Tag Archives: Alaska

New Painting Post

A Fantastic Finish for Sitka

Sitka-estuary-painting-vs2

Last week I finished up my painting for Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska.  I think it hits the mark pretty well. I was tasked with showing the relationships between spawning pink salmon and the forest around Indian River, right in the town of Sitka. The park actually surrounds this Estuary. Essentially it’s the story of how the returning fish feed the local critters and even the trees themselves. See the American Marten running deeper into the forest with a fish? The dipper with an egg in its mouth, a brown bear catching the salmon, or eagles and ravens doing the same? I thought it pretty great that this coincided with our local “pink” salmon stream, the Dungeness River that is having a huge spawning run right now too – over 100,000 fish and still counting.

Indian-River-Panel

And here’s the finished installation (or at least a design mockup from Harpers Ferry Center in West Virginia). It’s not approved yet, but well on the way. I left the web version large, so click the image so you can see the text and other details. This will eventually be installed along the trail in the exact location as what the painting shows. At 42″ wide, it will be a pretty large panel, almost as big as the original painting.

This installation is a great example of why I just love my job. This will be there for many years, teaching visitors about this special place by using art in an outdoor location – right at the point of contact with nature itself. My mom taught people about nature, but she did it with her books, photography and outdoor classes. I’m just doing the same thing in another way, with paintings – and I hope it never ends.

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Here’s the blog on the web.  And 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 beautiful photographs

And Click here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website. Her books are now becoming available as Amazon Kindle books.

New Painting Post

A Sea-run Humpy for Sitka

No post last week – just too busy. But this just came off the easel today and will be sent out tomorrow for approval, so let’s get your approval as well.

This is going to Sitka National Historical Park in Alaska. My task here was to paint the ocean form of the humpbacked or pink salmon in a realistic way so it looks like it’s the real deal. I also painted the eggs, alevin and fry in the same manner, but I’ll post those later. This one seemed to have gotten that pretty well. There was some debate about the shine. If it’s out of the water, it would shine, but in the water this fish wouldn’t shine anywhere. In fact, they look pretty dull and camouflaged, and needs to be or it would be a seal’s meal. After I scanned it and looked at the reference photos (about 25 of them), I thought that the fish might need to be more reddish since my scanner is always on the cool side. So Photoshop did that, and now I’m not sure.

So here’s that second version with the red.

Sea-run-pink-salmon

Art is always like that. There’s no THERE there. You never know when it’s finished, or if it’s ‘right’, since there is no ‘right’ – just someone else’s opinion. Years ago, in the Eifert Gallery in California, a woman came in and went right around the main exhibit hall.  I happened to be upstairs on the mezzanine and overheard her comment as she went around the room: “Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong” she declared in a voice that I thought was louder than necessary. It was a teachable moment for me, because I realized my confidence had grown and I was solidly in command of my feelings, and what did she know – nothing more than I did, and probably less.

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Here’s the blog on the web.  And 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 beautiful photographs

And Click here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website. Her books are now becoming available as Amazon Kindle books.

New Painting Post

Progress Pix for my Sitka Alaska Painting

Progress shown here in reverse. This is the most current version as of Friday, August 2, 2013. Trees are more refined, details emerging on the shoreline, devils club and meadow, water reflections beginning, some details with the Marten are beginning – and the dipper appears along with some salmon.  As I paint this, I can almost feel myself remembering our trip there, standing on this same shore and how it felt and smelled.

Defining broad areas with texture takes time.

Last week before I had National Park Service approval to proceed, I spent time blocking out color and background, which is stuff that almost never gets changed. This painting is about four feet wide – not a big one for me, but big enough to get some detail going.

And here’s the second version of the sketch I posted two weeks ago. The entire lower half was enlarged by about 15% with the bear, deer, harlequin ducks and some other stuff moved around to fit better.  The lower part was enlarged to show off the critters that tell the story of how the salmon return home to spawn, die and are subsequently eaten by local birds and animals that, in turn, provide nutrients to the forest. I had to provide (prove) that the foreground critters were sized correctly in relationship to each other, so the Raven = 24″, Dipper = 7.5″, Marten = 19-27″, which in my view is about correct.  Am I getting there?

 

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Here’s the blog on the web.  And 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 beautiful photographs

And Click here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website. Her books are now becoming available as Amazon Kindle books.

New Painting Post

Sitka National Historical Park Mural Sketch

 Here’s my sketch for the biggest of six paintings for Sitka National Historical Park. I’m now awaiting approval or change requests to begin painting – oh boy. I loaded a big 16″ version of this on the web, so just click the drawing to see it.

