Pastel Paintings

I paint the Vermont landscape, focusing on locations close to home. A blueberry farm, a hilltop dairy farm and The Mount Philo Inn overlooking the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain are all places where I can relax, draw and reflect without too much distraction.

When the weather is good, the pastels are first sketched outside on location by drawing the predominant elements of the landscape with vine charcoal. I freely change and delete anything that I see in my 360 degree view. I refer to the landscape before me less often as the picture gains a life of its own. Occasionally I’ll work from my photos, but once I have the basic elements from the photograph, I put it away and let the pastel speak to me.

Pastel images are matted with one rag mat, under which is a layer of rag foam core. The foam core lifts the mat from the pastel, creating a slight shadow box effect. Smaller pastels (size 12" x 13") feature an alder wood frame with a cherry stain, and larger pastels feature a cherry wood frame. Both use non-reflective 90% UV free glass.