Art of the Landscape

The Storm

2012-01-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

Big Timber Hay Fields
4x5 inches
oil on linen on panel
John W. Stinson©2012

A winter storm blew through this week leaving more than 200,000 homes without power and many will be doing without power for a week or more. As far as storms go, I’ve seen far worse both in Montana and Oregon where I have lived. Even by Seattle standards this wasn’t much of a storm but when the snow and ice hits Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area it wreaks a havoc in an oversized way because of the hills, trees falling on power lines, people not use to driving in these kind of conditions, etc. The news stations are in overdrive with their storm watch coverage but it was no reason to preempt Judge Judy. I’ve got power and all the essentials so no complaints here. It’s winter so of course I’m working on summer paintings to keep warm.

Every Thing is Negotiable

2012-01-14T12:58:00.000-08:00

Some years ago I had my own mortgage situation and it wasn’t pretty so I am sympathetic to every one of the honest people caught in the tsunami of forces and unintended consequences that has swept over just about everyone in one aspect or another in the last few years and artists in many cases much more that others. It has been bleak and that’s for sure.

When I had my own mortgage meltdown my only advisor who said anything that actually made sense was a thirty something alcoholic, chain smoking Buddhist who said "Abandon ship, she’s going down." I had a moment of clarity and understood. I put everything I owned up for sale. What did not sell was given away. I had a new couch, chair and love seat set. My Buddhist advisor got the chair for free. After all, his advice was worth it. I had purchased the chair as a part of a set and it had cost $1500 for just the chair. Everything was less that 6 months old. An ad was placed in the paper (remember when people did that?) The couch and love seat was listed for $1000 and that was a bargain in those days.

My first call after the ad listed in the Seattle Times went like this.

I want to know, how much for the couch only?

$1000

No, just for the couch. I just want the couch.

$1000

No, you don’t understand, just the couch!

$1000.

Ok put it this way how much for both?

$1000

See? How much for just the couch?

$1000.

After a few profanities they would hang up.

This was repeated for the first four calls and I could see it would be a long day but on the fifth call things changed.

How much did you pay? How long have you owned them. Where did you buy them? Do you have the receipts? Any way you would take a check? The questions went on in that manner until the caller said he would be over in 45 minutes with cash after he makes a stop at the bank. He walked in the door took one look and said " is anything else for sale?" By the time he left he had helped clean out most of what I thought I would give away. He bought everything he could afford including a dinning table and chairs, art works, end tables, two beds, lamps etc. Everything priced so there was no need to negotiate on my part. If you don’t want it somebody else would. This was not about making money this was about abandoning ship.

Move quickly or you will go down with it. That everything was being sold at bargain prices was self evident.

Years have passed and of course I know some things that for me make sense and one of them is be ready to abandon ship. Don’t own anything you would not give up in an instant if you needed to and you can set you own terms to fit whatever the situation you are in.

What I also understand is some people do not see a bargain when it

spits them in the eye. My art is not high priced art but I put a lot of time into the simplest paintings. I frame them in the way I like and think the frames adds something to the paintings and cost is usually a secondary consideration for me. By the time a painting sells I am working for minimum wage or less and I don’t care. I don’t have to because I am not wholly dependent on art for my living and I know if this person won’t buy it someone else will and I don’t have to do but the most basic artist hustle. So here I am and a customer has to have a certain painting but they must have it in the frame style they see on another painting. They absolutely must , and the conversation went like this.

I’ll take it but you will have to reframe it in this other frame. I like that one better.

Sorry can’t do that.

You have to do that or I can’t buy the painting.

Ok.

Ok you will do it?

No, ok you won’t buy the painting.

But I want the painting.

Ok.

Ok what? What is wrong with you? Every thing is negotiable! Don’t you know that?

I don’t bother to explain that the frame she wants is a custom order about $700 at my cost and it is on a painting that is not the same size. Close but not the same size The frame on the painting she wants is free. The painting is the same cost with a frame or without a frame. She could toss the frame out and get it framed anyway she wants but she wants a deal on top of a deal that already will be the best deal she will see this year and she wants it her way all at the same cost. I have had a lot of conversations like this before and the most common one goes like this.

I’ll take it without the frame. How much do you take off the price with no frame?

Nothing, the price is the same.

What?

The price is the same.

Why?

I don’t charge for the frames. They are free.

But I don’t want the frame.

Ok, I’ll remove it.

But then if you keep it you save money.

Yes, but the frame is yours just the same. Take it with you.

But I don’t want it!

Then you can leave it here.

But then you get a deal!

And on and on it goes.

They can’t understand how it could be the same cost with the frame or without the frame.

I don’t explain because of two things. It humors me and it’s true everything is negotiable but with me I will only negotiate if you will give me a better deal. If you offer me more money for a painting than what it is priced at we will have a deal. Promise.

Happy New Year to the readers who drop by this blog. I hope all of you have a prosperous year and will make or buy some great art, have some deep insights to your life and enjoy the ride.

Nisqually Gray Morning

2011-10-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

Nisqually Gray Morning
16x20 inches
John W. Stinson ©2011

Snohomish River sold once, sold twice, Sold!

2011-10-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Snohomish Sunset
3.5x4.25 inches
oil on linen on panel
John W. Stinson ©2011

Many of my paintings are not much to write home about. The subject is flattened out, simplified to the extreme, and done with only three or four colors on my palette. I also practice that endlessly in order to get to what I’m after in a painting and I have long way to go but I think I’m getting there. This painting of the Snohomish River in Washington State was sold to a collector who in the frenzy the moment bought two other paintings and red dots went on all three. Some time later during the gallery show she said she had to pull the red dot of the info card for this painting. “Overbought" I asked? “Yes,” she replied. "Not a problem” I said. As I pulled the dot off the card someone else asked if that is sold or available. When I said it’s available they said "Not any more, It’s mine."

Skagit Winter Afternoon

2011-10-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

Winter Afternoon 24x20 inches
oil on linen on panel
John W. Stinson ©2011

Nisqually Winter Afternoon

2011-10-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

Nisqually Winter Afternoon
5x4inches
oil on linen on panel
John W. Stinson ©2011

Almost got away!

