Sunrise over the Marsh Pastel Painting

'The Morning Commute' 8x10 pastel

It was a beautiful morning as we drove to our workshop. The sun was up and everything had a soft glow. It was going to be a great day to paint the marshes! That was last Fall. I can't wait for a repeat performance in South Carolina in November!!

Sunflower Field Pastel Daily Painting

'Field of Happiness' 7x5 pastel

This was fun to paint! Its from a photo I took at the Sunflower Festival here in Georgai a few summers ago. I took so many photos that day that I have a lifetime supply of sunflower field reference photos. This is painted with my Richard McKinley Great American pastels with just a few extras. I love that set! I just ordered Lorenzo Chavez's GA set and I am looking forward to playing with those!

Sunset at the Beach 4x6 painting

'Beach Sunset #2' 4x6 pastel

I am revisiting a favorite scene for a new commission. I have done a few 4x6 studies to work out colors and possible compositions. I like doing these studies and I am enjoying the 4x6 size lately. This painting will be done as an 18x24 which is a big change. It will be fun to paint! I'll be heading to Florida next week so it is good practice too. A friend has graciously invited several artists to stay at her beach house. We will have a great time and I am really looking forward to it.

This painting has been sold but I do have 2 other similar 4x6 studies avaiable. Email me for more information.

Framed Wildwood, NJ Boardwalk Painting

My collector was kind enough to share a photo of the painting I did for him all framed. It is a 16x20 pastel painting of the boardwalk in Wildwood New Jersey. It is always fun to see the painting framed and I love the choice he made for this painting. I thought it would be fun to share it with you.

4x6 Marsh Study

'Marsh Warmth' 4x6 pastel

It was a busy day today with errands and no time to paint. I did manage to tidy my studio and get set up for the week. I have a couple of commissions to work on as well as prepare for my October workshops so a busy week is ahead! Today I am sharing another marsh study from last week's workshop. I plan to try more of these but they will be Autumn landscapes.

Small Acrylic Marsh Painting

'Lazy Waters' 4x12 acrylic

I had a very nice day today. I went to a workshop on framing pastels given by Marsha Savage. Marsha did a wonderful job sharing her framing know-how and supplies and tools. I learned a lot of great tips and I will not dread framing as much anymore. Thank you Marsha! Great workshop! After a nice lunch with Marsha, Jayne and I went on to Blicks to use our coupons. We managed to do that and more...as usual! Today's painting is a small 4x12 study for my larger marsh commission. I was able to share this with my client and got some valuable feedback which will help me with the larger painting.

Yellow Coneflower Pastel Painting

'Summer's End' 8x8 pastel

Today's painting is a portrait of a Yellow Coneflower. I found this flower in the Lurie Gardens in Chicago. I could have spent the whole day in the gardens taking pictures and sketching but the rest of my family wouldn't have enjoyed it! This painting was started with a watercolor underpainting with additional watercolor splashes applied on top of the pastel. This is a fun technique to play with. I have a busy weekend planned. I am attending a framing workshop by Marsha Savage and working on my big marsh commission....and we are trying to redo our den which is turning into a more complicated project than I had planned!

Ceday Key Florida Marsh Painting

'Summer Marsh' 9x18 pastel

It was the brightest and greenst marsh I'd ever seen! The color was amazing. I came across this photo from a trip to Cedar Key Florida while gathering marsh photos for my recent workshop. This was actually the demo I did for the class. I worked on it some more after the workshop and tried to capture those intense greens. I've started my marsh commission and one of the things the client wants is the marsh to have more of the green grasses. I am usually visiting marshes in the fall so I am not quite used to seeing them so green!

Queen Annes Lace Wildflower Painting SOLD

'Distant Fields' 8x10 pastel

I came across this field last Fall on a road trip with friends. I have been going through last Fall's reference photos looking for new inspiration. I couldn't help but be drawn to the colors and movement of the wildflowers in this roadside field. Thank you to everyone for their care and concern about us here in the Atlanta area. I am just about dry now and getting ready for a large marsh commission...this one will be acrylic. I am excited about getting started!

Prairie Wildflower Painting Autumn

'Autumn Priarie' 8x10 pastel

It is officially the first day of Fall but it doesn't feel like it here in Atlanta....very warm and muggy though thankfully it isn't raining! Today's painting is an Autumn wildflower scene. I took some great reference photos last week in Chicago. There is a wonderful garden in Millenium Park called Lurie Gardens. It is filled with prairie grasses and wildflowers. I was in heaven! The blue flowers in bloom are Bottle Gentians. There will be more in this new 'prairie' series!

Storm over the Marsh Pastel Painting

'Passing Storm' 6x4 pastel

Today I am sharing one of the 5 minute marsh studies I did for yesterday's demos. No time to paint here today. We are dealing with lots of rain here in Atlanta and my basement/studio is starting to flood. It hasn't done that in years and I forgot what a pain it is to clean up the water! It is supposed to rain for a couple of days so it looks like the end isn't quite in sight. I'm afraid it's going to be a long week!

