Pastels | Ellen Questel

• Spring at the Farmers Market

  Pastel, Fine Art Paper, 9 inches x 12 inches. This image was inspired by a bucket overflowing with spring flowers at a farmer's market.

• Sicilian Oranges

  Pastel, Fine Art Paper, 15.5 x 18.5

• Late Fall on the Battenkill

  Pastel, Paper, 17 inches x 24 inches. I live near the Battenkill River in Vermont. It is a favorite trout fisherman's destination, as well as a lovely spot for swimming, kayaking, and tubing in summer. This is an image…

• Spring Unfolds

  Pastel, Fine Art Paper, 11 inches x 8 inches. I wanted to capture in this small pastel the rich profusion of plants that appear springtime on the roadsides of Vermont. Thick greenery, Mullein, Siberian irises, delicate…

• Half Moon Bay

  Pastel, Paper, 8 x 11. Northern California residents may recognize this location as the beautiful Half Moon Bay. I hoped to capture its tranquil beauty in this small painting.

• As the Light Fades

  Pastel, Paper, 12 x 18. This image was inspired by the dramatic contrast between the luminous sky and the land in shadow at twilight on the beach.

• Jill's Garden

  Pastel, Paper, 16 x 11. This painting was done in honor of a dear friend who passed away this past December. She delighted in beauty and appreciated it in all its forms. Her garden was always a joy to visit. This painti…

• River Mist (tonal River Landscape)

  Pastel, Paper, 12 x 16. I am delighted to say that this painting just won an award for the tonal painting category at the Vermont Pastel Society Show at the Park McCullough house in Bennington, VT. The site of the exhib…

• Day's End in the Tropics

  Pastel, Fine Art Paper, 20.5 x 16.5

• Pampas Grass

  Pastel, Paper, 16 inches x 24 inches

• Battenkill in Spring

  Pastel, Paper, 17.5 inches x 25.5 inches. A crystal clear day on the Battenkill River. The reflection of the sky on the water had an iridescence shimmer. Sizes below refer to the dimensions of the paper. The image is si…

• Cranberry Bog

  Pastel, 12 inches x 16 inches. I love painting the interplay of land and water in marshlands. This scene depicts a cranberry bog late in the day when the light is dim but some of the color of the cranberry plants remain…

• Twilight from the Beach

  Pastel, Paper, 10 inches x 16 inches. I am fortunate to spend a portion of winter on the east coast of central Florida. This image is one of a number of depictions of twilight viewed from the beach. Although the sunsets…

• Twilight from the Beach 2

  Pastel, Paper. Although I never tire of watching the sun setting, I find it can be difficult to paint a glorious sunset without the image looking cliche. I prefer painting moments of twilight which offer their own more…

• Twilight from the Beach 3

  Pastel, Paper, 19.5 inches x 21.5 inches. As I have mentioned about my other twilight pictures, I am fortunate to spend some of the winter on the east coast of central Florida. This image is one of a number of depiction…

• Spring Melt

  Original Pastel & Print Available, Paper, 10 inches x 14.5 inches. I have often painted this river by my house in Vermont. When the snow melts in spring, the river is high and swift. Plants along the banks all seem to c…

• Tonal River Landscape

  Pastel, Fine Art Paper, 10 inches x 16 inches. I have painted this river many times, in many different seasons, weather, and time of day. This scene was inspired by patches of bright sun shining through a shady portion…

• After Sunset on the Intracoastal

  Pastel, Paper, 18.5 inches x 23 inches. I am fortunate to spend some of the winter on the east coast of central Florida. When possible I walk to the Intracoastal Waterway to enjoy the sunset and its aftermath. Depending…

• Spring Garden

  Pastel, Paper, 16 inches x 11 inches. These irises were growing in a friend's garden. I was struck by how beautifully the apricot and lavender colors complemented each other. original and print available.