2011-09-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

Morning near Winthrop
6x5 inches
oil on linen on panel
John W. Stinson ©2009

I was finishing up the last framing chores for the art show a couple of weeks ago and in the back of a drawer in the flat file I used for storing paper and prints I found this small painting done at the beginning of the cycle of the paintings done for the last show. I had forgotten about it and did not miss it even though the same image before it was completed had been used for my Facebook page. I pulled it out of the drawer and wondered if there was anymore I had forgotten about and after checking each drawer I found one more small 3.5x 4 inch gem. The area of the gallery devoted to small works was already crowded but after some rearrangement both were fitted in after finding suitable frames. Both sold.

Epilogue

2011-09-11T01:07:00.000-07:00

The show was a success and was half sold out by closing time. There were collectors and tire kickers and you need both for a successful show. This year there were people that flew in from Texas, San Jose, Salt Lake City and San Francisco. Neighbors from across the street and friends from across town and people from 19 to 90 in age. After 8 pm the photographer (my wife) said it was too crowded to take pictures and it was standing room only both inside the gallery and outside in the garden. When the show peaks you can tell it. It is manic and really a thing to behold. I am grateful to all who took the time to show up. Thank you to my wife for all her efforts to make this a great show and to the ones who are helping keep the wolves from the door for another year.

It's show time!

2011-09-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Pacific Rain Gallery is the name of my gallery. Most of the time it is referred to as Pacific Rain Studio and the transformation into a gallery is time consuming and a lot of work but it has to be done on occasion if I want to sell some paintings. I don't like to do pre sales but made an exception this year for supporters who keep me in enough green to buy paints, canvas and frames. I think it should be a great show this year. The last show took place right at the peak of the financial crisis and you could tell people were nervous and that kept some potential buyers on the fence. Smaller canvases this year and framed monotypes. You never know if your strategy will pay off but with the current upheavals in the stock market and terrorist threats on the horizon makes me think It was the right choice. Regardless of the outcome of this years show it will be one hell of a party. I'll also take part in the group show in March at the Phinney Ridge Center next year as an experiment. My output is limited and tightly controlled but sometimes it's good to get outside your comfort zone.

2011-09-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Cows near Big Timber

4x5 inches

oil on linen on panel

Back to the Snohomish River

2011-09-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

First Light on the Snohomish

18x16 inches

Nisqually Evening

2011-07-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge

Nisqually Evening

monotype

4x5 inches

July 4th

2011-07-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

Island Backroad #2
oil on linen on panel
12x10 inches
John W. Stinson ©2011

evening

2011-06-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Evening

monotype

4x5 inches

The Landscape Monotype

2011-06-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

Near the River

monotype

5x4 inches

click image to enlarge

Frame from Mountains Edge Frames

The Monotype

2011-06-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

Pasture, Trees and Shadows

monotype

4x5 inches

click image to enlarge

I'm not done with the monotypes as of yet but I am winding down to concentrate on other forms of print making ( etchings, lithograph, linocut, drypoint ) when I am doing prints. I have been able to gain some insights in the process but the only way to learn it is to do it. The monochrome monotypes have become my favorite type. There is an honesty there that either works or it doesn't. There is a bit more relying on the abstract qualities of the image but I've always viewed the landscape as the ultimate abstract art form.

2011-06-25T10:02:00.001-07:00

Snohomish Evening

monotype

4x5 inches

Another in a series of Snohomish river monotypes.

The river is the easiest for me to get to and more importantly to get home from after dark.

The North Cascades

2011-06-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

North Cascades Spring

monotype
5x4 inches
John W. Stinson ©2011

The North Cascades in Washington state has been referred to as "the American Alps." If you ever get the chance a drive along the North Cascades Highway in the month of May soon after the Highway opens for the season will be a rewarding experience. The snow covered mountains with the granite peaks, the clean crisp air, the large stands of evergreens that are home to and a haven for deer, gray wolf, grizzly bears (yes grizzly), black bears, Canadian lynx, mountain lion, pika, mountain goats, elk, moose and wolverine. It may be the most scenic drive in North America.

Jack Kerouac worked as a Fire Lookout in the North Cascades in 1956 thanks to a suggestion and connections with famed zen/beat poet and writer Gary Snyder a resident of Washington state in his childhood. The experience was the catalyst for the books Desolation Angels and The Dharma Bums. On lookout for 63 days atop Desolation Peak, Kerouac's descriptions of the North Cascades are still relevent today.

"I went out in my alpine yard and there it was . . . hundreds of miles of pure snow-covered rocks and virgin lakes and high timber," he wrote in The Dharma Bums. "Below, instead of the world, I saw a sea of marshmallow clouds . . ."

The Desolation Peak Lookout that inspired Kerouac's imagination is still surrounded by wildlands, thanks to dedicated environmentalists. For more than a decade, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, including The Mountaineers, the Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs, and the North Cascades Conservation Council, fought for protection of these lands.

The monotype shown here is based on several trips made to the North Cascades after the highway has opened in the spring. There are many more to come hopefully as time and inspiration allows.

Skagit Delta

2011-06-12T14:13:00.000-07:00

Moonrise in the Skagit Delta

oil on linen on panel

16x12 inches

I keep a couple of handy reference tools at my desk to keep a eye on the local tides and full moons. Capt'n Jack's Tide & Current Almanac and a printout of the full moon schedule for the current year and if I'm feeling so inclined I'll check on the schedule and see if there might be some promise of an event that might be favorable and then keep my eye of what out local weather guru Cliff Mass has to say on his blog about the weather. If everything lines up and I do mean everything then sometimes an adventure is in the making. I usually just go when I go but sometimes a bit of planning goes a long way to get the ideas and images burned into your head for a painting.

I asked my wife if she wanted to come along for a full moon walk in the skagit delta if the weather was going to cooperate. She said sure so the date was set. She started asking questions when we did not park at our usual location. Oh I guess I forgot to mention we will be trespassing since it will be after sunset long before we get out of there. This amused her. "We will be breaking the law? What if we get caught?"

