Winter SloughAuthor Tom Robbins worked as an art critic for one of the local Seattle newspapers decades ago and being a long time resident of Skagit County has named the strange luminous light that is predominate in the region during the gray days of the fall and winter months "oyster light". It is an iridescent brightness that gets through the deep gray cloud cover of the seasons. The horizon provides the glow on even the darkest of days but on occasion in areas of thinning cloud cover there is the warmth of sun hidden ever so slightly and ready to burst through if given the opportunity. I use to pass by the valley on the interstate and in a few spots you can see deep into the farm lands and to Puget Sound as you drive. You can't help but notice that light when you take in the whole scene yet I have not really begun to explore the phenomenon in the scenes I paint but that light is going to be in your paintings regardless. The last few years I've focused on close up scenes in the Skagit Delta where the diked portions of the Skagit allow you to explore the ponds, farmland and marshes up close and personal as you walk along the bermed earth dikes but the paintings don't completely capture the oyster light because of the different quality, look and feel when the scenes being painted up close. They are tearing down those dikes and having the area revert to a more natural state to help salmon habitat and other aspects of the ecosystem so some of my favorite haunts will be gone. It was a refuge even in the spring when the hoards of tourists invaded the valley for the tulip festival when the whole valley it seemed is covered in the bright cover of tulips and daffodils and camera toting tourists high on the bright colors. I don't plan on joining the tourists for the tulip festival but you can expect to see me back in the fall and winter to explore the oyster light for some large format paintings.
