The fine art

Pastel is pigment with nothing in front of it.

Original works on paper, made in the studio on Orcas Island and sold one at a time. Every piece is unique—no prints, no editions, no second copy of anything.

Original works Soft pastel on paper

I The plates

Photographed flat and left unretouched—each work set large, then close, so you can see how the marks are actually made.

Pastel of a shoreline under weather: blue sky, a dark bank of cloud, pale water breaking over wet sand — Plate I The shoreline with the weather coming over it. Blue held hard at the top, then the whole middle given over to what the water was doing.

Close-up of the surf: white scraped over grey and sand-brown in short broken strokes

Close-up of the cloud bank: ultramarine and slate worked wet against dry white

Pastel of a small cabin with a tin roof standing among tall firs, sunlight breaking through the trunks — Plate II A cabin in the second-growth firs. The roof takes what light gets through, and everything else is green going back over it.

Close-up of the cabin: the tin roof in pinks and rust over an ochre wall

Close-up of the foreground undergrowth: broken greens, madrona red and pale yellow laid over one another

Pastel of a dark-haired woman asleep with a baby in her arms against a red cushion — Plate III Asleep on a Sunday afternoon against a red cushion—worked fast and then left alone, because nobody holds a pose that long.

Close-up of the sleeping baby's face, built in warm orange and umber

Close-up of the woman's face and dark hair against white cloth

Pastel landscape of a still pond below a dark treeline, a sunlit orange field beyond it and a foreground meadow flecked with white flowers — Plate IV The pond at the bottom of a field, with the far bank still holding the last of the sun. The white in the near meadow went on once, at the end, and is the whole reason the piece stands up.

Close-up of the near meadow: white flecks struck once over deep green

Close-up of the far bank: orange field light lying flat above the blue of the water

Pastel of two small figures among dark firs and a sunlit trunk, worked in deep greens and madrona red — Plate V Two figures in the woods late in the day—deep green and madrona red nearly all the way through, with the light doing its work in about six marks.

Close-up of the two figures, a straw hat and a red collar picked out of the dark

Close-up of the sunlit trunk cutting up through the dark firs

Trays of soft pastel sticks on a studio worktable beside an unfinished pastel of a shoreline on blue paper — In the studio The worktable mid-morning: four trays of soft pastel sorted by family, and a shoreline on blue paper about two hours short of finished.

II Available now, and how a piece comes home

What is in the studio changes through the year, so rather than a stale list I keep a current one and send it out. Tell me roughly what you are drawn to and I will send photographs of the pieces that fit, with dimensions and prices.

No. I

Ask for the current list

Write to me and I will send photographs of everything available right now—each with its dimensions, its price, and an honest note about the colour, since no photograph gets a pastel exactly right.

The usual first step

No. II

Choose framed or unframed

Pastel must sit under glass with a spacer so the surface never touches it. I can deliver a piece framed and ready to hang, or send it unframed and matted for your own framer—with instructions for them, so it is done right.

Framing quoted separately

No. III

Or commission one

A place that matters to you, a wall that needs a particular scale, a season on this island you want to keep. I take a small number of commissions each year, starting with a conversation about size, subject and light.

Limited each year

Ask What’s Available

III Questions from the studio

How much does a piece cost?

It depends on size, and I quote each work individually rather than posting a price list that goes out of date. Small studies are genuinely approachable; larger works for a main wall cost what a larger work costs. Ask about a specific piece and you will get a specific number, with no pressure attached to it.

Can I see the work in person?

Please do, if you can get to Orcas. Photographs of pastel are always a compromise—the surface has a slight velvet to it that a screen flattens completely. Studio visits are by arrangement, and I am happy to bring a piece to you if you are on the island.

Does it come framed?

Your choice. Framed, it arrives ready to hang, glazed with a spacer or a mat so nothing rests against the pastel surface. Unframed, it ships matted and protected with notes for your framer. Framing is quoted separately because the right frame depends entirely on the room it is going into.

How do I look after a pastel?

Keep it glazed, hang it out of direct sunlight, and don’t let anything touch the surface—that is essentially the whole list. Pastel is one of the most stable media there is; there is no oil to yellow and no varnish to cloud. Properly framed and sensibly hung, it will outlast most of the furniture in the room.

Can you ship off-island?

Yes—works travel flat, rigid, insured and packed so the surface is never in contact with anything. Shipping is quoted at cost. Local buyers are welcome to collect on Orcas, which is cheaper for you and easier on my nerves.

Will you paint something specific for me?

Sometimes. I take a limited number of commissions a year so that each one gets proper attention. We start with a conversation about subject, size and where it will hang, then a deposit, then time—the work is finished when it is finished. If it isn’t a good fit I will say so early rather than take the job anyway.

I am specifying a whole house. Can art be part of that?

Often it should be. Art is the last material decision in a room and it is usually made in a hurry. If we are already working together on interiors I will happily fold it into the palette—whether that ends up being my work, or an introduction to another maker who is the better answer for your wall.

Natural paint fan decks and colour cards on a cedar slab table beside houseplants

On colour

Every good decision I have ever made about a wall, a vase or a room started at an easel, trying to work out what the light was actually doing.

Whitney Page

Inquiries

Tell me what you’re drawn to.

A subject, a size, a wall that has been empty for two years, or a commission you have been thinking about. Send it over and I’ll reply with photographs of what is in the studio right now, dimensions and prices included.

Ask About a Work