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, [...]

"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 [...]

“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 [...]

Plein Air Architecture Painting    8 inches x 10 inches    SOLD  There’s a beautiful old pink Victorian house on one of the side streets of my home town. Every time I drive by I say “Dang, I gotta paint that place.” Finally one late summer Saturday morning I did.   While I was painting a really nice woman, the owner of the house, came out to talk to me. She loves her home and was so proud that I thought it was beautiful enough to paint. She made me promise I would show her the finished painting by email. When she saw it, [...]

“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 [...]

Pastel Pet Portrait Painting    8 inches x 16 inches    SOLD There’s something about painting pet portraits that just makes me happy. I am fully aware that most people don’t consider them “high art.” But there’s nothing like the look in the eyes of  heartbroken pet owners when I hand them a painting of their furry friend, especially if it has recently passed. As an animal lover myself, it gives me a special joy to memorialize these little critters who mean so much to us.   Workshop Alert:I recently received an email from UArt paper saying our 2019 pastel workshops are filling up fast! Make [...]

WOW. My socks where blown off last week.   When I opened the email telling me that Plein Air Magazine’s new Plein Air Salon Awards had been chosen, I expected to be texting my a few of my artist buds to congratulate them on being chosen in the competition. But this time I got a surprise. TWO awards for MY paintings. I am soooo honored and grateful to be able to make a career and friends in the art world!   I was especially happy to be recognized for an oil plein air painting. I feel like I am still a bit of a newbie in [...]

"Down Pine Street" Pastel Plein Air Cityscape Painting  9 inches x 12 inchesPlease contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork.   It was the last day of Paint Grand Traverse and I was up at dawn to paint Traverse City. It was cloudy with a bit of fog and the sun was just coming up over the bay. I found a sweet street view near downtown which I painted on a board prepared with pastel ground. The random brush strokes create texture and dynamics to an otherwise quiet scene. My wonderful hosts, Debra Van Leen and her husband 'T' [...]

"Chantal Ridge" Pastel Plein Air Landscape Painting  8 inches x 8 inches   SOLDPlease contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork. Two pastel paintings from the beautiful winery, Chateau Chantal on Mission Peninsula. The vineyards were perched high on a ridge and both bays were visible from their property. Drop dead gorgeous views. The top piece (painted very quickly!) won an Honorable Mention Award at the Small Works Show that night. Considering the amazing artists at this event, I was over the moon!   Two of my close friends came down from Northern Michigan to view the artists paint and [...]