Pastel landscape painting of the Huron River at Delhi Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Pastel painting 12 inches x 9 inches

I set out last weekend, planning to paint another garden pastel landscape at one of the beautiful homes on next year’s Ann Arbor Garden Walk. But I got waylaid. I was driving by the Huron River and I had a change of heart. I stopped at Delhi Park and set up for a plein air painting on the bank of the river. I am such a sucker for water scenes and they are soooo hard to paint realistically. The shadows and highlight on the moving river changed every second. I fuzzed my eyes and memorized the way the water looked at that very moment and tried to capture it.

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Sienna Sennelier La Carte Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Pastel plein air landscape painting of the woods near the Raisin River in Saline, Michigan.

Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11.5 inches

After painting the landscape at Weller’s that I posted a few days ago, I shifted my position and did a pastel drawing of the scene from a slightly different viewpoint. This scene incorporates more of the river and is in a vertical format. Same woods, rocks and tree but completely different effect.  Its amazing the number of compositions you can create from the same subject matter…

Plein air pastel landscape painting of grasses and water in the Everglades

Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11.5 inches

When I’m down south, I always head out to the Everglades to work on plein air paintings. There is nothing like the light shining on the water wandering through the acres of marsh land. Every view has some enticing little nuance that I want to capture in a pastel landscape. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get very deep into the Everglades with painting equipment. I usually set up my easel on the side of the Tamiami Trail and paint out of the back of my SUV as traffic whizzes by. This has its good and bad points. The noise is terribly distracting, but I feel somewhat safe in a quasi-public area, as opposed to deep in the swamps.

However, when I was painting this piece, I ran into something I hadn’t bargained for. I noticed a car with two older couples crawling up behind me. They stopped the car and excitedly asked “Did you see it?” I had no idea what they were talking about. They explained that they had just seen a huge black bear rumbling through the grasses in the field next to me. Oy. But I’m a die hard. I wasn’t finished with my pastel painting and I wasn’t leaving til I was. But you can be sure I kept a close eye out, in case I needed to escape into my car!

Plein air watercolor landscape of a waterfall in Montana

Plein air Watercolor painting 4 inches x 9.5 inches

Plein air watercolor landscape of ranch land in Montana

Plein air Watercolor painting 5.5 inches x 15.5 inches

When I visit new places, it helps me to jump outside my usual style and techniques. The countryside in Montana pushed me to work in different compositions and sizes. In this watercolor landscape I wanted to capture some of the enormity of the landscape, but from a close-up and personal viewpoint. I sat near one of the trout streams and looked out toward the distant mountains.

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of aspens and a river in Montana

Plein air Watercolor painting 9 inches x 12 inches

Pastel landscape painting of a snowy winter field with a stream running through it.

Pastel painting 5 inches x 7.5 inches

Between helping with my new grandson, work, and the holidays, I haven’t been getting much painting done! I’ve been pining to do a winterscape so I slipped this small pastel painting in this afternoon. This field is near our home and I often take my Aussie, Roxy, for walks along the little creek. Its barely noticeable from the road and feels very secluded. I painted another larger pastel landscape of this area a year ago. I can’t wait to go back this spring and try a plein air version.

Plein air pastel landscape of a Michigan wetlands in mid November.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches

Last week, my friend Cecily and I braved the cold and set out to find a nice spot to paint outdoors. We felt the need to commemorate our artist friend Mary Beth Koeze who had just passed away, and, when you think of it, what could be more appropriate than to create art?

I think this is probably my last Michigan plein air pastel painting of the season. It was COLD. My fingers were numb and my ears frozen. How artists paint in deep winter, I’ll never know. But this wetland area had always intrigued me and I’m happy we seized the moment to capture some of its beauty.

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of buildings and a bridge over a stream

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 6 inches

When we were on a South Carolina vacation last spring, I didn’t get a lot of time to paint. But every day or so, I’d walk around the resort til I found something that grabbed my attention. This bridge was one of my favorite subjects for  watercolor landscapes. I posted a painting of a different view of the same bridge a while ago.

Just finished up a watercolor commission of a beautiful garden. Looking forward to giving it to my client, but won’t be able to post it til after the holidays because its a present!

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.