Artist Bob Palmerton’s enthusiasm and love for the outdoors is expressed through his dreamlike, ethereal landscapes in soft pastel. Visit his website to learn more about this artist.
“Birch Ballet” Soft Pastel, 27” x 21”
I began painting in oil and pastels while a teenager, and then took a thirty year hiatus through college, graduate school and a career in finance. In 2005, I dusted off my old pastels after my wife discovered and framed two paintings I had completed while a teen. Since then, I have participated in numerous art fairs, corporate exhibits and private showings, and regularly teach landscape painting workshops in southeast Michigan.
“Peak Color” Soft Pastel, 14” x 20”
As a self-taught artist, I honed my landscape painting skills by studying masters such as John Carlson and Edgar Payne, and absorbed pastel painting techniques from Albert Handell, Elizabeth Mowry, Doug Dawson and Jim Markle. I am particularly fond of the Hudson River School of landscape artists, having grown up along the mighty Hudson in Yonkers, New York.
“Fog Lifting on the Huron” Soft Pastel, 20” x 14”
My preference to paint landscapes is driven by my enthusiasm for the outdoors. I have collected inspiring material from reference photographs taken while hiking, running and biking in southeast Michigan, and traveling to the national parks. Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, the Grand Canyon and the Great Smoky Mountains have kept me enthralled with a multitude of subjects.
“Breezy Point Dunes” Soft Pastel, 10” x 9”
Each year I visit the beach at Breezy Point, New York with my family, where the water and sand dunes inspire me to highlight the vibrant colors of the seaside landscape and the powerful motion of the Atlantic.
“Lazy Susan Morning” Soft Pastel, 20” x 14”
Upon repeat visits to my favorite locations, I noticed how the landscape would change over the years.
“Cuddy Farm” Soft Pastel, 20” x 14”
As an artist, I feel obligated to capture the unique character of a landscape at a given moment in time, and to enhance its key features and the message it conveys with a painting that will always remain the same to be enjoyed by future generations.
“Marsh Madness” Soft Pastel, 10” x 13”
For me, landscape art is a continual learning experience.
“Frost Rising” Soft Pastel, 16” x 12”
The key to successful landscape art is in understanding the features of the subjects painted, such as how leaves grow on a tree, what shape they take, how fog and an overcast sky impact the color and values of a scene, and how the weight of a rock can be portrayed by the composition around it.
“Saline River Dip” Soft Pastel, 20” x 14”
With any landscape, there is always a main object or atmospheric effect that I strive to enhance and highlight in my paintings, as part of my own interpretation of and contribution to the scene.
“Ski Tracks” Soft Pastel, 27” x 21”
Many of my paintings are begun “en plein air” and completed in my Saline, Michigan studio with reference photographs. My daily painting routine starts at 5:30 am, when I find that my productivity is the greatest. Adding some Chopin background music helps me keep pace with those painting strokes, while classic rock encourages me to speed up when my productivity begins to lag!
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