Plein air pastel painting of small palms on a lake shore.

Pastel painting 8 inches x 11.5 inches     $300

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I like to paint what I call “MicroLandscapes”. I find a scene that I really like and create an intensely cropped, “close up” composition of it. My RiverStones series is a good example of this type of subject matter. It’s a non-traditional way of looking at pastel landscapes, and one that fits my sensibilities very well.

I usually do these types of paintings in the studio, but when I was down in Florida, I thought I would make a plein air attempt. These palms were right on the edge of a pond and created a neat, abstract composition for my pastel painting.

I am starting a new series of “MicroLandscapes” and am using apple orchards as my subject matter. So far I really like the results. I’ll post them soon…

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a bright Florida bridge reflected in a pond

Pastel painting 8 inches x 12.5 inches     $300

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This is another pastel landscape, that I painted on a piece of white art spectrum paper that had been underpainted with a rose- colored wash. Warm red is a great hue for outdoor painting because it is a natural compliment to the many shades of green that are found in most landscapes. Placing two compliments (opposites on the color wheel) close together creates a dynamic, vibrating feel in a painting. And although I know this theory from years of study, I sometimes forget it in the passion of getting all the gorgeous colors on the paper. If I underpaint before I start, I don’t have to be focused on adding reds to my greens…they appear on their own!

As a pastel artist, I try to keep the idea of contrasting compliments constantly in mind. For instance, if I want to paint a water scene, which is predominantly blue, I will often use an orange paper. Or if I am working on a pastel portrait with lots of golden tones, I might use a muted purple sheet.

Little tricks of the trade…

Plein air pastel landscape painting of palm trees and their shadows along a resort walk in Florida.

Pastel painting 8 inches x 12 inches     $300

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As a plein air pastel artist, I am always looking for 3 crucial elements when searching out a scene to paint: A dynamic composition, a strong sense of light and shadow, and of course, beautiful color. Sometimes I may find a majestic, monumental view that contains all of those elements. Other times it may be a simple, every day scene such as this shadowed walkway that caught my eye down in Naples. For this pastel landscape, I painted on white art spectrum paper that I had underpainted in various rust and rose tones. You can see the color peeking through all over the painting. I like to do this technique to unify and add some sizzle to the color.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a single bird sitting on a rock formation near a canal in Florida.

Pastel painting 6 inches x 8 inches     $100

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One morning when I was out looking for a place to set up for  pastel paintings, I saw this neat rock formation along one of the canals near our condo. When I began sketching, a black water bird of some type landed on one of the large rocks–and stayed there for the next hour! It was if it was posing for me, so of course, I had to take advantage it! This a small pastel landscape piece, but I really like the painterly effect of the rocks…

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a marsh in the Everglades in Florida.

Pastel painting 12 inches x 8 inches     $300

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Another pastel painting from the Everglades when we were down south. I was just fascinated with the landscape of the marshes. It is so rich and mysterious. And I loved the hundreds of birds, turtles and various other creatures that moved in and out of my view. Not a bad way to spend a warm sunny pastel landscape day.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of the the sun rising over the Everglades in Florida

Pastel painting 12 inches x 8 inches     $300

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The Everglades in southern Florida are pastel painting heaven. When we stayed in Naples, I spent one whole day driving back and forth on the Tamiami trail. Whenever I saw something that caught my eye, I would park my traveling studio (the family SUV) at the side of the road and set up shop out of the the back. The wandering rivers catch the light and make wonderful scenes for a pastel landscape.

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a umbrella table next to a pool.

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Afternoon by the pool. The luscious, dark colors of the pool reflection drew me into this scene. Some people came down and sat at the table halfway through the watercolor painting and I had to recreate that area by memory…

Plein air gouache landscape painting of an approaching storm over the ocean in Florida.

Gouache painting 6 inches x 9 inches $100

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Although we had wonderful weather on our trip, one day a huge storm moved in toward our island. I sat on our deck and tried to get the feel of the turmoil in a gouache seascape. It was dramatic for a while, but luckily the storm only created a short, refreshing rainfall. Since gouache is opaque, I was able to overpaint the waves in white to highlight the gazebo on the shore.

Plein air watercolor painting of a palm tree in a nature preserve in Florida.

Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches $100

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I visited a nature preserve near Naples, Florida in hopes of doing a large watercolor landscape of the area. I quickly became totally overwhelmed by the immenseness of the acreage and settled on doing a watercolor painting of a single distressed palm. I wanted to capture some of the fading brown leaves next to the vibrant new growth.

Plein air watercolor landscape of a southern Florida canal.

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches $100

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While we were in Florida last December, we drove by this picturesque canal right off a busy highway. The next day, when John was golfing, I returned to capture it in a  watercolor painting. The palm trees made a perfect frame for the bridge and slow flowing water.

Plein air watercolor painting of colorful sailboats on the beach

Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches 100

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I saw these colorful sailboats on the beach every day and finally one morning, I braved the sand and wind to do several  watercolor paintings of them. The vibrant primary colors really shimmered in the bright sunshine.

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a water fountain on Marco Island, Florida

Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches 100

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We are going to be taking a southern vacation soon so I thought I would post some of the watercolor paintings I did on my last trip to Florida. We stayed in a beautiful condo on Marco Island and the weather was wonderful. You would think that I would be in painting heaven. But I find it very difficult to warm up to the colors and atmosphere of tropical locales. I must be too entrenched in the Michigan’s moody woods and rolling hills to fully appreciate doing watercolor landscapes in Florida. It always takes me a good few days to readjust my pallet.

This painting was done from my favorite position. In a lounge chair at the pool with a glass of wine!