Trip to Seattle and Florida, Part 1

 

I got back from my almost three week trip to Seattle and Florida late Friday.  I painted this boat in the boatyard from the ferry while stopped in Hoonah  on the way to Juneau on the  first leg of my trip on Monday, October 22.  I spent the night in Juneau before flying to Seattle on the next day where I spent three days, mostly with appointments at Virginia Mason Hospital.  I didn't even pick up a paint brush, the longest I've gone since February without painting.

I  did draw these at Seatac while waiting for my flight to Orlando.

From the Past

 

I was in Seattle for much of this past week mostly with medical appointments, and came to Florida yesterday to visit with family and now I have some time to catch up.

 This is the longest I've gone more than two days without a watercolor postcard since February of this year.  I had done only one little watercolor last week, from the ferry on the way to Juneau on Monday. I did do a couple of pen and ink sketches while in Seattle and perhaps I will do some watercolor on the sketches and won't feel so bad.

The above was done a week ago, visiting a friend at her home before I left town.

I was surprised to fine this poppy in bloom week before last considering all the freezing we've had.

I planted the seedling that a friend gave me of this hollyhock in a pot and brought it in the house when it started getting cold and painted it the week before last.  When I left home last week there were over 25 bloom on it.

There are a few more postcards that I did before leaving home, but I failed to scan them.  Here are a couple that I just found scans of that I had forgotten to post in September.

It was an overcast day when I did these from a photograph.  I used some while gouache, wet in wet on the second one which I like  better.

Mountain Ash

 The sun came out on Wednesday and the mountain ash glowed.

Gray Days

We haven't seen much but gray skys for the last few days.  There was very heavy rain over the weekend.  This was painted at Susan and Lil's house on the Salmon River on Friday on gray paper.

Another Accordian Book

I had started this little book last year with the first page and finished with some more colorful leaves and berries.  I'll put a cover on it soon.

End of Fall

Fall is coming to a close, so I'd best get these posted before fall turns to winter.  There is already new snow in the Chilkats.  This first one is once again the willow south of the house from my studio window, painted on Tuesday.  I used some gouache.

I did this one on Wednesday, with Kathy and Ellie from Aimee's landing on the Salmon River, looking across to the Howe cabin.  The next morning, Thursday, there was snow on the far mountains which are east of Excursion Inlet.  The closer mountains, Excursion Ridge are west (our side) of the inlet.  It appears, now, that I exaggerated the color in the cottonwood.

This was from a photo I took on Wednesday.  It is Howe's new house, just down river from the cabin.

Again, my default subject, willow south of the house.  This time I was trying for something a little different with irridescent paint, but it doesn't show here.

Yesterday, I spent a pleasant afternoon painting with Ellie at her lovely
 home.  This was a view of Charlie's house  from her upstairs studio where she creates exquisite quilts. 

Accordian Book

about 3.5x3 inches

 Since I have been doing my sketches and all my  little watercolors lately as postcards, I've been missing making and painting in books, so a couple of weeks ago, I made some little accordion books and did some of my daily paintings in them.  They are smaller than my more postcard-size paintings.

This is of flowers that were still in the garden and in the sunroom before the first hard freeze and I limited it to red and pink..... the nasturtium is more red than orange.

The cover is made from paper that I decorated with acrylic and hand carved blocks.   

Good River

 
I visited a friend on Good River earlier this week and painted most of this before it started raining, then finished it inside with a visit with tea and cookies.

 This one got started outside too, and finished the next day.

Excursion Ridge

This one got lost and found.  I painted from the beach a couple of weeks ago while parked looking across to Excursion Ridge and the mountains across the inlet.  I left out the tank farm fence in the foreground.

Bear in a Tree

A sow and cub and several other black bears have been visiting regularly much of the summer.  On Wednesday, the cub climbed one of the mountain ash trees while the sow reached for limbs.  The sow has a pretty bad limp and we are pretty sure this is the same on that had two cubs earlier.  There seem to be a lot more bears this year, both black and brown.  I've been reluctant to paint outside much and carry my bear spray when I do.

It was hard to see the cub in the tree. 

The Kitten

This old troller is up the slough at the boat harbor.  Clear weather continues and the cottonwood are turning yellow. 

Hard Freeze

 We woke up yesterday morning to see the sunflowers drooping from the first heavy frost this fall.  We had watched it grow all summer as it had reached the top of the over 10' stake and develop and begin to lose petals.  It is drooping even more today.  I'm glad I painted it yesterday.

And this I painted from a photo I took of it soon after it opened.

Flight Seeing

Last Sunday,  September 9,  I had a spur of the minute invitation to go flight seeing over Glacier Bay.  It was amazingly beautiful.  We left at about 5, flew out to Icy Strait then up the bay to the Brady ice field and along the Fairweather Range and over the west arm and back to Gustavus., an hour in all.

The above are from photos I took as we flew along Mount Bertha and  Crillion, part of the Fairweather Range. We were   amazed by how little snow pack there was compared to previous years.

 

Flowers in the Sunroom

 

 This was one of the last begonia blooms in the sun room.

The petunias are still going strong.

This I painted quickly along the road to Chris and Dave's house,

 and this from a photo yesterday.   I like the trees in the first one but the forground in the second one best.

Playing with Salt

 This was cropped from a larger piece.  I love what the salt did.  I'm out of my  comfort zone working wet on wet, but like the way this one turned out. 

This one, not so much.  I was going to be about the sky, then I started on the trees...

Most of the fireweed are turning brownish, but this one alone the shaded road to our house really caught my eye.

More from the Beach

 This is a group of trees towards the river from the road from a photo when the fireweed were still pink.

I only had a red pen  to draw with when I painted this from my car, looking towards Pleasant Island.

Back to the Beach

Yesterday afternoon at the beach, sitting on the bench looking towards Ancon.

Mammoth Sunflower

 A friend gave this sunflower to me in a little pot in April.  It has been fun watching it grow.  The stake is 12' with about a foot in the ground.  We're hoping the bloom opens before a freeze kills it.

Caught up

 I think I've caught up with scanning and now I have nine postcards to post.  This of peppers I grew in my studio window and a couple of garlic scapes from the garden.

At the beach last week.  The fireweed aren't pink anymore.  So I used Quinochrodine rose instead of Opera pink to paint these.

This is part of the Bear Track  mountains. seen from the beach on the same day.

And this on the same day, waiting for the others to dry.

Both of these from  photos taken from the kitchen window on the morning of the 21 as fog was lifting.  The color was off in the photo..... trees are still definitely green---- and I probably was feeling fall in the air, as it had been in the hight 30s earlier that morning.

These two I painted on rainy days, from photos taken up bay.  I'm not sure which glacier this is.

I painted the sky with half moon on July 22 and finished last week, a view from my kitchen window. There was smoke from wild fires which made for the unusual sky.