All posts by Wilderness Walker

New Painting Post

Logging the Redwoods

New Interpretive Panel for Muir Woods National Monument

(Clicking these images should show you a larger view.)

I can say clearly that I’ve never painted anything like this before. For more than forty years I’ve always painted and written about glorious living nature, not the industrial slaying of our national legacy. But this is Muir Woods National Monument afterall, which is turning into somewhat of an Eifert Gallery in the California redwoods. Thanks to the good folks who work there, you’d be hard-pressed to NOT bump into an Eifert on the trail or in the visitor center.

So here’s the set-up. They have an enormous slab of redwood sitting against the visitor center’s wall. An old, worn-out interpretive sign showed how it was cut, and, after many years of duty, it was time for a new one. Here’s what the old sign looked like and a corner of the enormous slab that goes off to the right for many feet.

Now, after looking at the corner of the slab, go back to the top picture and look at the whopper of a tree that this piece of wood would have come from. That was some tree, but not unusual back when many more of these legacy redwoods were still standing. These two guys would have cut it using custom-forged hand saws, first cutting a wedge on the near side, then cutting a second cut above this on the far side. The tree would have fallen towards the viewer.

The painting shows them cutting this slab section out, and it’s been on display here at Muir Woods for many years. Now my painting is part of it too, the ancient tree, the cutting of it, and the history of showing this amazing piece of wood to millions of visitors in what is the busiest redwood park in California. Thanks, Brett and Mia! This is why I paint interpretive art.

Click here to see lots of other national and state park interpetive art on our website.

Click here to see some of the other paintings at Muir Woods National Monument near San Francisco.

Or, send us an email to opt in or out of our email family – or just ‘talk’ with us.

Thanks for reading. More soon.
Larry Eifert

New Painting Post

Bark Shanty Bridge, Olympic National Forest

Greetings to all our friends: This email begins a slightly different slant of our on-going Blog. For years, Nancy has sent out periodic emails announcing new printed products to our customers, clients, family and friends. While this has worked well, there is much more we’d like to share, such as published articles, fine-art paintings and special interpretive projects for many parks. So, here’s our first ‘edition.’
To opt out or say hello, just click this to send us an email.

Bark Shanty Bridge
Here on the Olympic Peninsula, it’s called the Big Quil River. And this little bridge is called Bark Shanty because many years ago there used to be a squatter’s cabin nearby made of big slabs of Doug-fir bark, probably the easiest building material he could have found here. The shanty is long gone but the bridge remains.

Thirty miles south of our home in Port Townsend, we hiked the two miles from road’s end, a flat and level trail along the Big Quilcene River. The entire trail was in an emerald-green tunnel beneath enormous old-growth firs and hemlocks. This is national forest land, and past administrations have left it pretty much butchered up by a forest industry that cared little for our national legacy. However, here and there you can still find the old lowland forest, and here along the Big Quil life goes on much as it has for centuries. The trail eventually crosses two beautiful wooden bridges, and this one is the second, probably installed in the 1930’s by WPA crews. After 80 years, the two old-growth logs that make most of it are still in fine shape. We stood on these rocks and listened to the rush of clear water. A winter wren competed with a very loud dipper as they both tried to overpower the crash of the river. It was as pure a scene as could be imagined. As a painter, I especially liked the swirling mist beyond the bridge, indicating more whitewater upstream. It intrigued us to go farther.

We have eight-color Giclee prints either unframed or framed, between $39.95 and $239.95 available of this painting and the original painting is available for $700 unframed. Email us.

Link here to the Bark Shanty Bridge print on our website

Or, you can go to our Giclee Print Index here

Or, send us an email to opt in or out of our email family – or just ‘talk’ with us.

New Painting Post

Salmon Cascades – Olympic National Park

We were doing some research up the Sol Duc River, about 70 miles west of our home in Port Townsend. I was painting some images for Olympic National Park, and we stopped at the Salmon Cascades to see if any fish were there. They were – a group of coho circling below the falls waiting their moment when a big perfect jump would take them to the top and on to the rest of their journey to the spawning beds upstream. It was a thrill to see these big fish, and the scene with the sun shining through the water’s mist wasn’t bad either.

We have eight-color Giclee prints either unframed or framed, between $39.95 and $239.95 available of this painting and the original painting is available for $700 unframed. Email us.

Link here to the Salmon Cascades print on our website

Or, you can go to our Giclee Print Index here

Or, send us an email to opt in or out of our email family – or just ‘talk’ with us.

