Pastel painting 17 inches x 11 inches     $650

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Another pastel painting from right here in Saline. This creek is just off the main road going into town. And let me tell ya, I almost got run over while shooting my reference shots from the tiny bridge! (I can see the headline in our local paper: Pastel Artist Expires Shooting Precarious Photographs…) But I just had to do it. The reflections were so beautiful, especially in contrast to the bright snow on the rim of the river. I took about 20 photos and cropped and revised the composition until it felt right for the pastel landscape I had in mind. I’m really happy with the results!

Pastel landscape painting of Mill Creek in Saline, Michigan

Pastel painting 11 inches x 17 inches     $650

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Back from a wonderful trip down south. A little cold and windy but MUCH better than the bitter cold in Michigan right now. I painted a lot of plein air pastel paintings in Florida over the last week and will post them soon.

I finished this pastel landscape just before we left on our trip. Mill Creek wanders through Saline and the city’s parks. In this piece I wanted to capture the contrast between the light-filled, early morning mist and the vibrant patch of sunlight in the foreground.

Pastel landscape painting of a winter river through the trees.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 10 inches     $450

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I’m continuing on with my winter river obsession in my current pastel paintings. Last weekend, John and I traveled west and south of Saline, shooting good research photos that I could work from back in the studio. We stopped at every little stream and creek and now I am flush with new ideas!

I am working on putting together a series pastel landscapes which all have Michigan rivers, streams and lakes as their subject. Hopefully later next year, I will mount a solo show of these artworks. Stay tuned!

Pastel landscape painting of a wandering creek in a grassy field in Michigan.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 14 inches    SOLD

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A couple of weeks ago, I found this small, meandering little creek while I was out walking. It just called out to be captured on paper.

I’m really excited about the pastel landscape painting of it that I finished last night. It closely approaches the original vision I had of the piece when I started out. Sometimes I have a very strong idea of how I want a completed artwork to look and yet it comes out totally different. Sometimes my ideas change midstream and I spark off that, other times I just can’t reach the original dream and have to hope for a better outcome on the next piece. On this pastel, I feel that all my artistic intuitions “played well together” and we came to a good conclusion!

Pastel painting of trees reflected in a river deep in the woods.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 10 inches   $450

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I have been crazy busy the last few days between work at our ann arbor advertising agency, studio work and GrandBaby time. I now have 5 of my planned 9 family portraits done for a project I am  calling my “portrait quilt”. I am hoping to have it finished and hung for Thanksgiving so the whole fam damily can critique it!

This pastel landscape above is part of the “Michigan Reflections” series I am currently painting. I am so drawn to light and shadow and, if you throw a couple reflections in, I am a real goner. I liked playing with the heightened color in this piece. I wanted to evoke the feeling of an early morning walk and coming upon a gorgeous treasure of a place, deep in the woods, that no one else knew about…

Pastel painting of rocks and reflections in a Michigan river

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches   $850

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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 landscape painting of a creek in the woods of Northern Michigan.

Pastel painting 10 inches x 10 inches   $450

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I am  really excited about this recent pastel landscape. I feel like I loosened up and approached the style that I really want to work in.  I feel like I finally dropped the worthless details and concentrated on the color, composition and, of course, THE LIGHT AND SHADOWS. It seems like it would be easy to recreate this feeling every time, but once I get going I get caught up in minutiae and then…..

This beautiful little river is near Harbor Springs, in the woods at Pond Hill Farm. The farm was one of the nature conservancy areas that I painted for Tvedten Fine Art ’s plein air charity paint out. The bugs were crazy so I couldn’t paint this scene on site, but I took hundreds of photos and used several for reference for this piece.

Plein air pastel landscape of a bridge and stream in Petoskey, Michigan

Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11 inches $200

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Last Friday, I set out to paint some cityscapes of downtown Petoskey, Michigan. But I got waylaid by this monumental bridge in the park below the main drag of the town. The sun streaming through the trees was gorgeous and the big old bridge was a perfect foil for the spring landscape. The mosquitos were horrendous but I managed to stick it out for an hour before I moved on to other subjects…

Plein air watercolor painting of trees along the Huron River in Gallup Park.

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 3.5 inches
$80

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In Ann Arbor, we have a beautiful public treasure called Gallup Park. The Huron River runs through it and it is a gathering place for joggers, kayakers, dog walkers, families and courting couples. I try to get out there at least a couple of times a year to do some plein air painting. This small watercolor landscape was one of a few I did recently. The views are so varied that I can  just set up my supplies, paint, pivot, paint, pivot, etc., and get an interesting scene at every turn. I’m hoping to get out again this weekend with either my watercolors or pastels and capture some of the gorgeous red buds that are in bloom right now…

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 a rushing river

Pastel painting 12.5 inches x 25.5 inches SOLD

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Another in my continuing RiverStone pastel series–but this seemed to take a bit of a different turn than the others. Its inspired by the rushing waters in Montana’s creeks in the spring after the winter thaw. But it also reminds me of northern Michigan rivers. Bright, crisp and clean. I’m currently working on some new floral pastels, this time inspired by our own back yard treasures!