"Yes, sweetie we are going to break the law and if anyone with a badge or uniform stops us you lay on the accent and say I did not know the rules! You do all the talking and I'll just grunt. Follow up with I'm soooo very sorry sir."

Oh boy, some excitement for her ordered and spiritual life.

"Yes, let's do it."

The area in the Skagit Wildlife Area we were walking in is not a natural area at all. The site has been altered to give hunters a haven to harvest the waterfowl who think this is a haven for them. Bait and switch I guess. 100 acres are planted annually with cereal grains (corn, pasture grass and/or barley) by local farmers under a sharecrop lease type agreement. Pheasants are released on site for hunting and in the daylight hours from the parking lot we usually use you can see the holding/rearing pens with pheasant in them. The area is heavily used for walk-in waterfowl and pheasant hunting, fishing, bird dog training and bird watching. Wiley slough is just east of here and there is a two-mile loop dike-top walking trail also attracts dog walkers and after hours a couple of trespassers on an adventure. One of the things I like in the delta crop fields is not all the crop is harvested. The share croppers come in and harvest some and leave large areas unharvested giving contrast and interest to what would usually be just a harvested field.

The evening was in early October and the time between sunset and moonrise overlaps. The moon wasn't quite full but bright and large and close enough to get what I was looking for. We avoided seeing any one in authority or even another trespasser on our adventure but barely avoided a collision with a spooked mallard as we were walking one of the planted fields.

Usually these paintings are posted a couple of layers shy of completion. It helps for me to get an idea how the painting looks on the web because sometimes you have looked so long at the painting in front of you it can not be seen.

Washington State Rivers

2011-06-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

Evening on the Snohomish

18x16 inches

oil on linen on panel

There is a lot of snowpack in the Cascades this year as much as 200% of normal in some of the river watersheds and the spring has been very mild so when the sun comes out and actually has warmth and you start to believe summer has arrived. People naturally are heading to the local rivers for rejuvenating their body minds and souls. The Snohomish, Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers look deceptively peaceful running with high water but the currents are swift and the water is extremely cold from the melting snowpack and dangerous. The rivers have already claimed lives this season and we have barely entered the month of June. Just a couple of years ago the Skykomish claimed the life of a friend of mine in a freak accident when she jumped in the river to save her son. Many of the victims are not boating or rafting on the river but just walking, wading or swimming near the river banks. The lawmakers in King county where I reside are trying to pass legislation making life jackets mandatory even to swim in the rivers. I don't know if that is the answer or just another misguided attempt to legislate all the possible dangers from our lives. I love the rivers in Washington and rivers in general and have caved in to the urge to jump in on a hot summer day many times but now older and wiser I just sit on the banks and watch the river flow.

The Skagit Valley Nuclear Power Plants and Harry Kent's Blog

2011-06-02T22:34:00.000-07:00

Between 1967 and 1983, there was a plan by Puget Sound Power and Light Co. to build two nuclear power plants in the Skagit Valley, but due to controversy, these plans were shelved. That is the reason we never saw any cooling towers looming in the distance in the valley. As the world lurches from one self made crisis to another intersected with the whims of mother nature and existence I choose to keep my bliss by painting landscapes of the Northwest. However, if you haven't been to Harry Kent's blog Tachisme do yourself a favor and check it out. He is creating some of the most powerful images I've seen and discussing in an articulate way the issues around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and continuing crisis in Japan that was triggered by the devastating tsunami after the 9.0 quake . This is Art, powerful and disturbing and beautifully done. Warning! it ain't for sissies but then neither is life.

http://tachisme.blogspot.com/

epiphanies at the easel

2011-05-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

September Evening at

Chinook Pass

36x36 inches

From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs but all I have done before the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokosai, but today I sign my self "The Old Man Mad About Drawing." – Hokusai

I read somewhere that Hokusai walked straight into one of his last finished landscape prints getting smaller and smaller as he strode away and never turned back to wave good bye. Others reported he died at age 89. However it is generally agreed his most powerful works were created after age 60.

I paint and wait for the epiphanies to reveal themselves. It is the long road but what can you do? The real question is will I live long enough to paint the masterpieces I know are in me? The paradox is that when you exit life by way of your own painting then you will know you have arrived as an artist.

In the month of May traveling from Yakima to Seattle I wanted to go over Chinook Pass through Mount Rainier National Park. When we got there the pass had not opened yet so we detoured around and said we would return later in the year before Chinook Pass closes for the season in November. We made it back to the park in mid September and even stayed at the reconditioned lodge at the park so we could spend as much time as needed for capturing evening scenes. This painting (still in progress) is a result of the visit. My wife insisted on taking pictures with her cell phone and filming with her new toy (flip video) at the time . We went to the same spot on three consecutive evenings starting at a roadside parking lot on Highway 410 and walking a trail to get a better vantage point with the view looking east toward Yakima. My wife asking every night about the dirty air on the horizon and suggesting we go to a different spot. Yakima being an heavily agricultural area puts up large amounts of dirt into the atmosphere and that combining with auto and farm equipment pollution and ozone and maybe even a forest fire or two and not much wind on the mountain (very unusual) and I assume no winds in Yakima so the haze stacked into an amazing layered pinkish/ orange band of dirty color across the horizon. My wife was claiming the band of pollution was getting higher each night. When I said I did not think that it was she pulled out the flip video and ran clips from each of the three evenings and proved me wrong. She then went on to say no one would buy a painting with air pollution in it especially in such a pristine setting. Maybe not but I offered up that I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. I don't paint two thirds of what I sketch so no use worrying about that haze just yet.

When my wife was looking over old video she recorded she came across the Chinook Pass videos she recorded a year earlier and said look how beautiful the pink horizon looks!

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation

2011-05-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Storm in Douglas County

12x10 inches

oil on linel on panel

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is a pattern of Pacific climate variability that shifts phases on at least inter-decadal time scale, usually about 20 to 30 years. The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, north of 20° N. During a "warm", or "positive", phase, the west Pacific becomes cool and part of the eastern ocean warms; during a "cool" or "negative" phase, the opposite pattern occurs.