New Painting Post

Lillian Ridge – Olympic National Park

Lillian Ridge Trail
To the west of Port Townsend, Olympic National Park fills our skyline. This trail begins at road’s end, over 6000′, at what we hear is the highest road in the state of Washington. It meanders along the ridgetop with amazing views on all sides for miles. To the east, the narrow chasm of Grand Valley shows hints of lakes and waterfalls. To the west, the Mt Olympus complex fills the view. This is Mt McCartney in the distance as one hikes south along the ridgetop spine, often through acres of endemic wildflowers.

This mountaintop has never been glaciated, so walking here means walking in the same footsteps as prehistoric man. I keep looking for mastodons, or at least their tracks.

We have eight-color Giclee prints either unframed or framed, between $39.95 and $239.95 available of this painting and the original painting is available for $700 unframed. Email us.

Link here to the Lilian Ridge print on our website

Or, you can go to our Giclee Print Index here

Or, send us an email to opt in or out of our email family – or just ‘talk’ with us.

Uncategorized

The Yellow Rowboat

The Yellow Rowboat
This boat, tied at the dock at the Center for Wooden Boats in Seattle’s Lake Union, is one of my favorites. What’s not to like. It’s all varnished, top to bottom, skeg to oars. The only paint is on the tips of the two oars that have been painted blue just where they’d touch water on each stroke. Very classy!

We have eight-color Giclee prints either unframed or framed, between $39.95 and $239.95 available of this painting and the original painting is available for $700 unframed. Email us.

Link here to the Yellow Rowboat print on our website

Or, you can go to our Giclee Print Index here

Or, send us an email to opt in or out of our email family – or just ‘talk’ with us.

New Painting Post

Sol Duc Water

January 2009

Sol Duc Water
I’ve been painting a lot of the Sol Duc Valley for Olympic National Park. This painting was one was for me. It’s a very wet place, almost approaching to look of a temporate rain forest in places. These season waterfalls come and go, and I loved the water’s plunge over this little shiny rock.
Prints are available, as is the original painting. The painting is in acrylic on paper, and is 14″ x 20″. It’s offered for $350 on this blog, unframed.

New Painting Post

Klahhane Ridge Trail

Klahhane Ridge Trail
Since this is currently covered with snow, I worked from photos I took last summer. This trail leaves the visitor center and heads along the south side of Klahhane Ridge. It’s still a place you might find mountain goats on occasion. Heading back at the end of the day, this scene is exactly the high mountain view one would expect here, with Mount Olympus rising to greet you at every turn.
As of the posting date, the original painting is still available and prints are too. Email us for details.
Painting is in acrylic, 14″ x 20″, making it about 24″ x 30″ framed with mat or linen liner.

Uncategorized

Able

A good friend owns this fine wooden boat. Built in Port Townsend, it has been a fixture here in town for many years. I’ve always admired all the seemingly tangled mass of bowsprit weaving – something that our boat, Sea Witch, has none of. The hooded mergansers come into the marina in winter, fishing at the stormwater outfalls for small fish attracted there by nutrients.

This is an acrylic on paper, and prints are now available.
Uncategorized

Olympic High Country

Obstruction Point – Olympic National Park

This image is destined to be made into jigsaw puzzles, posters and probably cards for Olympic National Park. I’ve wanted to paint this scene for years. From this ridge, if you turn 180 degrees, it’s possible to see our home forest 25 miles below in the distance. This is the dry side of the Olympics, and because of its isolation, there are many plants and animals that have to evolved to grow only here – the Olympic Marmot, Olympic Chipmunk, Olympic Weasel and others.

It’s a special place for Nancy and I that few ever see. The original painting is 24″ x 36″ and is acrylic on paper board. It’s currently available for sale.

Uncategorized

Christie – the Mystery Boat

I worked up this Whitehall skiff from materials I had from the September 2000 Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. Why I haven’t painted it before is a mystery, because she’s quite a boat. These are the old docks in Port Townsend’s Point Hudson marina, now trashed and gone thanks to a Port Commission that had little sense of history and the beauty of ‘old’.

I have no idea who owns this boat, or even if she’s still floating. If anyone knows about her, please let me know.

Acrylic on board. 14″ x 20″, framed to 25″ x 31″ under glass. Prints are now available of this image at Christie’s prints. The original painting is also currently available. If you’re interested in it, drop us an email with “Christie” in the subject line.