Category Archives: National Park Service

Acrylic paintings, Backpacking, featured, Hiking, Larry Eifert, National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post

2026-11-4 Gray Wolf Headwaters

I finished this painting last week – its destination unknown right now. For now, I’m just going to enjoy it in my studio. It’s 48″ x 24″, acrylic on canvas.

On a hike this past fall, I came across this place. It’s not on any trail, and a guy my age probably shouldn’t have been up there, especially hiking solo, but the experience made it all worth it. This is at treeline in Olympic National Park, and these little blue tarns empty into the valley below and join waters to become the famed Gray Wolf River. It then joins the Dungeness River to empty into the ocean at Sequim. It’s one of the highest, shortest and biggest drops of any river in the U.S. The peaks of the Upper Dungeness and Royal Basin – some of the highest mountains in the Olympics, can be seen in the distance, one ridge over. In the distance, I was looking up at Deception Peak at 7788 feet, second tallest mountain in the Olympics (right in the middle of the painting) and Mt Mystery to the right at 7639 feet. They’re just numbers, but to me much more.

These mountains, the closest alpine area to my home in Port Townsend, is all less than 40 air miles away. I know this place well, and have, over the years, made it my source painting models for many paintings. Those valleys in the mist, the rivers, meadows, trails and trees have thrilled me for over half a century.

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

Larry Eifert

Here is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!

Acrylic paintings, Larry Eifert, National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post, Small oil studies, Wildlife, Wildlife Portraits

2026-11-2 New Paintings

A Misty Falls from a seasonal falls in Olympic National Park. A new acrylic/oil mix that’s now available on my Eifert Gallery site. https://eifertgallery.etsy.com/listing/4608555028/misty-falls-larry-eifert

I like the messiness of this painting, just how I hoped to show what nature is really like. 6″ x 6″ canvas in an 8″x8″ frame.

My halloween painting of the local spotted towhee, grubbing around in the fall red-alder leaves right outside my studio. This guy is so brash as to be almost a costume. It’s available here: https://eifertgallery.etsy.com/listing/4603864592/spotted-towhee-larry-eifert

Red-backed Vole, an acrylic on canvas and framed as you see it here. These guys must have had a real ‘hatchout’ in our meadow because I see them everywhere – and so a painting happened. https://eifertgallery.etsy.com/listing/4599616056/red-backed-vole-larry-eifert

And, one of the two dark-eyed juncos that live right next to my studio window. They’ve been there for years, a real married couple. I’m sure they nest several times a season, but the kids don’t push them out after the fledge. Here’s the link to my Gallery, and there are lots more available there. https://eifertgallery.etsy.com/listing/4599621958/dark-eyed-junco-larry-eifert

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

Larry Eifert

Here is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!

featured, Interpretive Art, National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post, Waysides

2026-10-3 Sol Duc Cascades

I have a lot of paintings along Olympic National Park’s Sol Duc Road. They’re all interpretive signs and exhibits, a total of17 of them. One is here at Salmon Cascades and is seen by many, and is a view of what’s under the water here beneath the falls. I put an outdoor camera down beneath the water to scope it out – and found it was really very calm, salmon swimming in short circles getting the nerve up to jump.

I recently realized I’d never painted the falls for an easel painting, even if the installation is right next to it – so here it is. Oil on canvas, 24″ x 18″, framed or not and available now on my Eifert Gallery site. The frame as shown here puts the size at about 29″ x 23″. I’ve also listed it without the frame.

https://eifertgallery.etsy.com/listing/4577927953

As of October 5, 2926, this painting is still available.

No gallery markup here, and I can give you a variety of frames, silver or gold as you see it.

And here’s the wayside sign with Nancy playing the tourist. Yes, those fish really are that color. Several years ago at this time of year, we saw circling salmon just below Sol Duc Falls, miles upstream from here. I’d never seen them that far up, stopped by that big drop of water.

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

Larry Eifert

Here is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!

Backpacking, Backpacking, featured, Hiking, National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post

Gladys Lake – Olympic National Park

I’ve been to this little slice of heaven many times. I didn’t make it this year, so thought I needed to make a painting of it instead. I honestly don’t think I needed any references as I know the place very well. It’s a relatively small subalpine lake, a place few other hikers seem to go to, and maybe that’s why I like it. Often, I’d be all by myself here, camping in the trail crew area where the black-tails also hangout. Only the deer and myself in a place like this. Imagine!

The mountain in the background is Grand Peak, the notch seen just to the right of it Grand Pass, the trail on south to Cameron. It’s not orange rock, that’s my rendition of sunset. The slope on the left is what created Gladys Lake in the first place, glacial rocks plowing up the valley into various ponds. I just love these wet meadows, their meandering little seasonal streams, flower-covered meadows with outcrop rocks where trees have a dry enough foothold to grow. I’d bet that center little island with it’s stunted subalpine firs has been unchanged for centuries.

