At first sight, Shine Tidelands State Park is not very impressive. Just off the West end of the Hood Canal Bridge, a rutted gravel road takes you to a neglected rest area next to a windswept beach where one or two figures hunched against the wind are walking their dogs.
But it made a good subject for a painting last Friday. Wrapped up against the cold and blustery day, I made a small plein air painting of the marsh that lies between the beach and the bluff. I’d never noticed this marsh before, but once I really looked at the scene, it popped out at me. I painted it pink to emphasize it.
Later, back in the studio, I expanded this small painting into a full-size 16 x 20 inch watercolor. I’m going to submit this pair of paintings into the Winter Show of Plein Air Washington Artists. Here is the full-size painting with the smaller plein air painting below it.
The marsh at Shine Tidelands State Park, 16 x 20 inchesPlein air painting of the marsh at Shine Tidelands State Park, 7 x 11 inches
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 versionMy 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.
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.
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 CathedralNortheast view of St. Mark’s CathedralThe iconic view of Pike Place MarketThe fish market at Pike Place Market
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 sketchbookThe 8×8 inch sketchbookSt. Paul’s on a cloudy dayInk sketch of St. Paul’s
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, WAWatercolor with ink lines.A simplified, more abstract version.
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.
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.
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.
When we drive by the Skokomish Indian Reservation on the way to Hoodsport every Sunday, I keep my eye out for interesting scenes. This house caught my eye because of its gritty, down-home charm. I painted three versions, of which this is the third. I took considerable artistic liberty with this scene (it doesn’t really look like this).
