by Jill Stefani Wagner

"Near the Vineyard"   oil   12x16   My next painting adventure this summer took place in New York State at the Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival. I've painted in this event quite a few times and it's a favorite of mine. Our painting area included the entire area around Lake Canandaigua and some miles east and west. That's a lot of ground to cover if you don't know exactly where you want to paint! But the roads aren't crowded and the scenery is breathtaking. What's not to like?     One day the artists concentrated on the southern part of the lake to paint the many vineyards, [...]

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 [...]

“Pointe Santo Palms” plein air waterscape oil painting   8 inches x 10 inches    See Pricing During our last week in Florida, my bestie, Nora Venturelli, came down to Sanibel to paint with me in the warmth of sun. I think I’d finally adjusted to the tropical colors and shapes, and painting with another artist probably raised my game. We are very comfortable working en plein air together, easily finding locations that offer good views for both of us. It’s a joy to share this passion for art with each other.   The painting below is my favorite from the whole trip. Its not perfect [...]

“Sanctuary” plein air waterscape oil painting   8 inches x 8 inches      See Pricing In my never ending quest to stop painting every dang detail I see, I gave myself a tough project while I was in Sanibel. Paint shapes, not things. Areas of color and value, not details. It seemed to work pretty well and I’m trying to ALWAYS work that way. But sometimes I wander back to my old comfort zone of persnickety overworking. I tell ya, it’s a struggle.   “Point Santo Reflections” plein air waterscape oil painting   8 inches x 8 inches     See Pricing ___________________________________________________________________This artwork was created on: Linen [...]

“Beach Appointment” plein air oil painting   8 inches x 8 inches      See Pricing After our week in the middle of Florida, we headed south for some time at one of my favorite places, Sanibel Island. This little isle is free of most of the touristy things that have taken over the state. There are no high-rise condos on the beach or anywhere, no fast food joints or big box stores, and over half of the island is the protected Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Feels like what Florida must have been like back in the day.   The first two days I couldn’t tear [...]

“Preserve Shadows” plein air oil painting   12 inches x 9 inches      See Pricing When we were down south, I headed out to a nearby nature preserve one day to paint. It was quite a thick jungle but I found a little clearing where the light was shining down on a swampy area. I didn’t realize it at the time, but looking at it now this piece is almost abstract in it’s composition.   The next day we traveled to Winter Park (a place I had a preconceived aversion to because they outlawed artists painting on their city streets, even though they host [...]

“River Spikes” Oil painting    30 inches x 15 inches      See Pricing The six paintings in this series will be heading up to Tvedten Fine Art at the end of May. (But are available from my studio until then.) I’m looking forward to continuing on this new path… or waterway. ;o) ___________________________________________________________________This artwork was created on: CanvasMedium: Sennelier, Gamblin, Utrecht and Richeson Oil Paints [...]

“River Isle” Oil painting    15 inches x 30 inches     See Pricing ___________________________________________________________________This artwork was created on: CanvasMedium: Sennelier, Gamblin, Utrecht and Richeson Oil Paints [...]

“River Light” Oil painting    15 inches x 30 inches        See Pricing One of the things I’m trying to work on in this series is to not over-think it. I’m really good at over-thinking. Almost as good as I am at over-detailing. Instead of looking at the big picture, I often get caught up in all kinds of unimportant minutiae. “Does this piece fit perfectly with the others in the series?” “What will be the next painting?” “Should I put in all those little flies on the surface of the water?” “What if people don’t like olive green?” You can [...]

“River Path” Oil painting    30 inches x 15 inches each      See Pricing The second piece in my new series of river views. ___________________________________________________________________This artwork was created on: CanvasMedium: Sennelier, Gamblin, Utrecht and Richeson Oil Paints [...]

“River Peace” Oil paintings    30 inches x 15 inches each     See Pricing   With the new year came new painting ideas. I wanted to start on a completely different series, something bigger in size and scope. But I wasn’t quite sure what it would be. As I often do when I am blocked, I started looking through my reference photos, thousands of them. I noticed that my most recent photographs were all of water, specifically rivers. They were obviously speaking to me in some way. So I decided to listen.   I had purchased some large canvases recently and they seemed a perfect foil [...]

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 [...]

"Elk Rapids" Pastel Plein Air Landscape/Waterscape Painting    12 inches x 16 inches    See PricingPlease contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork. Thursday was Elk Rapids day at Paint Grand Traverse Plein Air Festival and I zeroed in on the bridge at the Kids Pond near the harbor. Of course, at least 10 other artists did too. We all had different views of the scene and very different colors and techniques. It's so interesting to see how other painters process a scene and make it their own.   "On the Bay" Pastel Plein Air Waterscape Painting  8 inches x [...]