Aimee's View Today

5x7 inches

Crocuses #3

7x5 inches

Saturday's was #2.  #1 is not to be seen here. Another try yesterday.  I just can't get the color right.

Crocuses

6x3.3 inches

 I've enjoyed the crocuses for the last week and went out yesterday afternoon and made a very poor attempt at painting them.   Today, I dug some up and brought them inside and did this one.  I might try again tomorrow.

Sandhill Cranes

4x5.5 inches

Huge flocks of sandhill cranes have been coming through.  Gustavus is a stop off point for the Pacific flyway population of about 25,000 birds.  I drew these from a photo I took on Wednesday.

Here is a photo of just a small portion of one flock.  I love their sound and wish I had recorded it.

Another Willow

7x5

 This is from a taller more tree-like willow than the more common barclay willow.  I think it might be a Pacific willow.

Swans

 There were nine swans at the Airport Lake this afternoon.  I got close enough to start a sketch from my car, but it started raining.  I finished at home with a photo.

SE Wind

 

 

 

 

 

 

7x5 inches

Wind and rain today.  Hoping for better weather tomorrow.

Pussy Willow

6x5x3

 The willow are starting to show life.  Salix Barclayi is the most common willow here.  Painted with gouache on nidiggen paper.

Spruce at the Beach, Again

5x7 inches

 I keep painting the same spruce year after year.  There are a lot of others there, but the ones that get painted the most are the ones I can paint from my car without driving off the road...... I detest the ruts that vehicles make on the beach. Painted yesterday afternoon on Arches Cover paper which I'm finding quite good for watercolor.

The Cottonwood

7x5 inches

There are seveal cottonwood trees around our house, but this one we call THE cottonwood.  I drew it with a fountain pen and didn't add much color as the ink is water soluble.

Catching Up

4.6x3 inches

With all the nice weather, I've gotten behind on scanning and posting.  This one I did on Monday,   I got a little closer to the willows.

5.5x5 inches

 This one I started last Friday afternoon on the Good River and quit after some cold wind came my way.  I went back yesterday and finished.  It was over cast Friday and cloudless blue sky yesterday and the tide was higher, but left it overcast.

7x5 inches

 Today, I visited a neighbor and painted this while enjoying tea and cookies and watching rain drops come off the roof.  I don't know why this spruce is so much lighter in pigment than the others around.

Yet Another

4x4

This one I did on Sunday, from the window.  I keep trying.

The Duck Pond

5x7 inches

 Saturday afternoon,  Kathy Hocker and I went to the duck pond with our art bags, hoping to paint some swans.  They were quite far away and seemed skittish, so Kathy painted tree trunks and I painted a landscape.  The light kept changing, I couldn't get my stool on a flat place, I dumped my water twice and ants were crawling on me.  But it was still very enjoyable.

View Out the Kitchen Window

6x4

 Once more, the view out the kitchen window.  It looks so different each time.  I started this yesterday at about 4:30 then stopped to fix dinner and finished this morning and had to darken up things, though sky looks the same.   A bit of rain this morning.  I hope to get outside later to paint.

Cottonwood from the South

7x5 inches

  I see this cottonwood everyday from my south facing window and I've sketched and painted it several times from the house..  Today it was sunny again and I sketched it from the other side, looking towards the house.  I think this tree is due for an oil painting before it buds out.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  There are still patches of snow in the woods, but it was quite comfortable outside this afternoon.

From the Smoke House Balcony

Rain this morning.  These were done this afternoon from the Smokehouse balcony.  It was warm enough to be comfortable with my coat and hat, but moisture in the air made drying slow.  I decided to start a second one while waiting for the first to dry, but went back into both of them too soon and lost edges and made mud.

Salmon River Bridge

6x4

 The Salmon River Bridge yesterday afternoon from across from the City Hall.  It was a beautiful day, not one to be inside.

Hemlock and Blueberry

7x5

 Yesterday, I went into the woods north of our house to  get a few blueberry branches.  I've put them in a vase and will enjoy watching the leaves buds open. A couple of small hemlocks along the ditch were discovered.  I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to just draw plants...another page for my Sketchbook Project book on Nidiggen paper.

The Wonegon

4x6 inches

After a walk, I stopped along the Salmon River and drew the wonegon with a pencil, came home and painted it.  I didn't have my paints but glad I at least had paper and pencil.   It was another bright warm day, but the sky was hazy.

The wonegon is a float house from a logging camp and once was a house of ill repute.  It was brought up on the beach along the river years ago and with the land rise, its high and dry now.

Wayne and Kim's View 2

7x10 inches

 This is a second painting that I did yesterday.  I went back and worked on them both today. Much better now.  This  one will be a two-page spread  in my Sketchbook Project book.

Wayne and Kim's View

4x6 inches

This is one of my favorite views to paint, and I have done so quite often, sometimes from a window but this time sitting on the porch.   Sun kept me warm enough for a while, but by the time I'd finished, I was quite cold.

No Particular Place

6x4

This was a try to paint the little clouds which I want to put in a larger painting.  No particular place, bu the left mountain looks like Crillion.