Updating a post from last year, I recently started an early spring landscape with an early morning clear "blue" sky. Capturing the...

At a Landscape in Pastel class I taught at the Michigan Art Center, we spent some time reviewing the variety of tree trunk textures and...

I recently started a YouTube channel with pastel painting demos and painting tips. Before YouTube, I would blog about a painting from...

My first plein air of the Spring season is Gnarly Charlie. Charlie can be found at Marshview Meadows Park in Pittsfield Township,...

Working on pastel landscapes of an often drab Michigan Winter, I find that my selection of pastels tend to favor browns. It's a shame,...

A scorcher in southeast Michigan inspired by latest large pastel painting, "Heat Wave." Heat Wave is 18x24 done in soft pastel on Uart...

Just north of Brighton, Michigan on the northbound lanes of US 23, there's a vista on the right, depicting a stream winding through a...

The latest landscape painting in my Pacific Northwest (PNW) series. This 12x16 pastel painting was inspired by a hike in the Hoh...

A quick impressionistic study completed before the rain and wind engulfed my plein air site! Marsh Meadow View Park, Pittsfield Township,...

Traveling through Olympic National Forest, I came upon this spot on Lake Quinault. Pastel painting, 9x12, done on Uart 320 grade paper....

Starting a painting entitled "The Clearing," I chose to build up an under-painting of acrylic. The colors I chose are (in general) the...

As the weather turns for the worst in Michigan, it is time to revisit my collection of photographs that I use as inspiration and...

This blog article is an update to one published in March of 2018. The final version of the painting "Woodland Waltz" is posted at the...

Planning a landscape painting, from initial concept to sketch, value definition, underpainting and application of pastels, is critical to...

In Pittsfield Township, Michigan, just south of Ann Arbor and east of Saline, there is a series of nature preserves (the "Pittsfield...

When I am not outdoors in one of my plein air painting excursions, I often take advantage of digital photography to enhance and complete...

I've been busy lately adding oil painting to my painting activities and have not gotten around to blog much. So I searched for past...

Earlier this month I posted this blog in which I chose among my collection of blues to complete an underpainting all in blue. Here was...

I recently re-arranged my pastel palette, which revealed an abundance of blues. So I thought I would take advantage of such a variety...

My initial foray into plein air painting resulted in the painting below, "Wooley Park Stroll." As this painting sat in inventory I felt...