by Jill Stefani Wagner

  Well, there's no getting around it. Sometimes we artists just hit a wall. The last couple of months have felt very much like that for me.   I can think of all kinds of excuses.   My favorite three seasons of the year were undeniably over. The excitement of painting outdoors, in new venues, with my cherished plein air friends, in a competitive but supportive environment ended in September. Plein air festivals flip my switch for so many reasons. As a driven athlete and business owner, they're similar to the way I've lived my whole life: quickly coming up with bold intentions and strong ideas, [...]

  For the last couple of years, I've invited everyone to come to my studio on two days during the Holiday Season. Friends, acquaintances, art patrons, students and family all stopped by to visit and see new work. We had tons of fun. But there were so many people there that I wasn't always able to talk with everyone. And one day there was a blizzard which basically wiped out any travel.   So this year I thought I'd try something a little different for my Open Studio. Instead of holding it on one specific weekend, I'm inviting everyone to come on their [...]

"Vega de Carmona Shacks"   oil   9x12   I'll admit it. Spain would not have been my very first choice for another European painting workshop. I mean, really. There's no place as wonderful as Italy, right?   But my good friend Nora Venturelli had been hired to teach in a tiny town outside of Seville, and the more I thought about it, the more it intrigued me. I'd visited Spain a couple of times, but never armed with my oil painting supplies. And heck, we were going to be housed in a lovely refurbished castle with a pool, 2 bars and a restaurant. What's not to [...]

Part of our jobs as a full-time artists is to get our work out in the world to be seen by art lovers, collectors, galleries and curators. One of the ways to do that is to enter national exhibitions. We decide which shows best suit our style of work, and then we take a chance, send our money and cross our fingers. More often than not, our work is rejected. Hundreds and sometimes thousands of painters will enter any given show and usually only a very small percentage are accepted. It's a lesson in humility and we have to grow thick [...]

"From Lands End"    Pastel Landscape Painting    12 inches x 9 inches    See Pricing Saturday at the Plein Air Convention more wonderful presentations and demos, and then we all went out to paint at Lands End and the Legion of Honor Park. More beautiful views to capture! I walked around helping students and snuck the little pastel above at the end of the afternoon. (I think I chose this view because it the reminded me of Italy...)   Saturday night was the closing party...and what a party! The theme was based on San Francisco in the late 60s and hippies and flower children were [...]

"Tuscan View" Pastel Landscape Painting   9 inches x 12 inches     SOLD     I have been traveling the rowdy plein air road and haven't been able to blog for awhile. But I thought I'd tell you a little be bit more about the Plein Air Convention in San Francisco (PACE). After Wednesday night's opening, I had one day to enjoy the demo's of other artists, visit the huge Expo Hall filled with art suppliers and visit with friends. In the afternoon we all went out to Crissy Field to paint together. It was a beautiful location with the Bay [...]

"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 [...]

  ANOTHER fantastic Plein Air Convention and Expo (PACE) is in the books! This year we spent a wonderful (but slightly chilly and damp) week in San Francisco. With over 900 students and 80 faculty (including me as pastel demonstrator!) the place was hoppin!! The event opening (above) is hosted by Eric Rhoades and lets us know all of the wonderful demos, lectures, painting trips and parties that lay ahead. As I’ve explained to my friends, there is so much to do, see and hear, it feels like drinking from a fire hose. You can’t possible do it all. So we PACE ourselves and [...]

  No words. Take a look at just some of the beautiful pastel paintings from our UArt workshop. I’m such a proud mama!               [...]

  Oh. My. Its been a crazy couple of months. We took a little sun break down south for a couple weeks, I lead a pastel workshop, I worked on new paintings for the upcoming gallery season and practiced for my Pastel Faculty gig at the Plein Air Convention in a week. And of course I’ve made a few visits to my precious newborn grand daughter. Time flies. And it seems with all that going on, I forgot that I have an artblog to write!   I’ll start with the workshop. What a GREAT group of artists I had! Many were repeat students and [...]

I’m so pleased to be invited Pastel Faculty at this year’s Plein Air Convention (PACE). I absolutely loved teaching at PACE 2016 and 2017. I had wanted to attend the convention for years, but something always got in the way. It wasn’t til they asked me to teach at PACE 2016 that I got a chance to experience it.   It was AMAZING. 900 students and 6o faculty learning to paint outdoors in a supportive, no-drama atmosphere.   Marketing Bootcamp with Eric Rhoads early every morning, then Home Room with tons of door prizes. Four days of  demos by my favorite artists in 3 or [...]

  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~ [...]