by Jill Stefani Wagner

Pastel Plein Air Cityscape Painting    12 inches x 12 inches     See Pricing Sometimes only the gritty side of town will do. My bud Nora and I set up on the railroad tracks north of Ann Arbor for some practice before our Common Ground Plein Air Workshop last summer. Capturing the old historic feel of our area always flips my switch!   This artwork was created with:Paper:  Kitty Wallis paperMedium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels    [...]

“Golden Day” Pastel Plein Air Landscape Painting    12 inches x 12 inches     See Pricing And now for a few local summer pastel studies. Some may be used to inspire larger studio works, some not…   “Huron River Point” Pastel Plein Air Waterscape Painting    9 inches x 12 inches     See Pricing “Yet to Come” Pastel Plein Air Landscape Painting    6 inches x 12 inches     See Pricing Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork. This artwork was created with:Paper:  Kitty Wallis paper and UArt board   Medium: Rembrandt Pastels and Sennelier Pastels    [...]

“Cammi’s View” Plein Air Landscape oil painting    11 inches x 14 inches     See Pricing Summertime in my hood! When I’m not traipsing across the country, painting at plein air festivals, I try to capture the beauty of my own home town. Endless possibilities out there…and so little time!   “Law Quad Tower” Plein Air Architecture oil painting    12 inches x 14 inches     See Pricing “Genthe Meadow” Plein Air Landscape oil painting    9 inches x 12 inches    SOLD  Please contact me if you are interested in these or similar artworks. ___________________________________________________________________This artwork was created on: Linen PanelMedium: Sennelier, Gamblin, Michael Harding and Richeson Oil Paints [...]

I’ve been a very lucky artist when it comes to fine art competitions this year. And I have also been a very rejected artist as well.   And that’s the way it goes when I apply to national exhibitions. Thousands of artists enter and very few are accepted. The chances are quite small that I will be juried into any given show, and even smaller that I will win an award. But the chances for denial are HUGE.   When I first started applying to national shows, I’d joke that I was sending in my money so that I could receive my own personal refusal [...]

Landscape oil painting    24 x 18 inches     See Pricing Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork. This studio painting has been on and off my easel for months. I’d assume it was finished… and then with new eyes I’d find areas that I wanted to rework. But I think I am now calling it done. A couple of years ago I used the same reference photo for a small pastel piece (below). Different medium, format, and colors. I didn’t look at the previous version while I was painting the new one, and it’s interesting to me to see [...]

“The Grog”    Plein air landscape oil painting    12 x  19 inches       See Pricing Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork. The last couple of days at Wayne Plein Air Festival went by in a blur. I always start loosing energy at the end of 5 or 6 straight days of painting. Working on 3-4 paintings a day, standing at the easel and lugging your art supplies takes a toll. At the end there’s a feeling of both elation that the festival is over, and sadness that it won’t continue indefinitely.   “Wayne Late”    Plein air landscape oil painting  10 x  [...]

“St. David’s Creek”    Plein air landscape oil painting    16 x  12 inches       See Pricing Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork. St. David’s Episcopal Church was a place that I HAD visited before. The historic, 300-year old religious site is located on back roads on 38 acres of land, with an old parish chapel and newer church as well as an extensive graveyard. In 2016 I had found the quiet, peaceful place and painted two pieces there, both of which sold. (See images, photographed while still wet, at the bottom of the page.)   I returned this year, [...]

“Pechin Street”    Plein air cityscape oil painting    12 x 9 inches       See Pricing Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork. Although I had painted at the Wayne Plein Air Festival in 2016, I had never ventured into the mill town of Manayunk. Part of the joy of painting in these events is the ability to experience completely new locations and paint them with a newcomers eye. The old homes and buildings in Manayunk inspired me and I spent a full day there painting light-filled cityscapes, hoping to capture the historic feel of the place.   “Manayunk Steps”    [...]

“Mill Creek Morning”    Plein air landscape oil painting    12 x 16 inches     See Pricing Please contact me if you are interested in this or similar artwork. One day during my wanderings at Wayne Plein Air Festival  I ran into a little mill creek at the junction of two roads. It was a perfect site with parking, shade, light, water and woods. My idea of a good time. I painted the piece above early in the morning from the banks of the rock-filled stream. I was working on unifing color and capturing moving, sunlit water…which was a real challenge.   After a little break, I turned [...]