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Queen Anne’s Way

12″x18″ pastel on sanded paper

This painting was from a photo, painted in my daughters’ dance studio not my art studio.  I grabbed a small palette of colors, taped a paper to a board and headed to their class.  I find I have lots of time to paint, if I am creative where I look.

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Queen Anne’s Walk

12″x18″ pastel on sanded paper

Queen Anne’s lace is all over fields and road sides where I live right now.  It is tall and willowy, and wild.  


I love painting in the middle of such fields.  Even when conditions are challenging.

Wind: check

Snakes: thankfully, not today

Chiggers: double check

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Delights to Feel


Pastel on sanded paper

Every now and then I have have a chance to capture more than just beauty, but aliveness.   This painting, this beautiful child, reminds me to try to get caught being so alive someone wants to capture the memory forever, and then to do it again every day I have left.

“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” – Khalil Gibran

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Early Morning Mirror

18″x12″

This painting captures beautiful morning light on my pond.  Below are my studies.  I tried toning the paper with 3 different colors and doing small studies to see which color I preferred.  I went with the lavender, which was I interesting because I would have guessed the orange or yellow orange would have been my preference.

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Towards Dusk

9″x12″ pastel on sanded paper

Here is an example of my painting process. Doing value, and color studies often make the painting go faster, and the result has better energy and freshness than when I fail to plan.