Category Archives: pastel

Peaches and Peonies, a Celebration of Spring Flowers and Sunlight, and a Certain Calico Cat

My old-fashioned pink peonies are fervently blooming this year, since we’ve lost a tree and they finally have enough light to really show off. Those aren’t the peonies in this painting, but any time I see peonies I think of Peaches and the moment I saw her bathing on the table in that sweet spring […]

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25% Discount on Spring Art Originals

Each season when I publish my Nature & Wildlife newsletter I extend a 25% discount on all original art that features the season. For the first two months of the season the discount is only available to list members, but for last month of each season I extend the offer to everyone. This month, of […]

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Along the Trail in the Spring Woods

Off in the woods in early spring to photograph the fresh new wildflowers, I love the woods itself, damp, muddy, brown and green, the sunshine suddenly muted by young leaves, the very air a pale green, the water far below running fast with spring rains. And you have a discount until the Summer Solstice: 25% […]

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Commissioned Portrait: Sophie and Ellie, Being Very Good

Don’t forget that through June 30 commissioned portrait certificates and portraits are 25% off. I thought I’d take this week to share a portrait of two very good dogs named Sophie and Ellie from ten years ago. Sophie and Ellie were indeed being very good—they lived right next to a busy walking trail and they […]

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Lilacs and Laundry in My Back Yard

What got me in trouble this afternoon in 2013 when I should have gotten some work done inside was how cute my laundry looked with the lilac blooming above it, and the roses on the gate, and the first geraniums and spring flowers. I have a thing for laundry in paintings, so I decided to […]

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Three Spring Originals as a Group or in Pairs

Brighten up an area that needs a little springtime all year round! I love that bright spring green and the way shadows are shaped as the leaves begin to fill out the trees. I painted these three small pastels en plein air, in my back yard and walking around Carnegie. From the left they are: […]

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Signs of Spring, Pear Trees on Main Street

Spring may have actually finally arrived and Carnegie’s Main Street is once again awash in white blossoms. I felt so bad to see the clouds of white blossoms bending down under snow cover, but now the weather is warmer, the sun is bright, and the pear tree blossoms survived two late snows. It’s time to […]

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The Sun and Mist, Spring Comes to a Bend in the Creek

No leaves on the trees yet, but strong spring sun fills the misty air as the creek rushes by with its spring volume. Rain and snowmelt rush over rocks and gravel and hurry around the bend, the sycamores reflecting white in the stark early morning sunlight, a little bit of mist wafting among the trees. […]

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Winter Sunset Reflections on Leaving the Trail

I painted this scene for my August exhibit “Sun Shadow Ice & Snow: Seasons of the Panhandle Trail” during Rock the Quarry, the annual fundraiser for the Panhandle Trail. I decided to do this painting at pretty much the last minute, though I’d been visualizing it for years. The scene is one I’ve often seen […]

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Winter Still Life, Angled Winter Sun, Fresh and Vintage

That deeply angled winter sunlight reaches farther into the windows than summer sunlight, into the corner with the fruit bowl. I’ve been looking at the late afternoon sun hitting this vintage ceramic bowl where I keep my apples and enjoying the shapes of the apples, the reflections on the bowl with its uneven design in […]

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