Plein air watercolor painting of a pine tree near a meadow garden.

Plein air watercolor painting   7 inches x 9.5 inches

Another plein air watercolor landscape painting from the Ann Arbor Garden series I have been working on. I’ve visited this particular garden 3 times now and each time a find a completely different, intriguing view. The wild flowers made and interesting highlight against the dark depth of the forest behind. The flowers are fading fast in Michigan, but I hope to visit the gardens a few more times to do some  pastel garden paintings …

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

Plein air pastel landscape painting of an old house and field in Saline, Michigan

Pastel painting 11 inches x 8 inches

Had a little bit of time on Monday afternoon–not enough to go out searching for a great scene, but just enough time to do a quick plein air painting. There’s a field by our house that I’ve always loved, so I hopped in the car and set up for a pastel landscape under a large shade tree. I didn’t have a special view in mind so I just spun around and around til I found subject matter that I liked. I did a quick underpainting in watercolor on Kitty Wallis pastel paper using some of the techniques that Marla Bagetta had described to us in her workshop. Then began layering color, little by little. I loved the way the sunlit Queen Anne’s Lace was highlighted against the shadowed old house…

Pastel Painting of a field of Queen Anne's Lace

Pastel painting 10 inches x 10 inches  SOLD

Please contact me if you are interested in similar artwork.

Lately I’ve been inspired by Karen Margulis‘ small pastel paintings that are filled with wild flowers. I decided to try my own version substituting my favorite Michigan wild flowers (or are they weeds?)–Queen Anne’s Lace. I love the way they blanket the fields in late summer. I took a reference photo last fall when I was out painting farmscapes. They are hard to paint plein air because they are in constant motion, so I did this piece in my studio.