Bill Fulton

From plein air to studio

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In September, I painted several plein air paintings at La Push, a small fishing village on the outer coast of Washington. Now I’d like to enter an art show that asks for a plein air painting plus a studio painting developed from the plein air painting. The idea is to contrast the immediacy of the in-the-field effort against the more leisurely and controlled environment of the studio.

One of my plein air paintings was a painting of a boat at the fish dock in La Push, so I used it as my starting point. I painted 8 more paintings of the same subject. Each time I painted it I was unsatisfied, but I learned something on each attempt. Below you can see the finished product, and below that you can see some of my earlier versions.

I love the harbor at La Push. It’s a dramatic scene, with James Island just out to sea from the harbor, and you can see the swells from the open ocean crashing against the outside of the island. As soon as the boats leave the harbor, they encounter the open ocean. It’s not a place for a faint-hearted fisherman.

My final version
My first version, made standing in the harbor parking lot.
Experimenting with different colors.
Six of my many attempts to make this painting. All are 11 x 15 inches.

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St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle

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I got a call from the Very Rev. Steve Thomason, the Dean of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, asking if I would paint two or three watercolors of the cathedral for use as gifts for their donors at a fundraising gala next spring. I know Steve from my work in the Diocese, and I was happy to agree.

I went to St. Mark’s, took some photos and made some sketches. The cathedral is essentially a huge cube with big buttresses perched on the top of Capitol Hill overlooking the city of Seattle and Union Bay far below. When I got home, I started working in the studio to develop them into paintings that can be used for reproductions. Here’s what I came up with.

St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle, 11 x 15 inches

Let me show you the series I made to get to this point. I started by making a small watercolor with ink outlines. This type of watercolor is easy to reproduce and looks pleasant to the eye, but it’s a little tight and cramped for my style.

St. Mark’s Cathedral, 7 1/2 x 11 inches

My vision for this watercolor is to capture the grandeur of the large imposing mass of the cathedral. This is the House of God. So in my next painting I put dark clouds in the background.

St. Mark’s Cathedral, 7 1/2 x 11 inches

I like this, but it’s probably too stark and gloomy for a donor gift. So I tried again in a larger format.

St. Mark’s Cathedral, 11 x 15 inches

This is pretty good, but the windows need more color in them, and the clouds look muddy. So I tried again, and I was satisfied with my final effort. Here it is again.

St. Mark’s Cathedral, 11 x 15 inches

I like the tapered mass of the cathedral and the way the clouds loom about the top of the building. The colors are varied, and the figures at the bottom add some life to the painting.

I find that working through a series of paintings like this is helpful. I learn a little each time I make a painting of the subject, and each one gets a little better. It’s a long and painstaking process, but it’s one way to make some improvement.

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Sketches of Seattle

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On Monday I took the fast ferry to Seattle to do some sketching. I rode the bus to St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill and made several sketches, then I came back down to Pike Place Market and sketched some more. I’ll use these sketches to develop some paintings in the studio.

Southeast view of St. Mark’s Cathedral
Northeast view of St. Mark’s Cathedral
The iconic view of Pike Place Market
The fish market at Pike Place Market

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Another church painting

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For my birthday, Katy and I went out to dinner with our good friends Kathleen and John Kingslight. We met at Anthony’s, a swanky restaurant near the ferry terminal in Bremerton, and enjoyed good food and great company. Kathleen is the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Bremerton, so the couples have a lot in common and we always share lots of laughs.

John and Kathleen kindly gave me a small watercolor sketchbook for my birthday. A couple of days later, I used the sketchbook to make a watercolor painting of St. Paul’s. I emailed a photo of the painting to them to show my appreciation for the sketchbook and for them to use as a graphic for St. Paul’s. It might be used in their bulletin or newsletter or on their website. Everyone likes to see an original sketch of their church.

The watercolor in the sketchbook
The 8×8 inch sketchbook
St. Paul’s on a cloudy day
Ink sketch of St. Paul’s

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How many attempts is enough?

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Recently I was asked by my friend, the Rev. Eric Stelle, to paint a watercolor of his church to be used as an item in their silent auction fundraiser. Of course I was eager to please my friend, so I said yes and drove to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Gig Harbor to make a pencil sketch and a plein air painting.

The painting wasn’t good enough to be used for the auction, so I came back to my studio and made another. Again, it wasn’t quite right, so I made another. And another. And another. I made a total of 18 small watercolors, trying to improve each one. Finally I came up against the deadline and sent him three watercolors and an ink sketch.

