An angry old man and a kind woman rancher

3 Comments /

Last week I drove to the Chimacum area to find a place to paint. I found beautiful barns and farmhouses set in a valley surrounded by forests.

It was early morning with strong shadows. I set up my easel on the shoulder of the road and made a pencil sketch of a house across a field on the far side of the road. When I saw a man come out of the house and drive his tractor across the field toward me, I thought he was coming to exchange pleasantries with me. Most people are happy to see artists. Not this fellow.

“What the hell are you doing?? he yelled as he came near. I said, “I’m going to make a painting of your house.” He said, “The hell you are. You get out of here. We have enough robo-calls as it is. Get the hell out of here!”

I said, “You don’t want me to make a painting of your house?” He said with venom, “No! Get the hell out of here.” So I did. I packed up my easel and drove away.

I knew that he had no right to make me leave my place by the roadside. State law allows anyone to take photos or make paintings from a public road. But I wasn’t about to try to get in an argument with a man who was apoplectic with rage. Later it occurred to me that he might have had a gun.

I drove down the road and found a sprawling barn on a hill that just begged to be painted. So I got out of the car and set up my easel again. A pickup from the farm came out to see what I was doing, but this time it was a woman rancher in a denim shirt and jeans, maybe in her fifties. She asked about my painting and said she’d love to see what I came up with. “I have to go to town but you’re welcome to paint anywhere you want,” she said. What a contrast.

So I made this quick watercolor sketch of the barn and one of her cows. She said the cow was just about ready to give birth to a calf.

An angry old man and a kind woman rancher Read More »

Plein air paintings

4 Comments /

I’ve been busy traveling and haven’t had a chance to paint lately. But summer is almost here and it’s time to paint outdoors in the fresh air. This is known as plein air painting, a well-loved practice of painters who like to paint on location. There’s a freshness and spontaneity that come from painting outdoors. These two paintings were made on location. My goal is to do a lot of plein air painting this summer.

The first painting is of The Tides, a cozy restaurant located about 5 miles North of Hoodsport, WA, right next to Highway 101. I got a great cup of clam chowder there. I like the shadows from the building and the lovely tall Douglas-fir tree next to it.

The second painting is a ramshackle house in Bremerton, WA, on a steep street. I particularly like it because of the odd angles and bold colors.

Plein air paintings Read More »

Barn on Big Valley Road

5 Comments /

In my imagination this barn was built many years ago by a frugal hardworking farmer as he and his family carved out a homestead on Big Valley Road. He built the main barn first, then added to it over the years, patching shed to shed, until it became this sprawling structure backed up to the fir trees.

In our last watercolor class, Eric Wiegardt challenged me to paint on a bigger scale. So I painted the barn as a quarter sheet (11 x 15 inches), followed by a half sheet (15 x 20 inches). You have to use a big brush and lots of paint and water to cover so much paper. For the barn and the meadow I painted three different colored washes on top of each other to produce variation in the color. I was undecided about the large expanse of grass in front of the barn. It seems like it needs something. Texture, maybe? Shadows? A piece of farm equipment or a pickup truck? Or maybe it’s fine as it is.

Half sheet – 15 x 2 inches
Quarter sheet – 11 x 15 inches
Eighth sheet – 7 1/2 x 11 inches

Barn on Big Valley Road Read More »

Sasby Island in Southeast Alaska

6 Comments /

Last summer when I visited friends on Kupreanof Island in Southeast Alaska, I took a photo of nearby Sasby Island. It lies just across the Wrangell Narrows from the town of Petersburg, and has exactly one house on it, complete with a dock and boatshed. The dock is tucked in behind a small point so that it’s completely protected.

I made a series of watercolors to see how best to capture this scene.

Sasby Island in Southeast Alaska Read More »

Willapa Bay estuary

2 Comments /

At high tide, the creeks that run up into Willapa Bay come right up into the trees. In our watercolor class last week, Eric Wiegardt made a demonstration painting of one of these creeks, and today I made a copy of his painting. First I did a black and white version, then I did a color version.

The goal is to create a painting that draws the eye to the area of dominance, in this case the point where the trees and the water meet. I put in the most detail in the edges of the trees, and I painted a red slash of brush below the trees to draw the eye there. I de-emphasized the lower portion, especially the lower corners, to not distract from the area of dominance above. Eric’s watercolor was much more lively because he painted without stopping, letting the washes flow into one another, and he kept his brush strokes loose. I was only partially successful in copying him.

Color version
Black and white version

Willapa Bay estuary Read More »

Fort Flagler bluff

4 Comments /

Walking on the beach with someone you love is a favorite pastime in the Pacific Northwest. The pungent smells of salt air, sea water and marine life make for good memories. I painted this watercolor series from a photo of a beach at Fort Flagler, not too far from here. It was in an article explaining how the silt and dirt from bluffs in Puget Sound fall into the water and feed the shoreline with material for new beaches that become habitat for marine life.

I made a watercolor from the photo, then remembered that my class assignment is to do a black-and-white version. So I painted the black and white watercolor, which is probably better than the color version. The next day I painted a second version of the scene in color. You can decide which one you like better.

First version. I like the softness and looseness, especially the way the skies, the beach, the line of the bluff, and the beach log all point to the center of interest, the figures.
Black and white version. This seems a little more free.
Second watercolor version. I think the colors are better than the first version, but the top line of the bluff is too hard and jagged.

Fort Flagler bluff Read More »

Cabin on the bay

I was captivated by a watercolor painting by artist Jerry Stitt showing a cabin by the edge of a bay. I painted a copy, and then I made a second version with changes to make it my own. I reversed the image left to right and changed the background.

I was happy with the foggy mountaintop in the color version. You get this affect by painting the background clouds, then waiting until just the right moment to add the trees on the ridgetop. If you time it right, the edge of the ridge melts into the clouds, giving the appearance of a rainy mountain day. If you add the ridge too soon, it just dissolves in the clouds. If you wait too long (as I did in the black and white painting), it becomes a hard edge.

Value study

Cabin on the bay Read More »

Trailer on Big Valley road

2 Comments /

Big Valley, just north of Poulsbo, was once a bustling community of small farms and pastures strung along the valley with fir trees on the ridges above. Because of its iconic beauty, the County has spared it the plague of modern development so it retains the character of early Kitsap County. It’s a great place for watercolor painting.

I particularly like this trailer along the road. It’s a little run-down, but it’s homey, and in my imagination the family who lives there has a real sense of ownership of their piece of the valley.

I made a black and white painting to get the values right, then I made several watercolors.

Trailer on Big Valley Road.
Value study

Trailer on Big Valley road Read More »