Plein air pastel landscape painting    9  inches x 13 inches
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This dramatic scene was down the street from our condo in Florida. I painted a plein air pastel landscape of it both this year (above) and last year (below). They are very similar, done from almost the exact same viewpoint around the same time of day. Both were painted on art spectrum paper, this year’s on terra cotta, and last year’s on burgundy.

I was VERY excited to find out recently that Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine is naming me one of their “Three to Watch” in the May/June issue. It is an amazing honor to be featured in one of the best art collecting magazines in the world! And it’s a double pleasure: my good friend Nora Venturelli will be also be featured. Fantastic! I will post a copy of the article when it is published.

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

Plein air pastel cityscape painting    9  inches x 12 inches
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We’ve gone to the same area down south for three years now, so I’m beginning to know the places where I like to paint. Of course, I tend to keep going back to those spots time after time. I thought I would post some comparison images to show the same scene at different times and in different mediums.

This Italianate fountain sits in the middle of a bayfront Naples street filled with fancy restaurants and galleries. It reminds me of some of the sculptures that dot the piazzas in every Italian town. I like the sketchy, loose feel I was able to capture on the pastel painting (above) that I did of it this year. I worked in a triad of secondary colors: orange, purple and green.

Last year, I attempted a watercolor painting of the same scene. I see that each time, without realizing it, I shifted the position of the fountain so that it was not centered, included one tree trunk, and played the background arches against the sculptures. I also used the palm leaves to lead your eye to the top of the fountain. The colors on this one are shifted more to the primary colors of yellow, blue and red. Next time, I’ll have to try a different composition approach!

This artwork was created with:
Paper: UArt Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Watercolor landscape painting      10  inches x 7 inches  $150
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When John was golfing down south, I was limited to wandering around our condo association to find sites for painting plein air watercolors. This little shed with the palm tree shadows was close to our vacation home. I love the way the older leaves on the palms turned a bright ochre color.

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

Plein air pastel landscape painting    9  inches x 12 inches
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Naples, Florida is filled with art galleries, workshops and art exhibits. Its a town that really appreciates (and buys!) art. This year I was lucky to be there during the Naples National Art Festival. My town hosts the Ann Arbor Art Fairs, so I have a very high standard when judging competing shows. But the Naples show was wonderful. The artwork was very high quality and there were no lower level, “kitschy” type booths.

When I visited the park the day after the fair, the site was immaculate and back to its pre-fair beauty! I was intrigued with the main shaded path and the culmination of light at the end.  I underpainted again and really enjoyed playing with a bright palette of colors in this pastel landscape. The sunlight on the fallen leaves and pine needles created a warm highlight on the ground.

This artwork was created with:
Paper: UArt Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Plein air pastel landscape painting    12  inches x 9 inches
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While I was down south, I tried using a new paper for my pastel landscapes. I had bought a package of UArt 400 paper at the Pastel Society of America Show last fall and was eager to give it a try. I LOVE IT!!! It has just the right amount of tooth and the soft beige color worked well with watercolor underpaintings.

You might not realize it, but under the layers of pastel in this piece is a riot of bright flowing paint. The sky is underpainted in a pink-orange, the grass is a warm yellow-brown, the palms are bright purple and the trees in the distance are a sky blue. This method allows a scrumptious build-up of color that peaks thru and gives a bit of depth and sparkle to the final piece. I must say though, when I am painting outside and people stop by to see the artwork in its early stages, they are horrified by the wild conglomeration of opposite colors. They often give me a pitying look and say, “Ummm, very nice.”

Are you doing Pinterest? If so, I’d love it if you’d pin any of my paintings that strike a cord with you. Just click the “Pin It” button at the top of my post! And of course, you can always share one of my artworks by clicking the FaceBook Share button…

This artwork was created with:
Paper: UArt Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Watercolor cityscape painting      4.5  inches x 6.5 inches  $80
Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.

We only visited Narni for a half a day but it was a really cool little Umbrian town. I’m not sure if it is true, but we were told that it was the inspiration for the location of “Chronicles of Narnia” by C. S. Lewis. After a whirlwind tour of the city, we all rested in a little square along the pitched streets. Some artists sketched and I did a quick, little Italian watercolor painting. I love, love, love the architecture of Italy: lots of columns, arches and beautiful stonework. There’s always an interesting composition waiting around the next corner.

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

Watercolor landscape painting      7  inches x 10.5 inches   SOLD
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This plein air watercolor painting of Italy view is a little higher up in the town of San Marino, looking out at the mountains that surround it. Can you imagine waking up to this scene every morning? It was challenging to paint the foggy hills in the distance. As landscape rolls away from you, it becomes lighter and bluer.

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

Watercolor landscape painting      7  inches x 10.5 inches     SOLD
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

We visited so many small hill towns in Italy that they all start to merge together in my mind. But I definitely remember little, tiny San Marino. It was the first town we explored and I was struck by its isolation on a jagged bit of mountain. We were told that mostly elderly people live there now, since the “youngsters” have moved off to the cities to find jobs. There were no stores, gas stations or restaurants, just homes stacked close together on the winding streets. It was a perfect place for plein air watercolor painting. For this painting of Italy I focused on an old villa on a hill. I liked the dynamic composition, with the wall leading up to the building. And it was fun to incorporate a moody dark sky.

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

Watercolor landscape painting    10.5  inches x 6 inches     SOLD
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La Romita School of Art is located in the hills of Umbria, just outside of the city of Terni. From the monastery, we had a beautiful view of the countryside (and not much of the industrial area that surrounds the town). I spent a lot of our “studio” time wandering the property and plein air watercolor painting. For me, this painting of Italy is very symbolic of the rugged countryside of Umbria. Lots of rolling hills, wooded land and distant mountains. It was interesting to try and capture the atmosphere as parts of the landscape faded into the distance.

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

Watercolor landscape painting   10.5  inches x 6 inches     SOLD
Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

I painted this plein air watercolor painting, sitting on a stone wall at the monastery at La Romita one afternoon. There was not much local color, so I decided to do a fairly monochromatic painting of Italy. Only the color in the bright red wheel demands attention. One of my favorite patrons snatched this one up!

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

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