I left this image fairly large on the web server, so if you click it you can see some details.
For the past few weeks I’ve been plodding along with this painting on the same studio wall right next to the Florida mural. That’s my home these days, second floor of Union Bank in Port Townsend. Now, with the Florida-thing more or less finished, I’m on to this like our Harry Cat is on bonito flakes – and I’m closing in.
This painting is far enough along that I thought I could put a photo of it in the plan specs to see how it might look. The building is 24′ wide, 12′ high. The blue lines below represent where a glass cabinet will go, which might show you how big this thing will be when it’s installed.
The scene is Portland Oregon looking east from about 3 miles up. That’s downtown right in the middle, the Columbia Gorge on the left, Willamette River snaking across from the right. When finished, this will be printed on high-pressure laminate panels and installed in a new visitor center at Powell Butte (right in the middle of the painting) where a big water-works project is taking shape. I’m working with Sea Reach from Sheridan on this, the same good folks I did the Mt Saint Helens paintings for two years ago. The idea is to show the Bull Run watershed near Mt Hood where Portland gets its water – with a delightful airplane view of the entire area. It’s been a challenge to figure out – to say the least. What DOES this place look like from 3 miles up? I’ve flown over it enough on commercial jets to sort of know how it might ‘feel’, but it’s still been tough to figure out. And this IS a painting, afterall, and not a photograph, so I’ve had to understand how reality translates into little dabs and dashes of paint. Am I getting it? Stay tuned for the final edition and I’ll let you know what they say.
Here’s my preliminary sketch. Sure looks different from how it’s looking now, don’t you think?
Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert
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