In the Pittsfield Preserve off Thomas Road near Saline, MI. An early morning in June, the soybeans were starting to emerge with vigor as...

Conveying distance in a painting can be successfully portrayed by cooling or subduing color. Softening edges is key to building that...

This is a Wallis grayish brown toned sanded pastel paper. I felt that the brown tone will help fill the ground beneath the grasses of...

A wintry scene on a sunny morning in the Pittsfield Preserve off Thomas Road, Pittsfield Township, Michigan. #Uart #pastels #snow

Nature was not drawn. So as we convey the landscape in pastel, we try not to "line out" the elements of the landscape. Here is the snow...

Here's a completed painting. Complementary colors hide behind the orange tree and green in the field. Marton Road Field is in the...

This morning I had the privilege to meet Ed Kennedy, PSA. Ed resides in the same town as I do, in Saline, MI., so we got together to...

Strolling through Furstenberg Park in Northeast Ann Arbor, I came across an open field housing scattered birch trees. I was inspired: I...

February 23 Update: Here is the completed painting "Birch Ballet." February 7 Update Continuing to to refine details. February 1 update...

Before I publish my work-in-progress dissertation condemning the use of the "color" black, I thought I would share progress on "Daybreak...

While working on "Birch Ballet," (see earlier posts), I realized that I wanted the distant tree line and grasses that butted up against...

My winter scene as noted in my recent blog "Many Shades of Grey" has earned itself a warm and contrary color watercolor underpainting. I...

I decided that the underpainting will be a warm orange. This will contrast nicely with the blues of the snow I plan to pay down shortly!...

I'm looking forward to teaching again in March at the Michigan Art Center! I plan to choose key photographs depicting unique and...

Here's a new painting I started today. The scene is a field off Marton Road in Pittsfield Township, MI. I decided that I would do a...

A truly rewarding aspect of landscape painting is to enjoy the finer details added to the canvas, once the "basic" painting is completed....

A tortillion (pointed paper stick) and a piece of willow charcoal can be a pastel painter’s best friends when it comes to refining edges....

Often when viewing a landscape painting in progress, we feel that there is "something wrong" but don't quite know what that something is!...

Here's the completed version of "Lillie Park Vista,' started in the "Landscape in Pastels" class this January at the Michigan Art Center.

On our autumn tree I determined that the very bright yellow leaves catching the late day sun were a bit too bold. So my plan was to...