All posts by Brush Man

With more art in America's National Parks than any other artist.
Backpacking, Hiking, National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Royal Lake – Olympic National Park – oil on canvas

Royal Lake is an oil on canvas painting, now available. The canvas is 18″ x 24″, with the silver frame as you see it making it approximately 23″ x 29″. It’s now available. I’m offering it with the frame.

Where is this place?

Royal Basin is in the upper Dungeness River Valley, and Royal Lake is exactly 25 air miles from where I write this in my studio – but it will take you a long day to get there. The lake is surrounded by some of the highest peaks in the Olympic Mountains, seven of them and maybe more. I’ve been there to enjoy it many times. What makes this different is that just above the lake the valley broadens out into a plateau where three glaciers once lived. With little cirque lakes, colorful heather meadows and meandering trails – all of it is above treeline. Sit on the rocks above a tarn there and one can hear the Mt Deception glacier towering above you, as it breaks off chunks of ice and rocks, cascading it all into the valley floor below. It’s a place of great beauty. But below, two meadows down, Royal Lake is another, softer world.

This painting is $1300 with the silver frame you see here. It’s not a cheapy, but a quality gallery frame. Shipping is extra but boxing is included. Outside framed measurements are about 23″ x 29″. It was painted with oil on canvas and varnished. If you’re interested, or want it without the frame for a lower price, or just want to communicate, write me at larryeifert@gmail.com

Above is the back of the frame showing the canvas – and a small part of my messy studio. As someone once said “a clean studio is the sign of a unclean mind!” And possibly the reverse might be true as well.

Below: here I am, solo hiking in those same meadows.

This is a link to our new Esty store online with some of the available originals.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/EifertGallery

Thanks for reading this week. You can sign up for emails for these posts on my website at larryeifert.com.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

And Instagram is here.

Click here to go to our main website and see my other original paintings currently for sale:

https://larryeifert.com/wordpress/current-originals-for-sale/

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Small oil studies, Wildlife

Small Oils Volume 5

These are my most recent oil studies, all painted in the past couple of weeks. They’re on canvas board and varnished. Painting sizes are all the same, 5″x7″. The outside frames measure 7″x9″. They are all framed as you see them here.

Chickadee in the Rose Hips framed Sorry, this is sold.
Chestnut-backed Chickadee in the Nootka Rose Hips Sold

Walking on a local trail here in Port Townsend, I became sort of lost in the masses of rose hips on the Nootka roses I was passing. Amazing colors this time of year, and in places the branches are starting to turn purplish red with spring flush of juice showing spring is close! When I got back in the studio I started playing around with some samples I broke off. Two of these paintings came from that.

Bewicks Wren on the Lichen Branch framed
Bewick’s Wren on the Lichen Branch
The Trail Past Grand Lake framed

This is a trail I’ve been on many times! It leads the hiker up past Royal Lake and into an alpine zone truly sensational to see. Surrounded by some of the tallest peaks in the Olympic Mountains, I have wandered here wishing I’d just become a marmot so I wouldn’t have to leave. I tend to paint these trail images from memory, usually in winter when I can’t get there physically.

The Trail Past Royal Lake, Olympic National Park (just 24 miles from my studio).
Downy Woodpecker on Douglas-fir framed

These little woodpeckers, only 6″ long and less than an ounce in weight are different here than in the Eastern forests. They’re darker, less pure white, but it varies. They make great painterly subjects because the darker whites seem to change a bit with the seasons. This one was on the Douglas-fir right outside our studio porch. Those are little wisps of old-man’s beard lichen in the upper corner.

Downy Woodpecker on Douglas-fir
Black-tailed Deer behind the Winter Rose Hips framed
Black-tailed Deer behind the Rose Hips

These are priced like the others at $95 each, framed. Shipping will be USPS and will add a bit more, but the cost of shipping is fairly low. Email me if you’re interested in knowing more. larryeifert@gmail.com

You might have missed the other posts of these little oils, but I’ve been doing these to test different mixes of medium, linseed oil, thinner and dries like cobalt and Liquin. I’m still not ‘there’ yet with it, but making these have been very fun for me – and painting for so many decades now, I find it amazing this can still feel fresh and alive to see them appear on the canvas.

Here’s a link to the few others that are still unsold. https://larryeifert.com/wordpress/current-originals-for-sale/

Thanks for reading this week. You can sign up for emails for these posts on my website at larryeifert.com.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

And Instagram is here.

