ink: waterfalls

Monotype with pastel, 13 x 6.5

I was eight years old and for my birthday, I received a Kodak Instamatic camera as a gift from my parents. I was thrilled. It had a square "cube" flash for indoor shots. I took a lot of outdoor shots with it. Of my siblings. Of my friends. Of our dog.

Only a couple of months after my birthday, our family took a summer vacation to Yosemite National Park. I took my first serious landscape photographs during that vacation. What I remember most is Yosemite Falls. I was entranced. Especially when we played in the cold water at the base of the lower falls. It tasted sweet and was cool and clear.

As an adult, I am more familiar with Ansel Adams photos of the park and the falls than I am of my own images. But, in one of my early photo albums are my square photos of Yellowstone Falls. I was there. It made an impression.

As I explore more with monotype and ask myself about what inspires me in the landscape, I come back to water again. This time waterfalls.

Monotype with pastel. 12 x 12.

The two images above are monotype prints done with Gamblin Portland Cool Black ink and run through my Glen Alps Press. After the ink dried, I went back into the images with pastel. Why? I was curious to see the effect.

Black and white, without pastel color added, still holds the most drama. The print below is an abstraction of Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. Multnomah Falls have such popular appeal, many visitors go there in the summer months. Crowds of people. I prefer to go in the less popular months.

Monotype. 12 x 12.

Native American legends explain that the falls were created to woo a Princess and to allow her to bathe in privacy. The falls resemble her flowing hair. I thought of her hair as I worked on this print.

Ikea purchase metal cable with hanging clips.

At Ikea, I discovered an inexpensive and effective system for hanging my prints in the studio. A thin, wire cable is suspended between metal supports and small clips hang from the cable, like clothes pins on a clothes line. It gives me a way to look at the prints from a distance.

Detail of the cable and holder.

Detail of the hanging clip and cable.

I enjoy NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. They are like little samples of musical treats. Here's one to get you started, if you enjoy acoustic guitar.

Rodrigo y Gabriela NPR Tiny Desk Concert. Enjoy!

summer sketching

Crab pots present a colorful obstacle for boaters. On the surface of the water are things that float and attached to the floating part is a long line that goes to the ground with a crab trap attached. If a propeller catches the line, it could mean a real problem!

Just because they are obstacles, sometimes a nuisance, doesn't mean that they are lacking in their own particular beauty. Crab pots make an exciting sketching subject, like this one in Roche Harbor.

Ink and watercolor sketch in Aquabee 9" square sketchbook.

Canada Geese

18 x 24

The water was choppy and a little wind-disturbed, but the light was bright as the birds glided quietly past me. Their sunlit white feathers were oddly reflected in the water, in the dip here and on the crest there.

I used a few of my new Crumble Colors: in the midtones on the feathers and in the lights on the birds. In places it seemed like I got a streak of unwelcome yellow, but overall I liked the results and look forward to using them in less subtle ways with my next painting.

Cleat

The meaning that you attach to a subject all depends on your past experiences with it.

To me, an especially meaningful subject.

Plein air Orcas Island

Olga, Orcas Island

Saddlebag Island Plein Air

Saddlebag Island final

morning set up on the bow

afternoon set up in the stern cockpit

It was good to set up my easel today and paint! Our boat is hanging on the anchor near Saddlebag Island State Park on a beautiful day! This morning I set up on the bow and in the afternoon in the stern cockpit (a little more crowded back there).

My new pastels are great but they are unfamiliar. It will take some time before I feel comfortable with this new collection of colors. Today I felt like I was wearing someone else's clothes. I'm not sure they fit yet.

Any day spent painting is a good day.

Plein Air at Cresap Bay

Cresap Bay
18 x 24, pastel

Quiet

Quiet
16 x 12, pastel