Yeah, okay but what does it all mean? According to Cliff Mass, Professor, Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington here in Seattle it may be the cause of the cooling trend that has been noticeable to residents in the Northwest in the last couple of years. Lots of rain this spring with the lowest temperatures in decades. We have had a couple of mild summers and I do mean mild (excepting the couple of record breaking heat days) and some serious winter weather but who knows the cause? Global warming? PDO? A bit of both?

This year we took off for my wife's math conference to be held at the Skamania Lodge near Stevenson, WA in May. I'm glad the room had a fireplace because we used it. We drove for three plus hours in what was the worst white knuckle driving rain storm I have driven in for years and except for a couple of short breaks it rained hard the whole way. We stopped at Steigerwald Lake wildlife refuge to sketch some scenes but the trip was too wet and cold along Columbia River Gorge do much sketching this trip. The highlight of the trip was a stop at the Carson Hot Springs east of Stevenson on a Saturday morning to enjoy a soak and a wrap. You soak in an old claw foot tub in the hot spring water and when you can't take it anymore you dunk yourself in a cold water tub. After a 40 minute soak you feel as if your blood pressure will cause you to explode then you get out and you are wrapped head to toe in a towel and left cocoon like on a padded table while your blood pressure slowly returns to normal. You feel so good for hours afterwards that you can't believe it's not illegal.

We continued up the Gorge on the Washington side of the Columbia River and on Sunday by midday we driving through Douglas County. The rain came with us in the form of thunderstorms. Outrageous thunderstorms. Pull over to the side of the road thunderstorms. I can't even remember the last time I saw rain when on the eastern side of the state let alone this type of rain. After explaining that my snoring kept her up all night my wife said she wanted to head home (I did not tell her that her snoring kept me up most of the night before) A few miles off of Highway 2 we stopped to watch a storm in the distance before making our way back to the highway and heading west for home.

Carson Hot Springs

Memory

2011-05-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

Evening on the Yakima

12x10 inches

oil on linen

Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh said "Your memory is beautiful, it will take you places you have never been". Now that I think of it maybe it was Mark Twain. Anyway, most of the time the way I go about collecting information for a painting is with a black marker and a note book. A small sketch is done in minutes and notations about color are put in the margins. By the time I get around to processing those crude sketches into paintings months or longer may have passed so of course memory, imagination and various other factors combine with the sketches and notations on the margins to produce the paintings. Some of the places I frequently go to have made deeper and deeper impressions on me so I am confident as to my ability to render the scene in a way that is a meaningful representation of the time and place being captured. Is this the best way to go about it? I don't know and don't care. It is the way I do it. Last year (I think it was last year) in Yakima I went to a spot along the Yakima River in the early evening to make my sketches and my wife joined me as she often does. After the sketches are done we just sit and watch with as much alertness as can be mustered. She likes to come along just for this reason. Just sitting and being alert is one of her meditation practices. For me it is one of my painting practices.

Close to a year has passed and we both have some agreements on what we saw and what happened when we were sitting in the location where the scene in this painting is depicted but she says this painting is nothing like what she remembers. After a long discussion about it all I could say is wait a few weeks with this painting. It will be what you remember.

Frame from Mountains Edge Frames

Back to the Nooksack River

2011-04-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Nooksack River

monotype

4x5 inches

"Only art and poetry can save the world now."

2011-03-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Skagit Delta Afternoon

oil on linen36x36 inches

"Only art and poetry can save the world now."

Maria Luigia Guaita

Some statements cannot be argued with.

Oyster Light

2011-03-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Winter Slough

20x16 inches

Author 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.

2011-03-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

Late Summer in the Skagit Delta

24x20 Inches

This is another one of those paintings that every one done just missed the mark. The studies were a bit too abstract. No problem I thought I'll just tighten it up a bit. The next painting was too tight. Looks like a photo a visitor to the studio said. And back and forth the efforts went until this one. Well, it will have to do. Some paintings paint themselves and some are a struggle. I have noticed it helps if I get out of the way and let the painting and the process proceed and only intervene when the painting starts to veer of course

Is it Spring yet?

2011-03-01T07:55:00.001-08:00

Fall in the Skagit Delta

oil on linen on panel

24x20 inches

I have painted this so many times yet I ultimately decide that I did not quite get the feel and do it again.

The latest version.

Back in the studio

2011-01-20T07:23:00.001-08:00

Pulling the print
Title and sign

It's winter and I'm hibernating. I get some work done but it's slow going. I get up late and go to bed early and know that when we get to Febuary I'll start to come out of it. There are paintings to finish and prints to frame but it will all get done when it gets done. For now it's back to bed.

The Yakima River

2010-12-05T15:14:00.001-08:00

Summer Evening on the Yakima
4x5 inches
monotype
John W Stinson ©2010

Just west of the town of Yakima the river banks are lush with cottonwoods in the spring and summer. Just east of Yakima the river begins to take on a completely different look.

This plate printed more subdued than I had planned but I like the look anyway. These colors on a copper plate can be hard to decipher. It is just part of the guessing game with monotypes.

Back to the Palouse

2010-11-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

Palouse Spring Afternoon
4x5 inches
Monotype
John W Stinson ©2010

The Palouse in the Spring is Green. I mean real green! The new growth from the planted fields can vary in color from yellow green to fluorescent green and even blue green, brown green, purple green, and well you get the picture. Depending on the sky the light and the time of day. I can't really do anything with all that green. It overwhelms everything on a sunny day. A bit of weather moving through tames the greenness somewhat and can give that eastern Washington scene that can look a bit artificial but what can you do? That is the Palouse. You don't believe it until you are in it.

and what is an illusion?