Click here to go to our main website and see my other original paintings currently for sale:

https://larryeifert.com/wordpress/current-originals-for-sale/

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Western Sandpipers – A Camouflaged Migration original oil

Western Sandpipers – Northern Migration is an oil on canvas painting, now available. The canvas is 18″ x 24″, with the silver frame as you see it making it approximately 24″ x 30″. It’s now available. I have other frame options for this as well.

I’ve had my sights on this painting idea for awhile. In fact, since I had my canoe along the Port Townsend shoreline a few months ago. I was paddling peacefully along and suddenly, right in front of me and within about 15 feet, a cloud of little brown sandpipers erupted off the beach – scaring the heck out of me. It was actually a wonderful experience, and I tucked that memory away for later. And, here’s the experience a second before they all flew.

These birds change colors from their summer arctic feather colors and patterns to much brighter colors to attract a mate. A few months later when fall comes around, they head south for the winter and change again to dull brown, grayish white and many other shades for camouflage to hide against overhead predators such as hawks and eagles. It also makes them almost invisible to paddlers like me!

And so, I made the painting with that in mind. Not obviously bright-colored birds, no brash and colorful wildlife, just a real experience I had seeing about 30 birds very close-up. It’s a believable experience, I hope, as you run your eyes around the canvas counting birds.

Here’s an early photo of my process with this painting with a working frame I use as I go along. You can see the progress of working out the design, adding the birds and shells. The big log in the background hasn’t been figured out yet.

This painting is $1300 with the silver frame you see at the top. Shipping is extra but boxing is included. Outside framed measurements are about 24″ x 30″. Oil on canvas and varnished. If you’re interested, or just want to communicate, write me at larryeifert@gmail.com

And below is the boat I used for the sandpiper experience – I built it last year!

Thanks for reading this week. You can sign up for emails for these posts on my website at larryeifert.com.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

And Instagram is here.

Click here to go to our main website and see my other original paintings currently for sale:

https://larryeifert.com/wordpress/current-originals-for-sale/

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Small oil studies, Wildlife

Small Oil Paintings Vol 4

Here are five more of my little oil studies – and all are available at the moment. Drop me an email at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested in purchasing them, or would like to see some of the others I haven’t posted yet. They’re all on linen canvas board, 5″x7″ and the framed outside measurements are 7″ x 9″. Shipping isn’t much as they’re small paintings. Email me if you’d like to know more about any of these: larryeifert@gmail.com Think Valentine’s Day!

Bewick’s Wren framed Sorry, it’s sold

Bewick’s Wrens are classic LBJs (little brown jobs) that I see right outside my studio window. That upright long cocked tail with the spots is a giveaway to which wren it is. The branch is a twig I brought in to the studio so I could have a first-hand model. Framed: $95 and available.

Bewick’s Wren oil on canvas Sorry, it’s sold

Bufflehead portrait framed

From a distance, I don’t often see the crazy iridescence on these beautiful birds, but walking recently on the local section of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (not two miles from our place here), one popped up next to shore and I could see the rainbow colors on the bird’s head. So, I made a painting of the experience. Bufflehead portrait is available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Bufflehead portrait oil on canvas board

Chestnut-backed Chickadee framed Sorry, it’s sold

Chestnut-backed Chickadees are the true Northwest Coast’s own chickadee species. There are others here, but this one is only here along the west-edge forests that have these reddish to brown needles, tree lichens and leaves, so it really blends in well here. I paint them often. This chickadee painting is available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, framed for $95.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee oil on canvas board Sorry, it’s sold

Douglas Squirrel framed

Douglas Squirrels, also red squirrel or chickaree is the Western forest squirrel in its various forms. In the Puget Sound lowlands, it’s called Douglas Squirrel after David Douglas, discoverer of maybe other things like Douglas-fir. He’s one of my heros, getting constantly lost and having the Indians save him. This little squirrel is fearless, and several of ours have allowed me close contact. They’re good at breaking into our studio’s shingled roof attic and yelling at the house cat.

I painted this from a photo I took of the rascal! It’s available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, framed for $95.

Douglas Squirrel oil on canvas board
Dark-eyed Junco on Queen Anne’s Lace framed

Dark-eyed Juncos are all over our place here, and recently one crashed into a window thinking it was a pathway to another part of the forest. So, this is a homage to that bird. Maybe you will live on, memorialized on a wall somewhere, little friend. They’re beautiful and subtle little birds. I’ve painted these guys many times. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Dark-eyed Junco on Queen Anne’s Lace oil on canvas board

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

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.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Small Oil Paintings Vol 3

These are more of my little oil studies – and all are available. Drop me an email at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested, or would like to see some of the others I haven’t posted yet. They’re all on linen canvas board, 5″x7″ and the framed outside measurements are 7″ x 9″. Shipping isn’t much as they’re small paintings. Email me if you’d like to talk about any of these: larryeifert@gmail.com Think Valentine’s Day!