• Summer

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 15 inches x 11 inches. This is an impressionistic rendering of the profusion of form, color and light in my garden in the height of summer. In this view, a section of the gar…

• Japanese Garden

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 24 inches x 18 inches. Japanese gardens are masterpieces of cooperation between human art and nature. Nature is the star but it has been carefully coaxed and lovingly shaped…

• Late Autumn Light

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 23 inches x 18 inches. This is a view from my studio.It is late fall and there are still a few golden leaves left on the trees. Although they are bright in the sunlight, ther…

• Battenkill Mist

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 18 inches x 14 inches. In this picture I wanted to capture the soft and subtle palette of the Battenkill river in late winter. There are patches of melted snow remaining and…

• River Light

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 15" x 20"

• Blue Moon on the Coast

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 18 inches x 24 inches. In this painting I tried the capture my experience on the rocky coast of New England on particularly beautiful late spring evening. It was a relatively…

• Shifting Light

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 16 inches x 18 inches. This picture was inspired by a field in Northern California. A rainstorm was rapidly moving in on the horizon and darkened part of the sky while the fi…

• Whisper

  Pastel, Paper, 18 inches x 16 inches. The mood of the landscape that inspired this picture was quiet and delicate. The air was cool with only a slight breeze. Even the summer sun cast a gentle light. It felt like a mome…

• New England Coast

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 18 inches x 23 inches. The light on the coast of New England has it own very particular brightness and clarity. I sought to capture this light in this painting of high cliffs…

• October Light

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper. Travelers come to Vermont from all over to enjoy the fall colors. Living here there is can be a tendency to take this amazing display for granted. I did this painting one yea…

• Arlington Park

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 24 inches x 17.5 inches. I pass this park near my house in VT almost every day. It is a lovely spot to watch the landscape change with the seasons. Here I've depicted it in s…

• Grazing

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 26 inches x 19 inches. This rather large pastel was inspired by a dramatic landscape in Wales dotted with sheep. It was late afternoon and both the light and the shadows were…

• Purple Road

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 26 inches x 19 inches. In this fairly large piece I "pushed" the natural colors to create a vivid and lively image of a back road in fall lit by the late afternoon sun.

• Time's Edge

  Pastel, Paper, 12 inches x 15 inches. This picture depicts a day on the beach when it was so misty it was hard to distinguish the horizon and even the rolling waves of the ocean.It was strangely beautiful and atmospheri…

• Reflections

  Pastel, Paper, 15 inches x 11 inches. This is a study of reflections in water. Usually I paint reflections as part of a larger landscape, but in this piece, they serve as the subject themselves.

• Roadside Vignette

  Pastel, 14 inches x 19 inches. Cows and ducks are a common sight in Vermont but this little scene caught me by surprise as the pond and its visitors were just a few steps off the road and passing traffic. Happily, the a…

• Winter Barns

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 20 inches x 28 inches. Late winter often leaves me longing for color. I wanted the bright barns to bring the a surprise of color to the muted palette of the dried grass and l…

• Shadows

  Pastel, Paper. Outside in early spring I was taken by the shadow of a lone daffodil cast by the late afternoon sun on the concrete foundation and the vivid colors of the flower itself, which contrasted so markedly from…

• Lilacs in the Spring Sun

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 19 inches x 23 inches. My studio is in an old barn with the entryway facing west. There are times in late spring where the afternoon sunlight is so bright that it has a bleac…

• Evening Roadtrip

  Orig. Pastel SOLD - Prints Available, Paper, 17.5 inches x 23 inches. This large pastel was the result of an unforgettable summer sky I saw just after sunset while driving in upstate NY. A warm golden glow remained in t…

• Summer Gold

  Pastel, Fine Art Paper. Buildings in a landscape allow the artist a chance to add imaginative color, as in this scene where I paired the blue barn with the golden field.

• Brief Moment

  Pastel, Paper, 18 1/2inches x 22 1/2 inches. The lovely twilight that follows the sunset in the south is brief, changing minute to minute. I was interested in catching one such fleeting moment on the Intracoastal Waterw…