2010-11-24T22:06:00.000-08:00

Summer Pasture near Eatonville
Oil on Linen
5"x6"
John W Stinson ©2010

On Harry Kent's blog-Tachisme tachisme.blogspot.com he has a link on his latest blog post to www.dumpr.net/museumr.php that lets you see your small paintings in a large format placed in a gallery setting. Mostly for fun but it is the kind of fun I like. It may also be useful to use if you want to transition to large format paintings. I use to mostly paint large but for the last year or so I have gone very small. The painting this women is looking at is actually just 5x6 inches. If you don't already follow Harry's blog check him out. He is a major talent in my opinion.

About Big Timber

2010-11-21T22:49:00.000-08:00

Evening on the Yellowstone

Monotype
4x5 inches
John W Stinson ©2010

Big Timber, lies in the heart of Sweetgrass County in south central Montana. As you drive through the area in September you think the county name is an apt description as the air is sweet and fresh with the smell of mowed hay. What of the name of Big Timber? There are trees around but the forests are a long way off. The Crazy Mountains in the distance has forests but the area is so far east that the forests are in a drier environment and the forests are less densely populated and not with what I would call big timber. Along the Yellowstone River however are the largest cottonwood trees you have ever seen. I have never thought as cottonwoods as timber but these monsters qualify. Hugh, majestic and the dominate feature in the area.

2010-11-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

Palouse #3

Monotype

5x4 inches

2010-10-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Palouse Fields

5x4 inches

pen and paper

Big Timber

2010-09-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hayfield Near Big Timber

4x5 inches

Monotype

The town of Big Timber, Montana isn't much to write home about however it lies in a valley near the Yellowstone River in some of the most scenic rural countryside in America. My wife was excited about our trip until we drove thru town. "What kind of place are we staying at?" She asked. There was a hint of panic in her voice. I really did not know and I was just trying to follow the directions to get to the ranch we were staying at. As we kept driving thru town the road quickly turned promising with scenic farm lands and cattle grazing in fields with deer all over the place and even pronghorn antelope and wild turkey. We drove by creeks, hayfields, the Yellowstone River, trees mostly cottonwood and as we were taking all these new impressions in we both remarked at how scented the air was with the smells of the recently mowed hay. The air smelled sweet and fresh. I forgot we were following directions and kept driving and marveling at the landscape. The trees became sparser and the fields browner as we gained in elevation above the river until it looked like a bleak landscape of barren fields far above the Yellowstone. My wife said I don't like the looks of this. We stopped and realized we had driven several miles too far so we turned around and backtracked until we came to a gated entrance with a key pad. We punched in the code we had been given the gate swung open and we drove down a long gently curving road to the most impressive looking rural ranch house I have ever seen. My wife said with incredulity and hope in her voice "Are we staying here?"

On the way back home

2010-09-13T15:37:00.001-07:00

Heading home

On the way back home from Montana we were traveling I- 90 with the cruise control set at 75 mph and making good time. So good that when we got to Spokane the Palouse beckoned. Well, why not? We had a few days until the school year was starting and my wife did not have to be back to school just yet so we headed south. As we were exploring the backroads of the backroads we headed down to a section of the Palouse River past an old homestead and parked on a bridge over the river. I use a sketch book and a black marker for quick sketches and a black Staedtler pigment liner if I want more detail. My wife thinks I'm foolish. Why not just take a picture? I don't know. I like drawing and it helps to strengthen my drawing ability and that seems reasons enough. My wife however likes to have a camera along. As we were driving the road back from our stop at the river something started rolling down the hill right toward the car on the drivers side.

It startled me and I had surreal impression of a giant rabbit rolling end over end. The fatigue of driving can play with your mind but when the object came to a stop in the gully on the side of the road an embarrassed looking coyote got to it's feet and trotted off constantly looking back at our car until it was out of sight. I had stopped the car and we got out wondering what that was all about when on the left side of the car in the high straw colored grass there was a black head of a calf. It got up and trotted past us. An umbilical cord still dangling and the calf unsteady on it's feet.

Where was mama? Nowhere to be seen. The calf was probably on the menu for a hungry coyote until an intrusion on our part and a misstep on the coyotes part changed the course of events. The calf stopped to check out the car. No doubt the first one seen by this one. After a long look it trotted off somewhat unsteadily so we got back in the car and drove on.

The rich are different than you and me.

2010-09-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

I usually don't answer the door when I'm working in my studio but I was expecting UPS so when there was a knock, I opened the door. I was caught off guard by the image in front of me. It was an acquaintance of mine and a patron. He used to drop by every couple of years but I hadn't seen him in at least four. For a second or so I could not place him because I had never seen him not wearing a suit but then he spoke and I realized who it was and invited him in. He likes to drink wine so a bottle was opened but it was only noon so I stuck with coffee. He made his fortune with Microsoft, married well and then bought a lot of Google when they were saying it was priced too high and then sold close to the peak doubling his fortune. The last time I saw him was in the living room of a beautiful home on Lake Washington. The home he shared with his wife. The talk was around a Chihuly chandelier that had recently been installed as a kind of a center piece of the home. I felt a bit out of place as his wife introduced me to various people some who I already recognized from seeing them on TV and some whose names I was familiar with. Even one former rock star was making the rounds. The thought crossed my mind that these are not my people.

After he got his glass of wine and got comfortable I asked how his wife was. Oops! Recently divorced. "How did you make out"? I asked "Not too good" he replied. He took another sip of the wine and told me she had an iron tight prenup. I did not realize that his wife had her own fortune and his paled in comparison.

"Who got the chandelier?"

"It was her thing not mine. She bought most of the art work so she kept it and now she is designing a new house around the chandelier. She even got your paintings. I took the Japanese wood fired pottery I collected over the years. Nothing else I wanted really but now I need two or three of your larger pieces so my decorator to will know where we are heading after the build-out."

"What's a build-out" I asked.

"I bought a great penthouse downtown and the shell needs to be finished. The construction company I'm working with and the decorator are turning it into a livable space.

"You have to finish the space?"

"Yeah, why not"?

Okay, I can see things are done differently once you exceed a certain level of wealth.

"I just thought it would come with floors or appliances or something."

That response got me a strange look.

"Got to run but I wanted to make sure you were still here before I sent my decorator over."