Wintering Ruddy Turnstone framed

Ruddy Turnstones are along most of our home bay’s shorelines now. In summer, they’re very spectacular in feather colors, but winter feathers are more subdued. Actually, I prefer them this way right now. Framed: $95 and available.

Wintering Ruddy Turnstone oil on canvas

Below: Golden-crowned Kinglet is available. These tiny birds are really fun to paint. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Golden-crowned Kinglet framed – Sorry, it’s sold

Golden-crowned Kinglet is available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Golden-crowned Kinglet oil on canvas SORRY, IT’S SOLD

Varied Thrush is really common here and I paint them often. Same family as the American Robin except they like deep forest instead of lawns. It’s available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, framed for $95.

Varied Thrush framed Sorry, this painting is sold.
Varied Thrush oil on canvas Sorry, this painting is sold.

Swainson’s Thrush is also really common here in summer, but they arrive in late Spring. I painted this from a photo I took of one on our little pond and can you blame me for wanting to paint a summer bird? Another deep forest bird that is currently in Mexico, where I should be, too. It’s available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, framed for $95.

Swainson’s Thrush framed
Swainson’s Thrush oil on canvas
Olympic Chipmunk framed Sorry, it’s sold.

This last one is of an Olympic Chipmunk, only found right here (well, up the hill from us in Olympic National Park near treeline). They’re endemic to the Olympic Peninsula. I’ve painted these little guys many times. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Olympic Chipmunk oil on canvas Sorry, it’s sold.

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

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.

Hiking, Interpretive Art, National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Dipper Flying Home – a new painting

American Dipper Flying Home is an original oil painting – not even varnished yet. It tells the story of a little flying dipper flying into a big waterfall, high in the Olympic Mountains of Washington.

This is an 18″ x 24″ oil on canvas, and it is now available. The frame in the photo comes with it but we have other choices – I just really like how the frame colors fit with this painting. Outside measurements are about 24″ x 30″. We can ship this at cost, double-boxed and ready to hang. Email me at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested in more information. The framed price is $1300.

For those who don’t know about these interesting little birds – dippers, here’s a short essay about them. Also known as Water Ousels (East Coast), they make their living completely dependent on cold, clear mountain streams. They lives are entirely connected to these streams and they don’t migrate – even in winter. They even nest behind waterfalls in mossy wet pockets they build.

Dippers were John Muir’s favorite bird, and maybe mine, too. (their name is because they tend to bob up and down as they stand on rocks) The young birds are wet from birth from the constant cold spray of snowmelt water. The parents teach them the routine by diving in, then ‘walking’ underwater, kicking over stones searching for insects and larva. They use their wings outstretched to hold them down in the current. Dippers never leave their streams, and if a tight river bend means a brief flying detour over land, they, instead, fly the long way around the curve to stay connected to their water-home. It’s the very definition of wilderness I’ve always been drawn to and love to paint.

Below is my photo of Royal Falls, one of the sources of the Dungeness River and a major reference for this painting. Royal Falls is high in Olympic National Park, but only about 25 air-miles from where I write this in my studio. The Dungeness is one of the steepest watersheds in the country, dropping over 7000 feet in just 28 miles.

A dipping American Dipper at Tunnel Creek, Olympic National Forest.

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

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.

National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Northern Spotted Owl original oil painting

This painting is sold!

Northern Spotted Owl: This is an 18″ x 24″ oil on canvas that is now available. The frame comes with it but we have other choices – I just really like the frame colors with this painting. Outside measurements are about 24″ x 30″. We can ship this at cost, double-boxed and ready to hang. Email me at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested in more information. The framed price is $1300.

And here’s just the painting. Through the years, I’ve painted other images of spotted owls, several for Redwood National Park, but those were more ‘interpretive’. This is aimed at showing the dense, vibrant and truly amazing amount of organic ‘life’ in these Pacific Northwest forests. The spotted owl evolved for just this type of landscape with short wings for maneuvering through branches.

Above is a ‘progress’ photo I took in the studio, showing the evolution of this painting. It stayed fairly true to my ideas all the way through. And below are two reference photos. These were taken by Olympic National Park research crews high in the canopy at the Quainault forest. I used these for the big 500 sq ft mural installed at the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center and they are the best photos I’ve ever seen of this unseen canopy world, hundreds of feet above hikers on the ground below. It reminds me of an organic messy grocery store.

