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On Thursday, I met the other PAWA painters at Log Cabin Resort, then I made a painting of the shoreline to the East. Afterward I took off to find new painting spots. Just outside the park boundary, I took a side road and stopped at a clearcut with a logging road going up the hill. There were big rocks with scraggly trees and long ridges far above, a perfect Northwest vista. I stopped and made a watercolor. As I was painting, the man who lived in a cabin nearby stopped by in his ancient beatup car. He was maybe fifty with a long flowing bear and luxuriant mustache beneath wavy silver locks. “Just wanted to check on ya to see if you’re OK,” he said. I assured him I was.

Then I drove up another logging road which took me to the of top of a knob overlooking Lake Sutherland, the small lake below Lake Crescent. The view was great, so I sat down and ate my lunch looking out over the vista. Then I painted the view. Not wanting to stop painting, I drove to the same overlook where I painted yesterday and painted the bridge and the cliff again. Without the rain. Then I hurried to Lake Crescent Lodge, where six of us PAWA painters met on the porch and shared our paintings Quite a few park visitors came by for a look, too.

All in all, a good two days of paintings. I made ten paintings in all. It was good to just paint, paint, paint. Not all my paintings were finely polished, but I learned from each one. I think choosing a location, setting up and making a quick painting without belaboring it is a good method for me right now.

On June 1 and 2, I attended an event with PAWA (Plein Air Washington Artists) at Lake Crescent near Port Angeles. I drove up the night before and camped at Fairholme Campground. On Wednesday morning I met other PAWA painters at Log Cabin Resort and we fanned out to paint. My first painting was of the resort dock, with its colorful kayaks and canoes. Then I moved down the shore and painted some big rocks jutting out into the water. At 1 pm, I joined the other painters back at the resort for sack lunches in the comfy resort chairs looking out over the lake.

It threatened rain, so I made a quick watercolor sketch of Jim painting on the shore. When it began to rain in earnest, I joined Thoa under the eaves of the resort and painted the clouds on the far shore. After that, I drove to an overlook on Highway 101 and painted a bridge next to a cliff face. It was raining, but I just held an umbrella over my painting with my left hand and painted with my right hand. Awkward, but it worked.

At 4:30, I made one more painting. I drove to Lake Crescent Lodge, a beautiful old historic Park Service building, and painted the lodge while standing under a big tree. So in all I made six paintings today. Quite an accomplishment considering the weather.