Blue Sky Marsh Painting

Whew! It's been a long but exciting weekend for me teaching two workshops. On Saturday I welcomed nine students for an introductory class and today I had twelve students for a workshop on painting the marsh. I had a lot of fun teaching and was so impressed with everyone's enthusiasm and work. Today, one of the exercises we did were some 5 and 10 minute marsh studies and they were wonderful! Here is one of mine.It is 4x6. I hope that everyone learned something and had a good time too!

To my students....I enjoyed meeting you all and hope to see you again! Thank you!

Low Country Landscape Painting SOLD

'Autumn In the Low Country' 11x14 pastel

Today's painting is the demo I did for my workshop this afternoon. The class was called 'Pastel Explorations' and was geared for those new to pastels. I had nine students who came from all over the Southeast. It was a lot of fun to share what I know about getting started with pastels. Everyone did some impressive work and it was a fun afternoon of pastel talk and painting. I switch gears now for tomorrow's advanced workshop on painting the marsh! I'll give a full report tomorrow.

Sunset Marsh Painting

'Red Sky at Night' 4x6 pastel

I have been working on doing some small pastel studies in preparation for my workshop this Sunday. They are each just 4x6 and I allowed myself 5 minutes per study. It is amazing at what you can get down in five minutes! For the last few I did, I worked from a black and white photo and only used the pastels I had in my tray from my colorful poppy painting. I love a challenge!

North Georgia Mountains Landscape Painting

'Summer in the Mountains' 8x10 pastel

This is the painting I worked on in class on Tuesday. We painted along with our teacher Marsha Savage. I wasn't at all happy with mine. I had trouble seeing what Marsha was painting and couldn't figure out the masses of bushes and trees. I don't like to give up and throw a painting out because I feel like I learn something when I am able to work through my problems. At home a brushed out my disaster and washed it all in with an alcohol wash. I recreated the trees and added some poppies to the empty field. It needed some poppies!

Mini Pastel Paintings

Last night we started a new session of pastel classes with Marsha Savage. Everyone was back from summer break and it was great to have our group together again! In class we did a paint-along with Marsha. She painted from her photo and we followed along. I found that I was finishing too quickly so as an extra challenge to myself I started four mini aceo size paintings. They are each 2.5 x 3.5 inches on various papers. I varied the colors in each one. My main painting which was 8x10 was a disaster at the end of class. I had trouble seeing the different masses of trees and bushes and kept making changes which filled up the tooth of my paper. At home I did some rescue work and I like it better. I'll post it tomorrow.

Colorful Poppies

'Poppy Fantasy' 7x5 pastel

I was inspired by my visit to the Art Institute of Chicago to paint these poppies. One of the exhibits in the new Modern Wing showcased the work of Cy Twombly. It was called the Natural World and he had several huge paintings that were inspired by nature/flowers. They had the most wonderful colors and textures though they were mostly acrylic with some wax crayon and pastel marks. I hope to try some more with mixed media in the near future, in the meantime I painted this pastel over watercolor based on one of my poppy photos.

Back to the Marsh

'After Sunrise' 8x10 pastel

I just got back from Chicago tonight and thought I'd do a quick post. This is an older painting but one I have always liked. I framed it for my upcoming Marsh Workshop and it looks very nice in it's gold frame. Chicago was great but I am so tired! We walked many miles all over the city and Lincoln Park. We got free passes to the Art Institute...a nice perk for students! I saw an exhibit in the new modern wing that really has my thoughts percolating! We'll see what comes of it.

Lincoln Park Zoo Photos

It was a beautiful day in Chicago and we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was a good place to try out my new camera. I got some fun shots of the gorillas that I thought I would share. I have been wanting to get a compact digital camera with a decent optical zoom like Jayne and Holly's Panasonic so I recently purchased a Panasonic Lumix with a 12x optical zoom. The zoo was a perfect place to try it out. I love visiting new places and it's nice to take a pause from painting and enjoy some photography. Tonight I will try for some night scenes!

Wildflowers in the Mist

It was a misty summer morning when Jayne and I went for a walk looking for wildflowers. We found them growing along the highway. I loved how the mountains in the distance were shrouded in the morning mist. This is a mini painting measuring just 2.5 x 3.5 inches. I am calling it 'Morning Mist'.

I'm off to Chicago to visit my son and I will be back to posting on Tuesday. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Chicago Theater Pastel Painting

'Theater Nights' 7x5 pastel

I'm headed to Chicago soon to visit my son who is a student at SAIC. I was going through my Chicago photos to see what I might be lacking. This one of the Chicago Theater called out to be painted! I don't usually do much architecture because I am too impatient with all the angles but I do enjoy doing a quick study of shapes and colors and I love to paint the city lights!

Low Country Landscape

'Low Country Colors' 6x4 pastel

Here is one of the quick marsh studies I just did. (see the post below) This one is on LaCarte paper since I am using up scraps. I don't usually like LaCarte for landscapes but it does lend itself to these quick impressionistic studies. I like the colors in this one.

