Welcome to my website. All artwork copyrights belong to the artist and images may not be used
for any purpose without written permission from the artist. To contact
me about classes, demonstrations, or purchasing art work, write to me at
vjunseld@aol.com or call 303-582-5724. Virginia
I have been painting western landscapes for over 30 years. My challenge as a painter is to capture what I love about a place. I am attracted to the patterns and rhythms of the landscape and try to interpret what I see and feel in a personal style. I am not beholden to the view in front of me and manipulate design elements to emphasize my visual statement.
I have been painting with soft pastels for over 20 years. They provide the perfect union of drawing and painting for me. I love of working en plein air. Setting up my easel in a meadow or next to a stream and working quickly to capture the ever changing light is an enjoyable challenge.
In the winter my car becomes a traveling studio. I like painting winter scenes but standing in snow to paint is not my idea of fun. I also shoot many photographs of those moments of magical fleeting light and from my hikes into the Colorado wilderness where I can't carry heavy art supplies. Then I translate those photographs into sketches and then into final paintings in the studio.
I built a small studio on my property in 2009. Please call to visit when you are in the area.
Aspen Shadows 16 x 20 pastel This won Best of Show in the Gilpin Arts Association Rocky Mountain States 2010 show.
SELECT AWARDS
2012 3rd Place Colorado Pastel Society members' show 2010 Southwest Art Magazine Award of Excellence, Denver Plein Air Exhibit 2010 Best of Show Gilpin Artists Association Mountain States Exhibit 2010 Best of Show Evergreen Pastel Show 2010 First Place Evergreen Artists Association Show 2009 Art selected for Evergreen Arts Center 2010 Calendar 2009 Art selected for cover of Serenity Magazine 2009 Art selected for cover of Mountain Pages Magazine 2008 Best of Show, Evergreen Artists' Ass'n Members Show 2009 artist-in-residence, Gilpin County Public Library 2008 1st Place Evergreen Plein Air Competition & Exhibit 2008 3rd Place Mixed Media Evergreen Fine Arts Fair 2007 Artist-In-Residence, Mancos State Park, CO 2006 Cover Art Alamosa County Calendar 2006 Best of Show Colorado Art Educators Exhibit 2006 1st Place Evergreen Plein Air Invitational 2006 3rd Place Colorado Pastel Society Annual Show 2004 3rd Place Colorado Pastel Society Annual Show 2004 People's Choice Award CO Pastel Society Annual Show 2004 Honorable Mention CO Pastel Society Annual Show 2003 Juror's Award Colorado Art Open, Golden CO 2002 Honorable Mention War and Peace, Core Gallery, Denver 1999 3rd Place Celebrate the Rio, Alamosa, CO 1997 Poster Award for 50th Annual Gilpin Artsists' Assoc Show 1996 Colorado High School Art Educator of the Year
SELECT JURIED EXHIBITS
2012 Plein Air Painters of CO Nat'l Show Taos, NM 2011 Plein Air Painters of CO Nat'l Show Denver, CO 2010,09 Denver CO Plein Air Exhibit, 2010 Evergreen CO Pastel Open 2012,11,09 Mile Hi National Pastel Exhibit 2008 Evergreen Artists Association members Show 2007,06 Evergreen Plein Air Invitational-Evergreen CO 2006 Word As Image Denver Art Students League 2006 Colorado Art Education Association Show 2006 Colorado Pastel Society Annual Show 2006,97,96,94,92 Gilpin Arts Association Show 2005 Evergreen Arts Center Invitational Show 2004,02,00, 99 Colorado Watermedia Exhibit, Denver, CO 2003,01 Colorado Art Open, Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO 2003 Colorado Pastel Society, Lakewood CO 2001 Colorado Pastel Society, Grand Junction, CO 1994 The Great Frame-up, Littleton,CO
photo by Barbara Lawlor
painting en plein air in Evergreen, CO.
photo by Marta Rodeheffer
I earned a BS in Art Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and an MAE from Rhode Island School of Design. I have studied pastels with Doug Dawson, Liz Haywood-Sullivan, Desmond O'Hagan, Terry Ludwig, Jan Myers and thank them for sharing their expertise.
