A second painting of the current five, funded by the Orca Recovery Plan for Washington State. This one is about the same watershed in Everett, WA as the last painting, but focuses on the way this little forest cleaned the water that runs through it. Just a 100 yards west from this location, the creek flows into Puget Sound, cleaner than when it was up in the urban city above it. Clean water helps orcas, salmon and the entire ecosystem, the the forest does this naturally, no help from us except to leave it alone.

And here’s the initial sketch, showing some of the areas where text will go. It’s simply a way to get started. I’ll show you the other three soon.

Change of pace: Fall  hiking and finding wildness.

While painting is my passion, so is hiking wild places. Always has been, all the way back to when I had to hold someone else’s hand to stay upright. So, that’s 70 years of looking for wild nature, and it’s still as important as it’s always been for my life, spirituality and sense of being who I am. We hiked a 5-mile out and back yesterday and returned feeling refreshed and with memories that stayed with me through the night – and right here on this page.

This collection of big-leaf maple leaves and probably one of the Psilocybe mushrooms is, for me, what a wild place is all about. It doesn’t have to be way out there (but that helps), alpine scree or giant mountains, but it’s more about finding places that haven’t been recently altered by humans. Just a small place will do, where leaves and the fall crop of fungi can make the place very special for me.

I may be in my 70’s, but these places just don’t get stale, don’t loose their thrill of absorbing the peace and well-being that nature brings. I’d like it very much if this short little essay resulted in a few more people out there, but if the trail is lonely, so much the better for us!

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

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Click here to go to our main website – with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.