by Jill Stefani Wagner

"Table for Two?"   oil   8x8   The first couple of days at the Wayne Plein Air Festival, it rained. For some reason that seems to happen more often than not. In this event we were allowed to paint indoors if the weather was bad. (Others force us outside to paint in hail storms with combat helmets.) So I headed to a beautiful floral/decorating store to paint my first piece. Then off to a bar to capture the lunch crowd. To say that patrons in these establishments were curious is a gross understatement. "What? Painting in a bar?" Much explaining ensued.   "Liquid Lunch"   oil   12x12   I [...]

"Palace of Fine Arts" Pastel Cityscape Painting   8 inches x 8 inches     SOLD    Nancie King Mertz and I arrived early for the Plein Air Convention and took some time to paint an amazing icon of San Francisco, the Palace of Fine Arts. It’s a gorgeous monument honoring creativity that was built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and seemed an appropriate subject matter as we began a week of celebrating painting outdoors.   "Palace Grandeur"   Pastel Cityscape Painting    12 inches x 9 inches        See Pricing The next day I stole a little time and painted the trolley turnaround just a [...]

“Promenade” Pastel Cityscape Painting   9 inches x 112 inches     See Pricing When I do demonstration paintings at my workshops, I rarely finish them to the extent I would in the studio. I’m more interested in teaching my students a new concept or technique than I am in creating a perfect piece of art. And, I don’t want to take up all of their painting time finessing my work. But I do bring in my practice examples of the exact same painting to show them what a finished piece might look like.   The painting above was done with a value under painting [...]

“The New Jersey Home” pastel painting   11 inches x 14 inches    SOLD I was lucky to have quite a few commissions during the last couple months of 2018. They came in so hot and heavy that I didn’t remember to photograph them all. I’ve posted 3 that I did shoot before they left the studio.   Commissions are interesting conundrums. When I agree to take on these assignments, I have to be aware that although the people who come to me undoubtedly like my art work, they want me to create THEIR art work.  Their subject matter, their size, their medium, their [...]

“Waiting” Interior oil painting    12 inches x 24 inches    SOLD Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to be painting the interiors of bars and restaurants. It was simply not one of my goals… or even in my wildest dreams. But extreme frustration can drive an artist to outlandish lengths.   I’ve always loved painting landscapes. Capturing the colors, shapes and light of the beautiful land around me gave me joy. But, ironically, when I first started painting en plein air outdoors and saw what those scenes REALLY looked like, I couldn’t paint them from photographs anymore. I missed all of [...]

  Another step-by-step pictorial of my oil painting process… this time in just 3 steps starting with the small value study. I always plan to stop every so often and take photos. But I get so caught up in the creating that photography is the last thing on my mind…  ;o(       Interior oil painting    20 inches x 20 inches     See Pricing ___________________________________________________________________This artwork was created on: Linen CanvasMedium: Sennelier, Gamblin, Utrecht and Richeson Oil Paints [...]

    I thought I’d show one of my oil interior paintings from idea to completion–with just pictures. A kind of work-in-progress journey… The first image is a small 8″ x 8″ black and white value study and the other images show the larger painting in color.         Interior oil painting    20 inches x 20 inches       See Pricing  ___________________________________________________________________This artwork was created on: Linen CanvasMedium: Sennelier, Gamblin, Michael Harding, Utrecht and Richeson Oil Paints [...]

  I know, I know. It seems like with all these workshops and classes, there’s hardly any time to paint what we actually PINE to paint! (In my case, landscapes and interiors.) But the quick sketches and paintings of figure models that I do in class are very informative to me in almost everything I do out in the field… and I would argue that they’d be beneficial for you as well.   When I work outside, I need to decide on a view, and arrange a composition or design for my painting. I usually start on a toned background and block in the [...]

  People are often amazed that I go to so many figure and portrait classes. After all, I don’t consider myself a portrait painter and I rarely create paintings with people as the focal point. But I know of no better way to learn to really SEE than to paint the figure.   Our bodies and faces are sooooo complicated, each one totally unique. And when we glance at someone, these little differences tell us exactly which person is in front of us. An arch of an eyebrow, the size of the nose, the sparkle in the eye, the curve of a hip…these are [...]

  Thank you my friends, for following my work on this artblog and sharing this wonderful journey with me!   Wishing you happy holiday times and a new year that is safe, loving and peaceful in these stressful times! Much love to all~ [...]