I like someone who knows what they like but I had to say somewhat apologetically

"Yeah, but I don't have anything for sale right now. Everything you see is for the next show and I'm behind as it is."

He did not miss a beat.

"She will drop by tomorrow and give you a check. She needs a 20% discount so give it to her."

I have my own frustrations with making and selling art and the discount is one of them.

"Sorry I don't give discounts, I can't afford to."

He looked at me as if sizing me up to see if I could handle the truth.

"Look, my decorator is my girlfriend. I'm paying her. She will tell you what sizes she needs and we expect delivery in about 12 to 18 months. Give her the discount off the framed retail prices and you don't have to frame a thing. She will handle that end and I'll give you the run of my ranch in Montana for any two weeks in September. Make it happen".

So end of story. I should be driving back from Montana as you read this. I'm was half tempted to say no but my wife said we are going as she is on her summer break until mid September. Oh well. I always work better under pressure. Okay, not better but faster.

Wenatchee National Forest

2010-08-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

Wenatchee Forest Pines

monotype

5x4 inches

The Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forest encompasses more than 4-million acres in Washington State and stretches north to south from the Canadian border to the Goat Rocks Wilderness(southwest Washington State) a distance of about 180 miles. The forest lies east of the Cascade Crest, which defines its western boundary. The eastern edge of the forest extends into the Okanogan highlands, then south along the Okanogan and Columbia Rivers, and then to the Yakima River valley. Because of this wide geographic range, the forest is very diverse - from the high, glaciated alpine peaks along the Cascade Crest and the numerous mountain ranges extending eastward from the crest, through deep, lush valleys of old growth forest, to the dry and rugged shrub-steppe country at its eastern edge. Precipitation varies widely - from more than 70-inches along the crest to less than 10-inches at its eastern edge.

In the Wenatchee forest above Lake Chelan there are predominantly pine forests and numerous small lakes. As you snake your way on the forest service roads the farther in you go the more attention you need to pay to the road to avoid driving off into the steep ravines. The forest thins out dramatically as you gain elevation and even ground cover disappears. Having already driven a few miles past signs warning about road conditions and getting nervous about the increasingly narrow road with loose soft dirt and gravel I turned around at the first opportunity and headed back toward Lake Chelan stopping at the crest to look out at the series of other peaks and crests receding into the distance. Perhaps a 70 mile viewing range that day . The rattlesnakes can come out to sun themselves so you need to step carefully. I try to avoid the brush but it is not always possible once you are out of your car however I'm more concerned about ticks than rattlesnakes. Back in the car it was on through the thicker pine forest at the lower elevations before going off exploring the apple orchards.

Can't we all just get along? (part 2)

2010-08-24T09:10:00.000-07:00

Evening at the Edge of a Clearcut

5x4 inches

oil on panel

I'm was a bit confused now as the reference to being ELFfers escaped me but I knew it was not a good thing to be at the moment.

A short time before, my better half was letting me have it because I forgot her thermos of tea. Without her tea after eating she gets bent out of shape. Now it was a logger/cowboy. Well, the world has gone mad and everyone has a axe to grind and all I want to do is paint a few and sell a few and get along. All these thoughts were scrolling through my mind when all of a sudden my better half starts yelling "WHO ARE YOU?" Oh, oh here it comes. I know this one, I hear it all the time. It's her mantra or koan or some similar thing from her Buddhist practice. She yells it again, "WHO ARE YOU?" Then she adds the punch line. "YOU ARE NOTHING!" Then before I can grab her she charges right toward the logger/cowboy and said "I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!" She is as non violent as it gets but she does become a different person without her tea. She finished with a string of curses in her native tongue and stood there defiantly inches away from the logger/cowboy. All 5 feet four inches of her. One hundred ten pounds of fury without her tea. The logger/cowboy has a grin on his face and in a quiet voice asks "Do you want a cup of coffee?". It wasn't dark yet but it wasn't daytime either yet I could clearly see the tension leave her body and she quietly asked in reply "do you have any tea?" Don't you know it? He has tea! Unbelievable! I really want to move on but I can see this strange encounter is going to play out.

The small trailer is where this logger lives. He protects the equipment site from vandals and the more radical environmental groups active in disrupting clearcut logging operations after everyone goes home for the day. He gets paid a small addition to his paycheck and lives rent and utilities free and does not participate in the two hour/one way commute with five others in their version of a car pool. When everyone else goes back to home at the end of the day he stays at the site. A tidy trailer with a cot, a small table, the worlds smallest wood stove, a very small refrigerator, and a built in bookshelf with Nietzsche, Kant, Sartre, Hume and numerous other philosophers great and small and a great number of Buddhist writings and similar books of a spiritual bent. Not your old school logger type I guess. It was an interesting visit for a couple of hours to say the least but now it was deep forest dark and we had to get going. We left and eased down the logging road for a long drive in the dark. My better half was talking about the encounter with the logger/cowboy, how good the tea was, noting he was a really tidy person. "You see" she said. "He knew he was nothing". I was laughing so hard I started choking and finally had to stop the car to wipe the tears away.

Can't we all just get along?

2010-08-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

Clearcut

5x4 inches

monotype

A couple of years ago I was flying out of SeaTac on a clear, beautiful, early summer morning in Seattle. As the jet was flying above the foothills of the Cascades I was shocked to see the extent of the clear-cutting patchwork quilt covering the land. It was hard to wrap your mind around the acres and acres of the forest lands that have been harvested this way. The brown landscape of the newly logged patches intermixed with the bright green of young replanted forest interspersed with the dark green of the mature trees. Looked a bit brutal to say the least. I use wood products, have wood furniture, and wood floors. It has to come from somewhere so I don't think it's appropriate for me to start preaching here. It's a part of life and I will let the interested parties debate the pros and cons.