Other paintings currently available can be found here on this page of my website. I’d be happy to answer any questions about any of them. No gallery is involved.

Thanks for reading this week. You can sign up for emails for these posts on my website at larryeifert.com.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

And Instagram is here.

Click here to go to our main website and see my other original paintings currently for sale:

https://larryeifert.com/wordpress/current-originals-for-sale/

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Hiking, Nature Art, New Painting Post

Little Oils – Late Afternoon, Grassy Trail

There’s a brief time during a hiking day (imagined) when the sun is almost down, the atmosphere seems overly warm and sort of glowing. I envision going down a trail and seeing a big meadow ahead. Anticipation of something that might be really meaningful.

This is an 11″ x 14″ oil on stretched canvas. The gold frame as you see it makes the outside measurements about 14″ x 17″. It’s currently available from me for $275, frame included – Yup, no gallery upcharges. Shipping would be a bit more, depending on your distance from me. If you’re interested, please email me: larryeifert@gmail.com. Please see the little essay at the bottom.

I love that experience of the good experience about to happen and have tried to get that feeling here – and in almost all my ‘trail’ paintings in the past. These mostly come to me in winter, when I can’t go actually get here, can’t enjoy it as I would in the warmer days of summer.

When I paint these landscapes, especially ‘trail’ stories, I get lost in making them – it’s like I actually really am hiking along in a real place.

Below is a corner of our studio I’ve been using for these current batch of oil paintings. French easel, glass palette, maul stick – and a great view of the forest beyond. See that little ledge below the gold frame, the one with the Atworth logo on it? About every third brush stroke whacks that right end of it on the way back down to the palette for more paint. It gets more paint than the canvas.

Thanks for reading this week. You can sign up for emails for these posts on my website at larryeifert.com.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

And Instagram is here.

Click here to go to our main website and see my other original paintings currently for sale:

https://larryeifert.com/wordpress/current-originals-for-sale/

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Little Oil Paintings – Vol 2

This second round of little oil studies are mostly sold, but the top few are still available. Drop me an email at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested. This probably won’t be a Christmas gift unless you live on the Olympic Peninsula.

They’re either linen canvas board or stretched canvas, mostly 5×7, framed outside measurements are 7″ x 9″. Shipping isn’t much as they’re small paintings. Email me if you’d like: larryeifert@gmail.com

Nuthatch Nest Hole sorry, it’s sold.
Song Sparrow portrait study. sorry, it’s sold.
Red-breasted Nuthatch sorry, it’s sold. Oil on canvas board.
Olympic National Park alpine meadows SORRY, IT’S SOLD
Brown Creeper portrait study: sold to Heidi Brill – excellent!
Chestnut backed Chickadee – Sorry, it’s sold.
Oregon Junco on yellow willow leaves. Sorry, it’s sold.
11″ x 14″ Song Sparrow in winter twigs. Sorry, it’s sold.

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

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.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Little Oil Paintings – Volume 1

After a very long time, I recently circled back around to painting with oils. Here are some that are currently available. I started with this medium a half a century ago, and I just thought it was time to get back to it. There’s a color glow with oils that acrylic can’t get, at least I don’t think so.

I’m still making paintings in acrylic and watercolor, still have a bunch of new projects scheduled for parks (Hawaii Volcanoes right now). But these little 5″ x 7″ paintings (that’s the canvas size) are using various fluid mediums as I’m trying to find my footing with this. For some, I used linseed oil, some with odorless turpentine or a mix of both, some with an addition of either cobalt drier or Liquin (a dryer). All are now far enough along to offer them here in a series of blog posts.

This one is a black-capped chickadee on a lichen-covered branch. SORRY, IT’S SOLD.
Barn swallow in flight, as I worked out painting wet on wet.
Golden-crowned kinglet from our little forest here, taking a winter nap in the leafless branches of a willow. SORRY, IT’S SOLD.

These are small enough to ship inexpensively, so we’re offering them for $95 framed – plus a bit of USPS postage. Email me at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested. Or if you’d like to see some of the others.

It’s been a few months since I posted my recent paintings here. Some of my subscribers have written asking what’s happened, but it hasn’t been for lack of work to show – I’ve been busy. In fact, it’s been on of the busiest years in decades for both of us. I’ve decided that’s really no good excuse, so expect to see more soon.

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

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.