Pastel painting of ripe pears on a tree in a fruit orchard.

Pastel paintings   18 inches x 26 inches

Yay! My first finished pastel painting for 2012! Much as love the holiday season, I am usually very happy to get back to my normal routine and spend time in my studio.

I’ve been working on more garden paintings and trying to incorporate them into some of my other current series. When I saw these luscious pears at one of our garden sites, I just knew they would work wonderfully in my Orchard Series. This is a pretty large piece, but I felt I needed to go big to capture the feeling of space and depth I was looking for.

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

Pastel cityscape painting of a small street in Umbria, Italy. SOLD

Pastel painting of an extreme close up view of ripe apples on a tree.

Early Christmas Present!

I was notified last week that I had TWO pastel paintings juried into the International Association of Pastel Societies Exhibit. A real thrill and a great end to the year!

It’s an amazing exhibit filled with gorgeous artworks. You can see the full show here.

Pastel painting 6.25  inches x 6.25 inches $100

This is a small pastel painting that I did this summer sitting in my driveway and looking out toward my neighbor’s house. The sunlit patches of lawn created an interesting pattern that culminated with the bright light around the porch next door. Theirs a lot of texture showing through the pastels from the rust colored primer I applied on a small piece of illustration board. I like to work on small pieces every now and then to break up the pressure of the larger ones!

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

Pastel painting of an extreme close up of oranges on a tree in sunny Italy.

Pastel painting 28  inches x 14 inches

I’ve been talking about the pastel paintings I’ve been working on for my upcoming show at the River Gallery for months now, but haven’t posted any. Y’all probably don’t think they even exist. I thought I’d post one that I just finished last week as a little preview of the exhibition.

I’ve been working on a lot of paintings of Italian buildings and scenery but had the urge to explore some of the beautiful orange trees in the Umbrian region I visited last year. I especially wanted to capture the feeling of bright sunlight hitting the fruit. This piece is reminiscent of some of my earlier Orchard paintings but with a Mediterranean twist! The pebbly surface of the rust-colored primer I worked on, helped to give the texture that you see in the old stone wall.

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

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a tree along the Huron River in Ann Arbor, Michigan

This is the last of my paintings from the Bagetta Workshop. I only had a bit of time left before our critique, but I didn’t want to waist it. I left all my supplies in the same place and simply turned my easel around. I zeroed in a small little scene that wasn’t too complicated for my pastel painting. Sometimes the amount of options when you are painting plein air is totally overwhelming. It helps to use a small view finder to find a good composition and crop out all of the extra information.

On this pastel landscape of a river, I used a piece of gatorboard that I had underpainted with Art Spectrum Colourfix primer in a terra cotta shade. I like the way the brush strokes show thru the pastel and add a little texture. This type of set-up tends to create a looser feel, so I wouldn’t choose this medium if you want to create a very detailed piece.

I’m really excited about a historical portrait commission I am doing of a young child and his father. Its really a challenge and I am loving every minute of it!

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a lake in Montana

Plein air Watercolor painting 6 inches x 9 inches

This plein air watercolor landscape was painted in Beaverhead County, one of the largest counties in the United States, but with only 9,000 population. The gorgeous mountains seem to be in the distance no matter what view you take.

Plein air pastel landscape painting of an old tree casting shadows on a shed.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8. inches     $200

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

“on the road again….”

The other morning I got up early, bundled up my supplies, stuck the dog in the car, and drove to a nearby field. I walk through it often in the mornings with Roxy and I knew the sun cast really interesting shadows on an old shed there. I’d been waiting for the right type of sunny day to do a pastel landscape of the scene. I had to work fast because the sun was rising quickly and I wanted to capture the light falling across the fence and the wall behind it. Architecture pastels can be a challenge, specially when you are speed painting!

Watercolor landscape painting of an old Victorian house.

Watercolor painting 9 inches x 13.5 inches    $400

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

I’m really getting excited about my trip to Italy this fall. I will be spending two weeks in a small village in Umbria at a painting workshop. The art school is located in a 15th century monastery and we will use the chapel as our indoor studio. But most of the time we will be traveling to tiny hilltowns throughout the region. Ahhhh….bliss!

I’ve decided to work mostly in watercolor when I’m there, and that inspired me to start painting in the medium again. This watercolor painting is from my many reference photos of old houses in our county. I believe this house is on Main Street in Milan.  I love to doing paintings of architecture especially when the rigid structural forces are contrasted with natural landscape elements.

Plein air pastel painting of a Red Bud tree in full bloom in spring.

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8.5 inches     $200

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Last Wednesday I went back to Wellers one more time to paint a pastel landscape of one of their beautiful flowering Red Bud trees. Along with the Dogwoods, these trees are my favorite signs of spring in Michigan. They are electrifyingly beautiful but very difficult to capture in a pastel painting. The flowers are extremely small and the overall effect is of a sparkling cloud of violet-pink sparkles. I know that sounds weird but its the best description I can come up with. They only last for a few days so you have to catch them quickly!

Pastel painting of an extreme close-up view of ripe apples on a sunny autumn day

Pastel painting 20 inches x 20 inches     SOLD   (Giclee prints are available)

Pastel painting number two for the Tvedten Fine Art “20 x 20″ show this summer. The Opening Reception will be July 29th and I am assuming the show will run through August. I’m really excited about this new series and looking forward to exploring new compositions and color combinations within this bright harvest subject matter.