The Wonder of It All

Caprese, an Italian salad, is the essence of summer flavors. Fresh plum tomatoes, fresh leaves of sweet basil, and freshly made mozzarella cheese–lovely! Served with slices of Italian sausage it makes a nice summer lunch.

I love to look at the colors of caprese. Dark green leaves and deep red tomatoes against the white mozzarella delight the eyes as well as the palate.

Original painting. Soft pastels on La Carte pastel board, 8.5 x 11 inches. Completed 8-30-2009.

Available $225 (matted and framed).

Posters, prints and greeting cards with this image can be ordered online.

Here’s my latest attempt at painting an interesting view of the Whatcom Chief, the county-operated ferry which connects islanders with the mainland. Every year when the vessel goes to drydock for annual maintenance, a different crew member chooses the paint colors that will be used. We’re nearing the end of these particular colors, since this year’s drydock will begin in a couple of weeks. What will it look like when it comes back? That question adds to the annual anticipation of the Chief’s return to service after repairs are completed.

Original painting. Soft pastels on Kitty Wallis paper, 8.5 x 11 inches. Completed 8-23-2009.

Available $295 (matted and framed).

Posters, prints and greeting cards with this image can be ordered online.

The south entrance to the nature preserve through the recently acquired Kennedy property is a lovely grassy slope with an wetlands area passing through. It’s important to groundwater recharge, and wells farther to the east draw from it. The soft colors of the grasses against the backdrop of everygreens is inviting on a warm day. A picnic, perhaps, or even an afternoon nap?

Original painting. Soft pastels on Schmincke Sansfix paper, 8.5 x 11 inches. Completed 7-28-2009.

Available $250 (matted and framed).

Posters, prints and greeting cards with this image can be ordered online.

This lovely poppy was bunched with cornflowers, iris, and other beautiful early summer flowers at a stand in the Bellingham Farmer’s Market one sunny Saturday morning. The colors were so intense and alive that I couldn’t resist painting them.

P.S. If these lacy blue flowers are not a variety of cornflowers, please let me know. Botany is not my strong point, though I’m an avid admirer!

Original painting. Soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix paper, 8.5 x 11 inches. Completed 7-25-2009.

Available $295 (matted and framed).

Posters, prints and greeting cards with this image can be ordered online.

The trail on the Curry Preserve enters the grassy meadow here, and coming out of the dark woods into the bright field is often a very beautiful visual effect.

Original painting. Soft pastels on Wallis white sanded paper, 8.5 x 11 inches. Completed 7-6-2009.

Available $250 (matted and framed).

A few weeks ago my daughter and I went with a friend to the Bellingham Farmers Market on Saturday. I saw these beautiful oyster mushrooms at a booth selling mushroom growing kits. The smooth texture and beautiful glowing colors made me wish I had my pastels with me. I’m really pleased with how this painting turned out. If you like it in this photo, you’ll love it even more in person!

Original painting. Soft pastels on Wallis Belgian Grey sanded paper, 8.5 x 11 inches. Completed 6-28-2009.

Available $295 (matted and framed).

Posters, prints and greeting cards with this image can be ordered online.

My daughter and I were driving on some Tuscan backroads looking for an obscure historical site during our first visit to Italy. In other words, we were lost. We were in rocky, dry hill country where not much was growing except scrub ground cover. Solitary on a hilltop far from the nearest neighbors was this ruin of an old farmhouse or small villa. The storm building up in the sky behind it exaggerated the abandoned and lonely feeling of the place.

Original painting. Acrylics on canvas board, 5 x 7 inches. Completed 5-21-2009.

Available $75 (framed).

Monteriggioni is a classic hill village in Tuscany, Italy, near Siena. It is surrounded by beautiful agricultural land. In past centuries farmers would hurry inside the walls of the fortified “castello”, or castle, for protection when the area was threatened with attack. This old arch hangs over the “back door” through the village walls, and frames a spectacular view of the hillside and the valley below. While I was photographing the scenery, an older Italian woman stepped through the doorway for a spring “passeggiata”, or stroll.

Original painting. Acrylics on canvas board, 6 x 4 inches. Completed 5-8-2009.

Available $75 (framed).

A friend of mine here on the Island loves beetles of all kinds. She loaned me a beautiful book called An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles by Arthur V. Evans and Charles L. Bellamy. I looked at some photos of beetles online, and thought this Dogbane Leaf Beetle, found throughout the eastern U.S. and Canada, was one of the most beautiful. I just had to try to capture the shiny color effect in a pastel painting.

Original painting. Soft pastel on tobacco Canson Mi Tientes paper (smooth side), 6.5 x 8.5 inches. Completed 6-21-2008.

Available $100 including frame.

Posters, prints and greeting cards with this image can be ordered online.

I was in Bellingham doing errands one afternoon when a storm was brewing. At one point, I got into my car, looked up, and saw this incredible sky. The clouds were so dark and the sun breaking through was so bright, the contrast was irresistible. Nature also composed the design so beautifully that all I had to do was snap photos of this very fleeting moment. Later, in the studio, when I designed the painting I omitted power lines, the Herald building, and other distracting information that was in the reference photos, and I added the broken fence at the bottom to ground the sky without distracting from it.

Original painting. Soft pastel on Dakota sanded pastel board, 11 x 8.5 inches. Completed 5-18-2008.

Available $265 including matting and frame.

Posters, prints and greeting cards with this image can be ordered online.