Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a rock garden surrounded by hostas

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5 inches x 7 inches $100

One more watercolor landscape from our latest garden site. It was my last watercolor painting of the day and I had really loosened up on this quick sketch. The only thing I didn’t catch was the little line of water cascading over the rocks…

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

Pastel landscape painting of a sunlit river filled with rocks.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches

This is the second pastel painting I did while demonstrating at Art Walk. It was kind of disconcerting to be painting with so many art lovers milling about and talking. People came into my booth and chatted for a while, and when I went back to my painting, I had completely forgotten what I was doing and why. It was a new level of concentration for me.

I was pretty happy with the outcome of this pastel landscape. It reminds me of the breathtaking river I came upon one sunny morning in Louisville, KY where we were visiting friends.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a woodland stream lit by golden sunlight.

Pastel painting 8 inches x 11 inches

Another pastel painting from our second plein air trip to Parker Mill. I chose to paint the river again because the sparkling water was just too scrumptious to refuse. The sunlight cast a warm yellow reflection in the stream that really attracted me. It creates a natural pathway that leads you through the pastel landscape.

Pastel painting of rocks and reflections in a Michigan river

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches    SOLD  (Giclee prints are available)

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

This is my 27th RiverStone pastel painting. I keep coming back to this subject because it speaks to me in a very special way. I originally started this series because my art mentor, Mary Beth Koeze, suggested that I paint one subject over and over, and that I “paint bigger.” These scenes speak to me of a quiet moment in time, away from the hub bub of everyday life. They become almost abstract in their composition, yet I think each one of these pastel paintings has its own, unique personality. The series has been very popular with corporate art clients, especially health care institutions.

Pastel painting of water rushing over rocks in a creek bed

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches $850    (Giclee prints are available)

Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.

Here is the companion to the pastel painting I posted the other day. It is another “micro landscape” in my RiverStone series. Everywhere I travel, I take photos of rocks in riverbeds and streams. Back in the studio, I crop tightly on the images, sometimes adding or deleting elements to make the composition flow better. In these paintings, I eliminated a lot of extraneous information that I felt took away from the feeling of rushing water that I wanted to portray.

Pastel painting of water rushing over rocks in a creek bed

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches $850   (Giclee prints are available)

Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.

In the middle of this crummy winter, I thought I would revisit my RiverStone series. Most of my previous pastel paintings in this group of works featured calm, quiet water, but this time I decided to go for action! Water in motion is really difficult to portray so this is a good learning process for me. I painted two pieces at the same time in the hopes that they would work well together as a dyptich. I’ll post the second one in a couple of days…