Bob Palmerton Pastels

On a sunny, early morning on the beach at Breezy Point, New York, there is a distinctive warm glow in the sand and grasses that comprise the dunes toward the...

It was a hot, sticky July morning at the Pittsfield Preserve near Ann Arbor, Michigan. The grass was wet and the mosquitoes were circling (never mind the ste...

On the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, you can find Ruby Beach, situated on the Pacific Ocean. The curiosity of this location is the mass of fallen trees th...

Behind Pittsfield Township Hall near Saline, MI., there are nature trails and a pond fed by Warner Creek. Cosmo (my dog) likes to sniff around this area, f...

Glass Beach is on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. And there are plenty of rocks to stumble over as one searches for sea glass. This 21x13 pastel paint...

Traveling through Olympic National Forest, I came upon this spot on Lake Quinault. Pastel painting, 9x12, done on Uart 320 grade paper. The painting has a c...

The Hoh Rainforest is a temperate rainforest located in Olympic National Park. This painting is part of my PNW (Pacific Northwest) pastel series. This 9x12 ...

I was rather pleased with the bold color effects of "The Clearing," where I applied an acrylic under-painting of colors representing the complements (or opp...

Starting a painting entitled "The Clearing," I chose to build up an under-painting of acrylic. The colors I chose are (in general) the opposite (complementa...

Inspired by a hike along the Ocean Path Trail at Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor in Maine, this 21x27 pastel painting evokes a bit of landscape mystery an...

I recently visited Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine. The day was overcast with a misty atmosphere exacerbated by the violent Atlantic. Great photo...

I was torn between calling this one "C'mon In" or its current title. An old shed and home overgrown with vines. Reference photo take on a bike ride many ye...

As the weather turns for the worst in Michigan, it is time to revisit my collection of photographs that I use as inspiration and reference points for pastel ...

I will often start a pastel painting with an underpainting of either watercolor, acrylic, or a wash of pastel diluted with isopropyl alcohol. My favorite is...

Way back in 2008 my family and I visited my wife's relatives in Ireland. The two paintings below were inspired from photographs of our trip to County Mayo. ...

Planning a landscape painting, from initial concept to sketch, value definition, underpainting and application of pastels, is critical to success (and to avo...

Strolling along at Breezy Point on the bay, I came across this kayak awaiting its next journey in Jamaica Bay at Breezy Point, NY. To create this painting, I...

In Pittsfield Township, Michigan, just south of Ann Arbor and east of Saline, there is a series of nature preserves (the "Pittsfield Preserves") which offer w...

Here is the completed painting of the Crane Creek Estuary scene at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. You can see the earlier underpainting and initial techni...

Hopefully soon I will do a time lapse video of a painting from start to finish. Since I haven't yet tackled that technology, I thought I would show various ...