plein air in the Columbia River Gorge

Here's my pastel plein air set up at the Vista House in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. 

Early in the day it was not too busy at this popular view point and overlook. To stand in the landscape, open to all it has to reveal, is a heady experience. More observation leads to more understanding and that leads to more personal response to the landscape.

To the East, Vista House View, 10 x 10, pastel on paper

As the morning heated up, more people came. In cars and on bikes. In motorhomes and in trucks. Many people took photographs of me painting. Many people wanted to talk to me. As you would suspect, it spoiled my concentration.

Distracted Abstraction, to the East, 8 x 8, pastel on paper

Instead of getting frustrated by that, I decided to just paint an abstraction of the place, plus my feelings about being so distracted by all of the people. 

Vista House, built 1918

If you are interested in seeing more of the Columbia River Gorge area, I recommend the book Wild Beauty: Photography of the Columbia River Gorge, 1867 - 1957.

More about the Vista House here.

The Weavers sing "Roll On Columbia."

excellent experiment

pick up at Portland International Airport

Marj Lightle and Dori Dewberry

I invited two California artists, Dori Dewberry and Marj Lightle to come up to the Pacific Northwest to have a painting retreat with me. We had a wonderful week together and now they are heading home.

On our first morning, we started by loading up the car with all of our plein air gear and heading out to the Columbia River Gorge. Our first stop was Wahkeenah Falls, where we all enjoyed the challenge of painting moving water.

van Schoonhoven, Dewberry, Lightle

Here are the results from our first day painting.

Portland Art Museum

We had some studio painting time and then took a day to go into Portland. The Farmer's Market in the Park Blocks provided lots of opportunities for reference photos and preliminary sketches. Artist friend, Roxanne Clingman joined us at the Portland Art Museum for the great Ellsworth Kelly exhibit and also the California Impressionists show. 

plein air at Crown Point in Columbia River Gorge

Another trip out to the Gorge for plein air painting at the Vista House. The clouds really neutralized the colors and we all enjoyed exploring the shapes of the land and water masses. 

Friday in the studio

With such a great week of visually stimulating plein air adventures, we took Friday as a studio day and painted more from our sketches and photos. It was great to talk about our time together and how it exceeded our expectations. 

In the photos below you can see the final painting results from our days together. It's harder to quantify the joy of a week of painting, art conversation, and inspiration. Three willing and passionate artists took a chance and set aside a week to inspire one another. It was an excellent experiment. I call it a SUCCESS!

Marj Lightle

Dori Dewberry

Katherine van Schoonhoven

last day of Elio Camacho workshop

 

11 x 14, oil on canvas board

Another wobbly step in the way I want to go. I leave Elio's workshop feeling encouraged and excited about painting more and painting better. Elio is a great teacher. He works to understand the level of each student, and then pushes them to the next step. 

I know I feel inspired. Inspired to paint. Inspired to be better. Inspired to do those exercises he suggested. And, with many helpful ideas and suggestions for handling the medium, I am inspired to put miles on my brushes.

From this workshop, I received much more than I expected. I expected Elio to be a wonderful painter himself. He is. I expected him to do demos and talk about his painting process. He did. I expected instruction on color mixing, brushwork, composition. He delivered on that expectation, too.

What I didn't expect is his genuine interest and concern about where I am in my painting journey. His gentle curiosity. And with his interest came accurate suggestions for moving ahead. And names of other artists whose work I might study to get me to move ahead.

I feel just a bit like a fledgling, pushed from the nest. By his words, actions, and presence, it is as if Elio has given me, personally, these parting words:

Find your weaknesses and work on them.

Paint every day.

Paint outdoors.

Find the form.

Paint the light.

Put down the right color in the right spot in the right way each time.

Don't make more work for yourself by having to correct mistakes.

Where is your "bride"? (center of interest)

Do the work.

That's exactly what I will do. Thank you, Elio Camacho. I hope to see you again.

Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Sketch done with Elegant Writer calligraphy pen with a water wash.

Today was a scouting day for me. I heard from fellow plein air artist, Barbara Szkutnik, about a small wildlife refuge in the Columbia River Gorge. Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Washougal, WA, nestles between Highway 14 and the Columbia River.

After parking my car in the gravel lot, I brought my camera and sketchbook and pens with me on the trail. I saw nice views of grasses, rows of trees, glimpses of Mount Hood and Vista House on the Oregon side, and ponds and lakes. The trail was nice, but long to get to the viewpoint I finally sketched. Not a great spot for pastel painting because my gear is pretty heavy, but maybe when I am ready to take oils on the road, I would consider the mile and a half hike to a painting locale.

Mount Hood in the distance and the glint on the far right midway point is Vista House.