Impressionistic landscape painting

"Lucent Peace", 14x11 inches, soft pastel on board

Available through Etsy

Thanks for looking!  :)

Cottage pastel painting - "Country Lane"

"Country Lane", 8x10 inches, pastel on board

Available through Etsy

Painted from a photo that I took on vacation in Ireland - in county Galway.

Thanks for looking! 

Pastel Painting, "Shady Cove Bridge"

"Shady Cove Bridge", 8x10 inches, soft pastel on board. 

Available through Etsy

Another painting from our wonderful camping trip this summer.  It was like a daydream!  

Thanks for looking!  :)

Pastel painting - "Encroaching"

"Encroaching" 8x10 inches, pastel on board
Available through Etsy 

This barn/shed is right down the road from where I live.  I drive by it all the time, and for some reason, it always draws my eye.  I think I like the simplicity of it sitting in the field with only the oak trees for company.

Thanks for looking!

New Pastel Painting - "Welcome Home"

"Welcome Home"  Pastel on board, 8x10 inches.

SOLD
Other paintings available through Etsy

When we were in England, we really enjoyed keeping our eyes open for these old thatched stone cottages while driving around.  This one looked so welcoming, I decided to name it welcome home.  

Thanks for looking!

Pastel Painting "The Hideaway", of a Cottage in the Lincolnshire Wolds

My most recent cottage painting was inspired by a photograph from my friend Rich who lives in England.  He walks his dog Harvey (I should say his adorable and charming dog Harvey) every day, and on one of his walks he found this thatched cottage.  A big thank you to Rich for letting me use his photo for a painting!!

 "The Hideaway", 11x14 inches, Pastel on Board
Available through Etsy

Here are a few progress photos:

Thanks for looking!  :)

Book Cover for "Briarwood Cottage" by JoAnn Ross

Here is the finished book cover for the upcoming novella "Briarwood Cottage" by JoAnn Ross.  I painted the cover illustration back in October, and now the jacket design has been finalized!  JoAnn, with her usual kindness, has allowed me to post the image before the book has been released - indeed, before she even has it on her own website!

JoAnn Ross is a New York Times bestselling author with around a hundred books to her credit.  She currently has several projects in the works, and you can read all about them on her website.  I can tell you from personal experience though, that she is not only very talented and successful, but she is also an incredibly charming and nice person, with the most beautiful manners.  Working with her was an absolute joy from start to finish, and I still can't believe that I was lucky enough to have her find me, and then actually choose me to illustrate her book!

As I said, Briarwood Cottage has not yet been released, but it revisits a village called Castlelough in Ireland, which was the setting for a previous trilogy of JoAnn's, that begins with the book "A Woman's Heart".

A big thank you to JoAnn for making me a part of something so exciting - and another thank you to all of you who have taken an interest in my art!  :)

Cover Art for JoAnn Ross's Book "Briarwood Cottage"

Many of you know that I was recently commissioned to create the art for the cover of JoAnn Ross's upcoming book "Briarwood Cottage".  This was a huge honor for me, and a very fun and exciting experience.  Here is the finished painting:

"Briarwood Cottage"  Pastel on board, 11x14 inches
NFS
Other paintings available through Etsy

And here are some progress photos:

My initial sketch...

Here are a few closeups of the finished painting...

And the finished painting again:

I will show the finalized book cover and talk a bit about the book on my next post...

Thanks for looking!

:)

New Pastel Painting of the Dimick Lighthouse in Port Townsend, Washington

I just finished this painting of the Dimick Lighthouse in Port Townsend, Washington.  I had started it a couple of months ago, and then I got a very exciting commission to paint a book cover for the New York Times bestselling author JoAnn Ross!  I just finished that painting, which I will post at a later time, and so I came back to this one to finish it up.

The Dimick Lighthouse, Port Townsend, Washington.  Pastel on board, 16x20
Available through Etsy

Here are a couple of progress photos....

Blocking in the background...

After a bit more work on the house and the sky...

All done!

Thanks for looking! 

Sennelier Pastels - Half Stick Set of 80 Landscape Colors - Review

I received this gorgeous set of pastels for my birthday, and I have almost finished my first painting using them.  Overall, I really like this set, and thought it might be helpful to post a review.

The Sennelier brand was created when Gustave Sennelier, a chemist by trade, opened his first shop in Paris in 1887.  His soft pastel line was introduced in 1900 at the request of Edgar Degas.  From that time to the current day, Sennelier pastels have been made by hand, and dried for four weeks, using only the finest pigments - with no fillers added.  The Sennelier soft pastels come in a range of 525 shades, being sold in sets or as individual sticks.  In addition to the full size sticks (2 1/2 inches long by 1/2 inch in diameter), they are also available as half sticks (1 1/4 inches long by 5/8 inch in diameter), and La Grande size (approximately the size of 8 standard sticks).  The half sticks are sold without a wrapper and are thicker than the standard sticks, to create added strength.  They are a great way to sample more colors for less money.  They also save those of us who just tear off the wrappers and break our sticks in half anyway, the trouble of doing so.  They are a good size for nice broad strokes using the side of the stick.  

My impressions of this set are mostly very good, with one (rather large) complaint.  The colors are rich, beautiful and luscious.  Every time I sit down with them I fall in love with the colors all over again.  It is also, in my opinion, a very good selection of colors - flexible and well suited to a variety of landscapes.  For the most part (you can hear my complaint on it's way here!) the texture is wonderful.  They are very soft and have that creamy feeling that pastel artists love.

The problem is this:  they are inconsistent.  I seem to be running into trouble most often with the very dark colors.  Some of them are too hard or kind of grainy - to the point of being scratchy.  This is a big problem for me and I don't even like to use the sticks that behave this way.  There have only been a few this bad in my set of 80 colors, so it is not something that makes me regret buying them, but it is surprising, given the quality of the majority of the colors.  The other thing to keep in mind is that some of them are quite crumbly.  They need a gentle hand.  This is, in my experience, typical of very soft pastels - but I still thought it was worth mentioning.

Overall, I would definitely buy the set again.  In the future I will probably purchase them individually, in order to avoid the problem sticks.  But starting out with the set was very useful and I am enjoying them a great deal.  Below is a progress photo of the beginning stages of the painting that I am currently working on - using exclusively this set.

Cotswold Cottage, Pastel on board, 8x10

Here is a painting of a cottage that we came upon in the Cotswolds.  It was at the intersection of three small back roads.  Where the roads met, there was a venerable old oak tree.  Underneath that oak is where I was standing when I took the photos that I used for this painting.  The cottage was so unbelievably quaint, and all by itself in such a beautiful setting.  

Beach Huts in Wales, Colored Pencil on board, 5x7

My husband and I came across these beach huts while on vacation on the Llyn Peninsula of Northern Wales.  Although the town where we were staying was very busy, the beach was almost empty even though it was July.  I loved this part of Wales and hope to go back someday!
Currently on auction at Daily Paint Works - you can bid here.
Thanks for looking!