As I painted the same subject over and over I became very familiar with the scene and I began to vary my interpretation. I think I learned a lot about composition and color choices. But I’m not sure if I want to paint every subject 18 times! I told Eric that he can use the images for their publications (newsletter, letterheads, etc) and for their website. I hope the silent auction will be successful.

Ink sketch of St. John’s, for use in publications and website.
Watercolor of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Gig Harbor, WA
Watercolor with ink lines.
A simplified, more abstract version.

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Painting trip to the coast

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Last week I spent three days painting watercolors at La Push, a small Indian reservation town on the west coast of Washington. The scenery at La Push is awesome: big sea stacks rising out of the ocean, huge waves rolling in to the beach, a working harbor and a picturesque fishing village. I camped at nearby Mora Campground.

The first afternoon I arrived in La Push and saw a fishing boat unloading tubs of fish at the fish dock, so I set up my easel right away. James Island looms over the entrance to the harbor and makes a great backdrop for paintings. Like many of my plein air paintings, the values were off. Some parts are too light (the island); some parts are too dark (the dock). I plan to paint this again in the studio where I have more control over the values.

La Push harbor

The next morning was cloudy and blustery with a little drizzle. I packed up my gear and hiked the trail to Second Beach. It’s about .7 miles and a stiff climb with all my gear, but the vista was well worth it. A pristine secluded beach with huge rocks jutting out of the ocean and waves rolling in from the Pacific Ocean. I was pretty happy with the top part of the painting, but the bottom is pretty clumsy. I decided to practice painting waves and beach sand when I got home.

Second Beach

In the afternoon I drove to Mora Campground and set up my tent. Rialto Beach is nearby, so I made a painting as the sun was going down. There were crowds of people walking the beach and enjoying the crashing waves and evening sun.

Rialto Beach

On the third day I painted the La Push harbor again, this time with several of the boats at their moorings. It’s a great scene but a real challenge to capture with watercolors. All in all, I was pretty happy with my paintings this trip, considering they were painted outdoors in an unfamiliar environment. Plein air painting is hard! I hope to re-paint these scenes in the studio and produce a more finished product.

La Push harbor

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Fog in the high country

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Sometimes it’s good to just play with watercolors. I started this painting by saturating the paper with water, then adding grays, blues, and raw sienna, to get the feeling of a wet day in the Olympic Mountains. Along the lower portion I added greens and blues to simulate trees in the fog. At the very bottom I painted more raw sienna.

As it dried, I envisioned rocks near the bottom so I scraped out some lighter areas with the edge of a credit card. I let this dry thoroughly, which took a long time, then I added some definition to the rocks and some trees above the rocks. Even later I decided I needed taller trees, so I added two more trees. Although I had no source photo, I think it captures the feeling of a foggy day high in the Olympic Mountains.

7 1/2 x 11 inches

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Crockett Lake from Fort Casey

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On my way through Whidbey Island after picking up my paintings from Scott Milo Gallery in Anacortes, I had to wait an hour for my ferry at Coupeville. So I drove up to Fort Casey, right next to the ferry terminal, and set up my easel on a point looking out over the shallow waters of Crockett Lake. My fellow painter Lorraine Goddard showed me this location during the Paint Out. I made a background wash of the clouds, the distant hills and the lake, but I couldn’t finish because the paint was drying so slowly. I packed up and got on the ferry, and when I got home I finished the foreground trees. Pretty happy with this one.

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Honorable Mention award at Whidbey Plein Air Paint Out

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I was flabbergasted and delighted to be awarded an Honorable Mention for one of my paintings at the Whidbey Plein Air Paint Out on August 18. More than 50 painters gathered on Whidbey Island for a four-day festival of outdoor paintings. I camped at Fort Ebey State Park and painted as much as I could for two days. It was wonderful painting alongside other artists and sharing our work. On Friday we hung our paintings in a show which was juried by Kyle Ma. I entered three paintings. Out of 145 paintings in the show, only a handful were watercolors (most people paint in oil). Mine were definitely the loosest of the watercolors, which probably made them stand out. Anyway, I was thrilled to get the award. It’s the first time I’ve been in a juried show, and my first award.

The painting awarded Honorable Mention. Looking out across Ebey’s Prairie near Coupeville, WA
Admiralty Head Lighthouse on Whidbey Island.
Stores in downtown Coupeville, WA.

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