More 4x6 Marsh Studies

I want to be ready to paint the marshes in November so I have been giving myself some challenges. This week's challenge is to do some small quick studies. Each one is 4x6 and I only allowed myself 5-10 minutes for each. I also limited myself to Stan Sperlak's set of Terry Ludwig pastels which are perfect marsh colors. I like to paint fast as a rule but 5 minutes isn't a lot of time....just enough time to get the essence of the scene. These are a lot of fun! I actually taped up all 5 pieces of paper before I started and just did one after another.

Laughing Gull Painting

'A Blustery Day' 5x7 pastel

I haven't painted a gull in such a long time and when I came across this photo of mine I knew he was going to be my painting of the day! I love laughing gulls. Their cries mean I am back on the beach so I welcome them. I love to sit on the beach and just watch their antics. They have a lot of personality! This painting is 5x7 on LaCarte paper....my favorite paper for birds and animals.

Featured Artist at Bella Vista Art Gallery

I know the photo is very tiny but it is all I have and I couldn't resist sharing! I am the featured artist at Bella Vista Art Gallery in Asheville, NC. I have a wall devoted to my work and there will be seven paintings on display. My friends Jayne and Cheryl were in Asheville and had a chance to visit the gallery and see my wall. They were very impressed with all of the artwork in the gallery. I can't wait to get over to Asheville sometime this fall!

Low Country Marsh Study

I spent the day oraganizing and packing for my trip to Chicago. I am looking forward to visiting Corey and meeting Grace's family. It is supposed to rain and at first I was disappointed but then I realized how much more interesting the city lights are on the wet pavement! So now me and my new camera will embrace any rain! I am putting my finishing touches on my plans for my September mini workshops. Both of them are full and I am looking forward to a great weekend of painting and learning on the 19th and 20th. Today's painting is another small marsh study. This week I will be doing a few more. They are too much fun! This one is 6x4 on Uart paper.

Country Landscape Painting

'Mystery Path' 10x8 pastel

We had finished our hike and were headed back to the car when I saw this path. It seemed to curve past the little tree and head off to the distant woods. I wondered where it went and what treasures I might discover if I went down the path. I didn't have a chance to find out so to me it is just a mystery to be uncovered another day.

More Poppies!

'Early Morning Poppies II' 5x7 pastel

This is the second poppy painting I finished yesterday. It is the same field as yesterday's close-up painting. I used my Richard McKinley Great American set for both with a bit of Terry Ludwig's dark reds. I am really enjoy this set and I am contemplating trying the Lorenzo Chavez set. Today I painted in Blue Ridge at the gallery (High Country Art & Antiques) I am under the weather today with a cold but I still had fun painting and talking to some nice folks about pastels. I even sold two paintings while I was there so it was a great day despite my cold. I painted three small paintings and will post them this week sometime.

Poppies 7x5 pastel

'Early Morning Poppies' 7x5 pastel

I've been wanting to paint these poppies. I took photos of this field up in Murphy, NC this past June. We had taken the Miata on a drive of the Tail of the Dragon...a crazy mountain road. I had to stop for a photo break when we came across this patch of wildflowers growing by the side of the road. I painted another 5x7 view of the field which I'll post tomorrow. They look nice as a pair! If anyone is in the Blue Ridge Georgia area this weekend, I will be painting at High Country Art & Antiques on Saturday starting at noon. Stop by and say hello!

Autumn Colors Tree Painting

'Autumn Colors' 11x14 pastel

I am a little early for this painting I know but I am working on plans for my Fall Color workshop in October. I am putting together a small set of fall colors for my students to use and I wanted to test my selection. I have also played with a different approach which is always fun to do. But now I will return to the marshes for awhile! There are still a few spots available for the Fall color workshop on October 18th so let me know if you are interested!

4x6 Marsh Studies

Today I took out my Stan Sperlak set of Terry Ludwig pastels. I had them safely tucked away since I bought them last fall! I plan on bringing them to the South Carolina coast this November. I am working on a series of small and quick marsh studies and wanted to see what I could do with just this set. I spent about 5-10 minutes on each one. The idea is just to play with colors and compositions and hopefully spark some ideas for larger paintings. These are 4x6. The top one was done on black paper and the bottom one is on Uart. For some reason the bottom one looks darker here than it does in real life.

Blue Water Lilies 20x20 acrylic

'True Blue' 20x20 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

I had a request to paint these blue lilies on a 20x20 canvas. I finished them last weekend and had fun with them. I had done a smaller version of the blue lilies in pastel and it was interesting to translate that idea into an acrylic painting.

Commissioning a Marsh Painting

I am working with a family on a large 18x36 marsh commission. My usual procedure is to talk to the client about what they would like for the painting. In this case they had chosen a few of my marsh paintings that they liked and we discussed the changes they wanted. My next step is to do a few quick studies to show them. This way we can work out composition and colors before I commit to the big paper. In this case, they wanted a blue sky with clouds, more water and greener marsh grasses. You can see in the photo I have prints of the paintings they liked on the left and my three 4x6 studies on the right. Now I am waiting to see what they decide. Actually we ran into a bit of a misunderstanding....they wanted an acrylic painting and didn't realize mine were all pastel until I sent them this photo! I am trying to convince them that pastels are soooooo much better!!!! We'll see what they decide.