Recently we were driving Highway 2 heading into the foothills of the Cascades discussing the best town to turn off in to get on the secondary roads leading to the logging roads you find throughout the area. All road lead to Rome so to speak so you just drive until you find something promising. I know I don't like to get in a situation where it's after dark and your car is broken down on a logging road somewhere miles from nowhere so I take the prudent precautions but I go anyway. On this trip we had driven on a decent road that I took to be in current use and it took us deeper and deeper into the forest and past many previously logged areas with the replanted trees the size of Christmas trees. We drove and drove stopping along the way to look and walk around and even picnic with meal we packed. I had gathered enough impressions but really wanted to see what possibilities the fading summer evening light would bring. As we started to drive through one of the largest most recent clear cuts we had come across I could see above us the telltale signs of the rigging and machinery used in large scale logging operations. As we got out of the car at the end of the road a door of an old trailer that I assumed was an office of some sort opened and a man with a holstered single action pistol stepped out took a few steps and said very calmly "you with Earth First or one of the others?" I was thinking I'm with one of the others when he spoke again. "It don't really matter because I shoot all comers. Yea, you look more like ELFfers". I'm was a bit confused now as the reference to being ELFfers escaped me but I knew it was not a good thing to be at the moment.

To be continued....................

Island Time

2010-08-19T23:56:00.000-07:00

Evening Field in Island County

12x10 inches

oil on linen

It was a very wet spring in the Northwest this year and summer has consisted of very mild temperatures (milder than normal) with just a few days of really hot temps and the impacts have been felt throughout the region. Some of the flower farmers in King and Snohomish counties have described 2010 as the worst year ever and the produce crops are a month behind schedule. The blueberry and strawberry crops have had significant losses. It is a different year in the Northwest this season and a short trip to the locales I like on Whidbey Island presented different views this year. Many fields had not turned yellow or brown but remained green. The evening sun was not much in evidence and instead overcast skies were the norm during my visit giving a completely different experience this year. You have to make do with what you are presented. I'm used to the grey just not in the month of August. Well, September always holds promise. We will see.

Yakima

2010-08-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yakima Sunset

Monotype

5x4 inches

The city of Yakima in the state of Washington lies in the Yakima Valley situated southeast of Mount Rainier National Park. This is a major apple and hops producing region but wine vineyards are becoming an increasing part of the landscape as the valley becomes a major wine producing area with 12,000 acres in vineyards and over 50 wineries.

We took off in May for a mathematics conference being held in the city for math professors from around the state. No, not for me. My better half has the brains in this outfit and I just paint. During the day I would scout locations for possible subject matter and in the evening try to talk my better half into skipping the evening presentations and joining me to head back to the areas I think will have possibilities. I don't really like to paint the grandeur of nature in it's most intense forms but the monotype gives me the freedom to explore some scenes I would not typically paint. I decided after the first evening to stay away from any high vantage points because the sunsets looked too spectacular however the monotype somehow puts the spectacular in the proper perspective for my sensibilities. The monotype forces me to simplify in an extreme manner and to get to the heart of the scene. This in turn is helping my paintings in a way I did not anticipate when I started to explore the monotype.

Winter Willows

2010-08-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Nisqually Winter Willows

10x12 inches

Oil on linen on Panel

The Nisqually Valley in the winter is usually devoid of snow but on occasion the valley will have a combination of cold temps and storms blowing in off the Puget Sound bringing snow. The temperatures rarely reach into the single digits but with winds gusting off the sound you do not want to spend much time outside under those conditions. The excursion that resulted in this painting of winter willows was not long lived. It was just too cold to stay out long however the empty secondary roads and 4 wheel drive make it possible to sketch in peace with the heater on and the window down but even then it was too cold for comfort.

It takes months before I get around to processing sketches and impressions into paintings and as a studio painter it is not unusual to be painting fall and winter scenes in the summer and summer scenes in the winter but the process works for me and I'm comfortable with it.

Frame from Mountains Edge Frames

http://mountainsedgeframes.com/

Wheat Fields near Ritzville

2010-04-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

Evening near Ritzville

Ritzville is a town of about two thousand in Adams County in the state of Washington. It sits in the middle of wheat country and that means wheat fields in all directions as far as the eye can see. The eastern side of the state has some of the most productive of the wheat growing regions in the world and it is a sight to see when the fields are ready for harvest We were driving to Spokane and enjoying the scenery along the way and turned off in Ritzville to take a look at small town America and get something to eat and look around. I wanted to wait until after sunset to see what might be the possibilities with the fields and the skylight. About sunset we drove on and as we got out of sight of town the sky started to take on increasing interest but those fields are so immense they overwhelm everything. A wheat field and sky after sunset is just an abstract painting and not until I noticed a small grouping of trees on the horizon did I know I had my composition. I've been playing with the composition and may give it a go in oil on canvas after I have everything worked out in my mind. I'll take my time and can wait until the painting takes form and is ready for the the canvas.

Gray Days

2010-03-05T14:56:00.000-08:00

Morning Hay Meadow near Arlington
10"x12"
John W Stinson C.2010

Arlington is a small town situated in the Stillaguamish Valley at the junction of the North and South Forks of the Stillaguamish River at the base of the Cascade Range. It is north of Seattle and I frequently pass nearby on the interstate or on hwy 9 on my way to somewhere else. Being close to the Cascades it's an ideal starting point for adventuring out to observe the landscape. The town has close to 15,000 residents but the congestion of the town quickly dissipates and it is soon cows and small farms intermixed with rural housing.

The painting is of a small hay meadow that was tucked away and we came across it as we walked a mile or so down a country road just a short distance outside of town. The morning fog had lifted but this was going to remain a typical gray day in the Northwest. After a few hours of exploration in the area we headed deeper into the Cascades but when the clouds descended and the rain started we turned around and headed for home.

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The Monotype Revisited

2009-12-22T10:47:00.000-08:00

Fall Evening on the Snohomish

5"x4"

John W Stinson C.2009

I have enough time and energy devoted to the monotype as it applies to the landscape to have more insights to the process. I originally thought it would be a good method for doing quick studies and experiments in relationship to oil paintings and it is, however I have come to see the monotype as a complete method in itself and hope to spend more time experimenting with the process.

