Landscape Painting at Anderson Lake!

Yes, me painting! It was supposed to be the cloudy day but was actually very hot!

My friend Sharon Schlentner painting at the same location!

 

I got up at the crack of dawn to paint a pink hued sunrise but got fog!

Landscape painting is always a surprise. Here is what the sky looked like! Grey!

Morning sky from Port Hadlock, Washington, photo by A. Lawson, 9/13

 

Frozen Plein Air on Marrowstone Island

Now that I have recovered from my broken ankle and am more mobile, I was determined to do some early morning landscape painting. My adventurous friend Beverly Michaelson joined me early one morning in February in what turned out to be 28 degree weather. We appeared by the side of the road looking like rotund elves topped with paint spattered smocks. Painting as fast as we could between sips of quickly cooling hot tea, we managed to capture some of the early morning light over Marrowstone Island's waterways. Here are some of our results. My smaller study and Beverly's landscape.

Painting With Twigs, Hoh River

I swam in the river, dried off and sat on the perfect log. I always feel different, more a part of the landscape after swimming.The view overlooked the turn in the river, mountains behind, each silhouette a different shade of green and blue sky. I dab new colors, manganese and cerulean blue on my palette. Ahh, I was so inspired. I looked in my bag. My carefully packed brushes, one pointy, one flat were not actually carefully packed. They were not there. I looked around. Several different types of fluffy weeds and leaves grew by the log. I tried a sprig. The first disintegrated. I tried another style of weed. Eventually I painted this landscape with fingers, weeds and twigs. The act of creativity and observation makes me feel at one with the land, the way swimming does. The picture wasn't the fabulous depiction of the scene I had at first envisioned but I like the scratchstrokes and the energy of the marks. I thought about being satisfied with the experience of sitting in the wilderness just being part of it.