Tag Archives: pastel painting

New Painting: Spring on the Rocks, Pastel

“Spring on the Rocks” features that first flush of color, mosses, ferns, violets, speedwells, and a sprinkling of spring beauties just catching the sun on a rise of limestone draped with last year’s leaves. Yes, a little abstract, just a small, quick sketch, practice, but I think I caught the light and shapes and colors […]

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Angled Winter Sun, Winter Still Life, 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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Colorful in Winter

Even if you live in the city you’ll find wildlife everywhere. “Colorful” is one of my favorite duck images on Chartiers Creek from my walks to Main Street. I took the photo several years ago of the mallard balancing on one leg with morning sun reflecting brightly off off a yellow brick building on the […]

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The Inspiration of Clementines

This is the cool thing about being an artist: anything can be an inspiration, including the angled autumn sun on some clementines you just bought, and you not only get to paint them, but then you get to eat them. It’s a great deal. This painting is done entirely in Sennelier soft pastels on Fabriano […]

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A Coral Winter Sunset

One February afternoon I caught a surprise winter sunset and shared photos in “I Chased A Sunset”. …and it disappeared over the edge and took a piece of my soul with it. Really, on the way home from a quick errand to a shopping center I encountered a stunning winter sunset just beginning to color […]

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Sparkling Gems in January Light

The reference photo for this painting was taken on a bright January day with lots of snow cover, and waited about five years to be painted. The mallards were floating on Chartiers Creek where it flows under Main Street on my walk to the bank and post office. The water is shallow there, and with […]

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“Safe” in Our Back Yards

Time was the deer wandered in and out of my back yard after a few neighbor trees and one of my own fell on my fences. I got probably hundreds of photos of the deer in my back yard in those years, and a couple of paintings, like this one. It was years before I […]

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Autumn Along the River, Allegheny River Reflections

This is a view of the Allegheny River in Western Pennsylvania, seen from Tarentum. I took a quick walk through the park along the river on a beautiful autumn day and took as many photos as I could. The hill behind this row of trees is very high and steep and comes down to the […]

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Autumn Rain on the Horizon

You know those gorgeous autumn days when suddenly the clear blue sky is rimmed with darker clouds, the light dims, a wind begins, and cold autumn rain taps on the roof. This is that day. “Autumn” is a composite image from several photos I took built into an idea. I took the photos back in […]

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Deserted Cottages, Lake Erie, and a Childhood Friend

Sometimes a painting holds far more than just the image, and connections that hold many people together, as these deserted cottages did in life, on paper, and inspiration. In October 2011 I posted the original of this painting of deserted cottages along Lake Erie, and told of memories of my mother, selling her house, and […]

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