The results have not been consistent during the learning process and the reasons vary.The Akua inks have different characteristics in how they print on paper. The thickness of the ink painted on the plate factors in and paper absorbency differs between brands and types within brands. Even what is used for a release agent makes a difference. The darker images seem to be more suitable for single plates and the lighter (daytime) images have come out best with multiple plates. Multiple plates have to be registered properly and I have finally found a process that works for me. The method I like and have been using effectively is to run the plate all the way through the press and then back again just shy of the paper starting point of the paper feed so the rollers hold the paper and felts in place. The felts along with the paper are lifted off the plate. I position a heavy square scale weight along the top and the two sides of the plate before sliding the first plate carefully out. The image that is left on the plate is the guide for where you paint the next layer on the plate before carefully sliding the plate back into position between the weights and then easing the paper and the felts back on the plate after removing the weights for another run through the press. It can be a messy process and I've found a little care and caution go a long way. Some papers achieve an almost total coverage with no ink gaps in the finished image while other papers will not print the image without some gaps in the printed image. That is not necessarily an undesired effect and can enhance the finished print in my opinion. What you use for a release agent will change your results. I started out using Akua transparent base as a release agent and when I finally used the release agent Akua makes the results were not as good. The second and third plates are run thru the press with a quarter turn less pressure that the plate before it and that seems to help. I have found that letting the ink dry for a day between plates works better than running the next plate right away. It all depends. It seems there are so many variables that I have been keeping a notebook of observations of what I did and what the results were.One specific item of note is that Hahnemuhle Copperplate Etching Paper, 300 gsm Warm White, absorbs all the ink off the plate and I mean all! There is not even a ghost print left on the plate. I have just started to use this paper so there will be a learning curve with it, Most of the monotypes I've pulled so far have been with Arches paper and it does not absorb nearly as well however I like the finished prints especially how it handles multiple plates. No absorbing all the ink of the plate is important if you need the ghost image on the plate as a guide for multiple plates.

I have also been working on etchings in a trial and error process an though I am having some success this is going to be taking some more time to get images looking the way I want before revealing any results. I am keeping the efforts confined to small plates. When I have something worth sharing you will see it here first!

Comments and feedback welcome!

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Snohomish

2009-10-18T04:22:00.000-07:00

Snohomish River Sunset

John W Stinson C.2009

Monotype 5"x4"

The Snohomish River in Washington State is formed by the confluence of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers near Monroe WA. It flows northwest entering Port Gardner Bay which is a part of Puget Sound. As part of the Snoqualmie/Skykomish/Snohomish watershed it drains a large chunk of the Cascade Range from the Snoqualmie Pass to North of Stevens Pass and as a result can be subject to significant flooding at various times in the winter and spring.Flooding was not on my mind in early October as I wandered around the town of Snohomish however. Antique shopping was not on my mind either but we were wandering around the old stores calling themselves antique shops but looking like what used to be called junk shops twenty five years ago. Interesting stuff to be sure regardless of the label you attach to it. I found the toys from the past the most interesting but have enough junk of my own and did not feel a need to collect any more. The historic district downtown is another look into the past and the town has transformed itself into a destination calling itself the antique capital of the northwest and with antique shops,art galleries, historic homes and plenty of restaurants and of course the river. It makes for an enjoyable afternoon. It was down to the river for the sunset. The river in early October is a peaceful experience and with the sun setting the ordinary gets transformed into the majestic.Having captured the feel it was back to the car and the drive to Seattle for some time in the studio.

Comments and feedback welcome!

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The Nooksack River

2009-08-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

Summer Evening on the Nooksack
John W Stinson C.2008The Nooksack River in Washington State is about 75 miles long. It drains an area of the Cascade Range in and around Mt. Baker. The lower river flows through a fertile agricultural area before emptying into Bellingham Bay and, via the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia, the Pacific Ocean. The town of Everson sits in the foothills of the Cascades and is situated along the Nooksack. After an afternoon of travel along Highway 9 as far as the Canadian border we stopped in Everson to rest and eat a picnic dinner at a riverside park in town. We walked down to the river afterward. Summer evenings are a favorite time and I like a stretch of river bank you can have to yourself to take in the scene. A view I would have over looked in the daytime comes into focus after sunset in the summer with the sky still bright with diffused light and the contrasts maximized. You have to develop tunnel vision to a certain extent to find a successful composition. The landscape itself is too large and your focus needs to narrow and be contained in order to find the scene that should be painted. Summer Evening on the Nooksack is a good example of that.

Comments and feedback welcome!

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Progress

2009-07-26T04:09:00.000-07:00

Summer in the Nisqually Delta
John W Stinson C.2009

The Nisqually River Delta located south of Seattle in the southern Puget Sound region was a victim of progress over 100 years ago as the tide lands were diked and the land was put to agricultural uses. The natural estuary ecology was disrupted and farming the land was the rule of the day. The former Brown's farm was sold to the U.S. government and turned into a National Wildlife Refuge in 1974 and a trail established that was open to the public and the Refuge has been a popular area for bird watching and wildlife observation ever since. Twin barns from the days as a strictly agricultural area remain and is a popular focal point for landscape painters and photographers and adds to the rural atmosphere. But the times change and now progress is underway again. The reclamation of the land to return it to a natural part of the Nisqually River Delta with the estuary and tide flats is underway. The 5.5 mile walking loop has been permanently closed and the existing dikes breached and new ones built in an attempt return the area to the natural cycle existing before the land was diked and tamed.
I'm going to miss the trail that was closed as it offered a very diverse mix of wet lands, salt and fresh water marshes, grasslands and mixed species forest to use for landscape paintings unique to the Northwest. Much of what is considered progress today is undoing the progress of the past and that is perhaps as it should be. There is a one mile trail that has been left for the bird watchers and nature lovers and I'm waiting to see what the experience will be. I'll give it a while before I venture that way but I am curious to see how the deconstruction goes and how successful the efforts are as they take place over the next few years One thing for certain is new paintings will emerge as I reorient myself to the changed landscape experience there.

http://nisquallydeltarestoration.org/