted on December 20th.  I love the how strong, yet ancient it looked out there in the field all alone. Instead of focusing on its strength and texture, I wanted to show its “separateness” in this piece so I chose a square format that allowed more of the receding landscape to show. I really find it fascinating how the same subject can inspire different approaches.