This painting is oil on canvas, 24″ x 18″ framed or not and is available on by Etsy Eifert Gallery. Email for more details if you want at larryeifert@gmail.com.

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

Larry Eifert

Here is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!

featured, Hiking, National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post

2026-8-26 Lillian Ridge Divide

A new oil on canvas, 24″x 18″- with the paint still wet. With this frame, outside measurements are about 30″x 24″. https://www.etsy.com/listing/4564405586/lillian-ridge-divide-larry-eifert

This was painted with those painters whose work I love from a century ago. It’s not a fictional place – just a bit of pushing reality around a little. I solo day-hiked here two weeks ago and it definitely made an impression on me. How could it not? The layers and layers of subalpine fir, avalanche chutes and knife ridge lines were just so paintable. I could paint these places every day until I croak.

The scene before me was on Lilian Ridge in Olympic National Park, with Lilian Creek in the valley far below. As I walked along here, two Columbian black-tail deer showed up to question my right to be here. A painterly experience.

My heroes that have painted these places have remained constant through the years. I still enjoy seeing paintings by Albert Bierstadt, Gunnar Widforss and Carl Rungius. This painting can be traced to those guys, especially Rungius, who painted in Banff until he died at age 90. I’ve always thought of wilderness painting as an old-man’s game, mainly because there isn’t a swift and sure path to understanding how to do it. If you’re a young painter, it’s easy to get up there. Not so easy to understand how to paint it when you get there. How to paint luminous depth of huge landscapes crammed onto a small piece of linen cloth? It’s not easy. Maybe I’m getting there, maybe I’ll do some more.

Curious about the exact location of this, my reference place in Olympic National Park for this painting? It’s just 30 air miles from my studio in Port Townsend, WA.

This painting is available on my Eifert Gallery Etsy website, free of gallery commission. You can also have it framed as you see it here. Other photos are on my Etsy site. https://www.etsy.com/listing/4564405586/lillian-ridge-divide-larry-eifert

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

Larry Eifert

Here is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!

featured, National Park Service, Nature Art, New Painting Post, Small oil studies, Wildlife

2026-8-23 Alpine Paintings

Two new little oils of summer experiences. I think of them as a journal.

Olympic National Park (next to me here in Port Townsend) has 8 critters found only here – and nowhere else. It’s because the Olympics aren’t connected to any other mountains, so instead of species intermixing from other places, over time they evolved into new ones. The Olympic Chipmunk is especially obvious and a truly fun animal to paint. Perky, I’d call it.

This is available on my Etsy Gallery online. 7″x9″ framed as you see it.

https://eifertgallery.etsy.com/listing/4559007112

And a Pika, oil on canvas. Pikas aren’t in the Olympic Mountains, but they sure are in the Cascades. This one was seen on Mt Rainier near Iceberg Lake. They collect grass and flowers, make little haystacks and save it for winter food. This painting, like the Chipmunk, is oil on canvas, 5″ x 7″ and framed as you see it. Shipping is free. This painting is available here.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4552258848/pika-larry-eifert

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

Larry Eifert

Here is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!

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

Green Rock – oil on canvas

Green Rock is an oil on canvas painting, now available. The canvas is 30″ x 40″ on stretched canvas. It is big enough I thought I’d sell it without the frame, so someone could buy it unstretched, rolled in a tube with the stretcher bars ready to go. We can talk about it.

Below is the painting in a frame, just so you can see what it looks like. I don’t have this frame at the moment, but go ahead and ask.

Where is this place?

The painting is, of course, about salmon (not the green rock). But in these big canvases I find great enjoyment in hiding stuff and telling stories – so how many salmon can YOU find?

I’ve seen many salmon along the Sol Duc River, mostly in Olympic National Park. I even have outdoor exhibit panels there telling the Sol Duc Coho salmon’s story. It’s a special place for both Nancy and me, a place many paintings have been hatched (to use a salmon word). In fact, counting up how many paintings Olympic National Park owns of mine of the Sol Duc Valley: 17! (including one with Nancy in it) Most of them are in a vault at the main visitor center in Port Angeles, so even I can’t see them. All were used for exhibits and reproduced.

If you’d like to find out more about this painting, or if it’s still available, write me at larryeifert@gmail.com.

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 is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!

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 is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!

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 is my Etsy site with my currently available paintings for easy sale.

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.

Nancy’s web portfolio of stunning photography and paintings.

And here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website.

Or Crater Lake Institute’s website which I also build – viewership of several million a month!