Plein air gouache landscape painting of sheds at an Italian Monastery.

Plein air gouache painting   6.25 inches x 9.55 inches  $150

This painting is another experiment with gouache, an opaque watercolor medium, on Yupo paper. I brought a small set of gouache paints with me when I went to Umbria last year, but only did a few paintings of Italy with them. This little scene is in the back of the monastery where we made our home base.

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Yupo
Medium: Winsor & Newton’s Designer Gouache

Plein air pastel landscape painting of light streaming through a line of trees near a garden.

Pastel painting 9 inches x 12 inches

Our last garden to paint for the Ann Arbor Garden Walk is just down the street from my house. Last weekend I took a break from framing to do a quick pastel landscape of it. I started with a watercolor underpainting using the technique that Marla Bagetta had taught us at her workshop in Ann Arbor this summer. The scene actually included a bee house and several urns. The original plein air painting included them but I felt they made the composition too busy and decided to eliminate them in the final version.

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Kitty Wallis White Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a winding road in the Umbrian hills of Italy.

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5  inches x 13.5 inches   $300

Perched on our little hillside near Terni, we could view the Italian landscape rolling out into the distance.  This painting of Italy shows the winding road that leads up the 16th century monastery that was our home base. The buildings and surrounding olive orchards were purchased by an artist who has revamped La Romita into a wonderful place to take art workshops and experience the many hill towns in the area. Its been almost a year since my trip there and I am pining to return!

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

Plein air watercolor landscape of an approaching storm over Montana mountains.

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5 inches x 7 inches     $100

My very last watercolor landscape sketch from Montana this June. Some of the weather was unusually fierce that week and it was fun to try and capture the tumultuous clouds that rolled over the mountains. You have to work quickly in these conditions and watercolor painting is probably as good as any medium for speed. But you have to be willing relinquish a little control and work with the surprises that appear on your paper…

We’ll be going to New Orleans for a visit soon. I am looking forward to doing some watercolor building paintings when I am down there. I’ve always loved NOLA and it’s very, very unique architecture and atmosphere.

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

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

Plein air pastel landscape painting of cumulus clouds over a riverbank.

Pastel painting 11.5 inches x 18 inches

I was on my way to portrait class last week, but it was a gorgeous Michigan summer day and I just couldn’t stand the thought of being cooped up inside. I decided to do a plein air painting instead. The clouds were huge and the wind was pushing them across the sky at a steady clip. It reminded me of the Big Sky of Montana. I set up for a pastel landscape at Gallup Park along the riverbank and painted as fast as I could. I don’t usually use Canson paper for landscapes but it was all I had with me and I had to go with it. Over the years, I’ve learned to be a very adaptable Michigan plein air artist!

This artwork was created with:

Paper: Canson Mi-Tients Steel Gray Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a roadside garden

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5 inches x 7 inches

We had a whole gaggle of plein air garden painters at another new site on Wednesday. It was a small area and we were all packed in, gabbing and painting. Pure heaven. This time I decided to switch back to watercolor landscapes. It was sunny and warm again so the colors dried quickly and kept their vibrant hues. I love watercolor painting in this type of weather! This site still had a lot of plants blooming so it was a perfect time to get in a couple more floral paintings. Every day that passes moves us closer to autumn…

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

Plein air pastel painting of a stairway in a garden

Pastel painting 9 inches x 12 inches

We were given a new garden to paint last week and I stopped by about midday to check it out. It was a lovely home site deep in the woods and their stairway up to the house made a great subject for a garden pastel landscape. Unfortunately, Michigan is inundated with mosquitoes right now and it is downright treacherous to be out plein air painting. I managed to work for about an hour on this piece and was happy with the outcome!

This artwork was created with:
Paper: Kitty Wallis Belgian Mist Pastel Paper
Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels

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

Plein air landscape painting of a rock garden in front of a home.

Plein air watercolor painting   9.5 inches x 7 inches

The light shining through the silhouetted trees attracted my attention at this lovely home. I had to paint quickly because the heat that morning was overwhelming. But that kind of weather can actually be a good when doing watercolor landscapes. The washes and layers of color dry quickly, which helps me avoid creating pools of muddy color. Sometimes my mind and hands work faster than the medium allows. I get excited to get all my thoughts down before the previous layer has dried enough to accept another pass. Watercolor paintings take a bit of patience and forethought…and sometimes I have it…and sometimes I don’t!

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

Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a July garden in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Plein air watercolor painting   7 inches x 10.5 inches

Another  garden view from the older home I’ve visited a few times. I keep switching back and forth between plein air watercolor and pastel garden paintings, trying to decide which medium works best for flower filled landscapes. They each have their good points…guess I will just keep painting in both mediums…

Plein air pastel landscape painting of a flower urn along a garden path.

Pastel painting 9 inches x 12 inches

Another pastel garden painting! This property is amazing. It has every type of garden you can imagine. Formal shaded areas, large sunny meadows, wild flowers, wooded trails and creekbeds. Everything a Michigan plein air artist could hope for. I’ve painted on their beautiful grounds quite a few times and am starting to feel like one of the family. I always knock on the garden owner’s door to let them know I will be wandering their property. Its too creepy otherwise.

There was so many views to consider, it was almost overwhelming. I settled on this “small” scene since it was so hot and I knew I would not be able to take the heat for more than an hour or so. Plein air painting is not for sissies!