Watercolors

Two days of painting in the North Cascades

As a retirement gift, I was given three nights lodging at Snowater Resort condominiums by a parishioner. Snowater is located in the North Cascade mountains of Washington, not far from the Canadian border. It was great to have a comfortable condo to return after each day of painting. Thank you, Penny!

I checked into Snowater on Friday night and spent all day Saturday and Sunday painting near Picture Lake in the high country. Aptly named, this lake mirrors Mt. Shuksan which looms above it. It’s a must for every outdoor photographer and painter (thus the name).

Mt. Shuksan from Picture Lake

Saturday morning was clear and sunny, and I set up my easel right away at one of the viewing platforms. It was a good thing I did, because the clouds came in later and obscured the view. A few people shared the platform with me, but they were very respectful and didn’t get in my way.

Afterward, I drove to the Heather Meadows Visitor Center and parked where the road was blocked because of snow removal. I hiked up the road to Artist Point at the very end of the road. It’s still melting out, but crowds of people were enjoying the walk up the road. I brought my painting gear with me hoping to paint Mt. Baker, but it was completely hidden in the clouds. The hike wore me out. It’s about two miles and a thousand feet elevation gain.

Mt. Shuksan on Saturday
Mt. Shuksan on Sunday

After a break, I drove down a ways and painted Mt. Shuksan again where a ridge partially hides the mountain. I enjoyed painting the trees on the ridge, using a free brush with an almost abstract pattern. I also painted this scene on Sunday. Here are the two paintings side by side.

Mt. Shuksan in the clouds

On Sunday I again drove to Picture Lake and painted the mountain, although this time there were clouds swirling around the top of the mountain.

Mt. Shuksan from lower down

For my last painting of Mt. Shuksan I drove partway down the mountain and stopped at a pullout. The mountain loomed even higher from this vantage point. I painted a little bolder this time, making the mountain a little stronger and the trees darker. I like the way this turned out.

After this I was pretty tired. I tried to paint the Nooksack River on my way back to the condo, but I was too tired and I couldn’t get it to work out. But I had a wonderful two days of painting in an amazing setting.

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Ferry passengers disembarking

When I was waiting for the ferry on Whidbey Island last week, I took a photo of the ferry passengers as they walked off the ferry. It’s a small ferry, so the passengers disembark on the car deck. It’s kind of a fun scene, with everybody striding off the ferry looking for their ride. Today I made a pencil sketch, then a watercolor.

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A pickup and a land rover

When I was in Lilliwaup Bay a couple of months ago, I took a photo of a couple of old trucks parked at a cabin near the river. They just look so darn rustic. Yesterday I made a watercolor, but I wasn’t very satisfied with it. Today I added a wash of blue on the side of the landrover to darken it. I think this helped a lot by showing that side was in shadow.

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Couple of lighthouses

Today I painted two lighthouses. The first one is from my trip to Whidbey Island last week. This lighthouse, at Admiralty Head, has recently been restored and is resplendent on the high bluff above the sea. My painting is a bit clumsy but it shows the massiveness of the lighthouse and the late afternoon sunlight coming from the left, with the dark trees behind.

My second lighthouse painting is a copy of a painting by Qian Gao. I like the way he used browns in the sky and in the land, and the loose way he treated the lighthouse.

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3 Watercolors from the Whidbey Island Paintout

Today I had fun with friends from Plein Air Washington Artists (PAWA). about 17 of us were hosted by a couple on Whidbey Island, whose five-acre spread has amazing views across the fields as far as the Olympic Mountains. Their mini-ranch has lots of juicy things to paint, like cows, barns, and pickups. It was a good day of painting.

I’m happy with these paintings because I wasn’t afraid to put a lot of paint on the paper. At the stage I’m at right now, I need to be generous with the paint and brave with the brush. I felt I painted loosely today, which is one of my goals. Even though the results aren’t perfect, they’re part of the learning curve.

I took the ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville last night and camped at Fort Ebey State Park so I’d be ready to start at 9:00 am. It was nice to have a peaceful night in the forest.

Two young steers
Barns and mountains
Pickup and tractor

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Island farm

I’m going to a paintout on Whidbey Island on Thursday, so I thought I’d practice painting a scene on Whidbey Island as a warmup for the event. This painting is based on a photo of a farm on Whidbey Island near the location of the paintout.

I made this painting using only the brush (no pencil lines). I shared it with the #30x30directwatercolor group on Facebook. The goal of the group members is to make a direct watercolor every day for 30 days. It’s a lot harder painting without any pencil guidelines, but it’s good practice because it helps avoid small, cramped, fill-in-the-outline paintings.

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Sunflower for Mom

This morning I painted several versions of sunflowers, modeling them after a beautiful painting by Beverly Boren, an artist in Texas. My first one was the best, so I made it into a postcard and mailed it to Mom.

The idea is to keep the petals of the sunflower loose but still recognizable, to have some found edges and some lost edges, and to have some light values and some dark values. I’m still learning how to do this. It’s so darned hard!

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Jules Mae’s Saloon

Last week I was in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle for a plein air painting session with other artists from Northwest Watercolor Society. I took a photo of Jules Mae’s Saloon, a classic oldtime saloon with polished wood bar and dark floors. Today I tried to make a loose, impressionistic painting of the saloon. It’s hard to keep the watercolors free and loose while at the same time getting proportions, values, and colors right. I didn’t come close to my expectations, but I learned a lot.

Morning at Jules Mae’s
Afternoon at Jules Mae’s
Direct watercolor (no pencil lines)

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Watercolor sketch of man at ferry terminal

Last week when I went to Seattle, I made a pencil sketch of a man waiting in line at the ferry terminal. Today I spent nearly the entire day trying to duplicate that sketch in watercolor, without using any pencil lines. I made 11 attempts, with this one being the best. I don’t understand why I can make a quick pencil sketch without any problem, but trying to make the same sketch in watercolor is a hundred times harder. Both versions are below.

Man at the ferry terminal
Man at ferry terminal – pencil sketch

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Copy of Carles Pellejero watercolor

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I found a watercolor by Carles Pellejero that I liked and made a copy of it. I like the looseness of it and the lost edges, especially where the bottom of the building merges into the street. The figures were merely suggestions but they read clearly.

Copy of Carlos Pellejero watercolor

I also made a watercolor of three guys on a road crew. A few weeks ago, I took a photo of them shoveling gravel out of a truck as it moved slowly along the shoulder. Uploaded this to 30x30directwatercolor on Facebook and IG. 30x30directwatercolor is an online group that paints a direct watercolor every day and shares it with the group. Direct watercolor means drawing directly with the brush, without pencil lines. It’s a great way to improve your watercolor skills.

Road crew

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