There are some areas that still need figuring out. The right side needs defining better, harlequin ducks are too big, the upper left (spruce forest). The overall concept is probably Okay, but I won’t know until the National Park Service releases comments (which they’re very good at).

And here’s one of my reference photos of the location to show how I arrived at the sketch. This is the story I’m trying to tell: pink or humpy salmon come into the Indian River to spawn and then die. Bears, eagles, ravens, martens and more come in to get the fish; some are dragged or flown off into the forest to be eaten – and the remains leach into the soil feeding the trees. It’s some of the only nitrogen these trees get, and a healthy forest is needed to feed and shelter the new eggs after they hatch and young (alevin) as they grow. It’s a story only recently discovered. I had a tough time with the rocks on the left, which were obviously placed there to keep the bank from eroding, but they’re not natural, and in fact are not healthy for young fish. In the end, I added a few.

And here’s the ‘Subject Sitka Spruce’ within 100 feet of the other photo, with devils club on the left, false Soloman-seal on the ground and Nancy (the real subject of interest to me) to add a size-scale. These were taken on our field trip there last month.

This painting will eventually become an interpretive exhibit placed right here, and an entire generation of people to see and learn about the Indian River’s salmon. It will outlast me, I’m sure.

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Here’s the blog on the web.  And 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 beautiful photographs

And Click here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website. Her books are now becoming available as Amazon Kindle books.

New Painting Post

Eifert Paintings In Sitka

There are LOTS of historic totem poles at the Sitka National Historical Park in Sitka, Alaska, and soon there will also be some Eiferts. This past week we had the distinct privilege to spend it in one of the most interesting, beautiful and historically-significant towns in America, and one of the most remote as well. No roads go to Sitka, and in fact it’s the only town that faces the Gulf of Alaska head-on (seven feet of rain annually – but only the tourists care). There are about 9,000 people there who own 7500 vehicles – but they have only 21.5 miles of roads – and I would guess there are more fishing boats than people. The National Park Service has the oldest national park unit in Alaska there, with a beautiful visitor center and historical park along the Indian River, as well as the Russian Bishop’s House, a meticulously restored and remarkable two-story massive structure built in 1842 that is mind-boggling in its history, furnishing and especially the building itself. In an effort to keep this short, let’s just say we had a very good time – and boy, are those people friendly.

 My task is now to create some paintings of the salmon runs in the Indian River. So after five other concept sketches, this was my best try, and I think it will work. I won’t explain it now, but you’ll soon see the painting, a forest scene with bears, ravens, eagles and lots of spawning salmon. I plan to blog more about this stuff as it progresses.

And here’s the painting’s location along the river. An amazingly beautiful place, you’d never know it’s right smack in the middle of town. As we walked in this forest, we constantly heard bald eagles and ravens talking among themselves high overhead in the upper canopy. While we were there one day, a string trio played in a meadow within 200 feet of this photo location and I’ve never heard a cello, viola and violin played along with eagles and ravens singing from the balcony – and as loud as the wooden instruments themselves.

Larry Eifert

Click here to go to the online blog this was to.

Or click here to follow me on Facebook. I POSTED A PHOTO ALBUM OF THIS TRIP ON THERE, SO CHECK IT OUT.

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

Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography.

Click here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website. Her books are now becoming available as Amazon Kindle books.

New Painting Post

Sitka National Historical Park gets some Eifert paintings

There are LOTS of historic totem poles at the Sitka National Historical Park and Southeast Alaska Indian Cultural Center in Sitka, Alaska, and soon there will also be some Eiferts. This past week we had the distinct privilege to spend it in one of the most interesting, beautiful and historically-significant towns in America, and one of the most remote as well. No roads go to Sitka, and in fact it’s the only town that faces the Gulf of Alaska head-on. There are about 9,000 people there who own 7500 cars – but there’s only 21.5 miles of roads to drive them on – and I’d guess there are more fishing boats than people. The National Park Service has the oldest national park unit in Alaska, and there’s a beautiful visitor center and historic park along the Indian River, as well as the Russian Bishop’s House, a meticulously restored and remarkable two-story massive structure built in 1842 that is mind-boggling in it’s history, furnishings and especially the building itself. In an effort to keep this short, let’s just say we had a very good time – and boy, are these people friendly.

My task is now to create some paintings of the salmon runs in the Indian River. So after five other concept sketches, this was my best try, and I think it will work. I won’t explain it now, but you’ll soon see the painting, a forest scene with brown bears, ravens, eagles and lots of salmon returning to spawn.

And here’s the location along the river. An amazingly beautiful place, and you’d never know it but it’s right smack in the middle of town. As we walked in these woods, we constantly overheard bald eagles and ravens ‘talking’ among themselves high in the canopy. While we were there one day, a string trio played in a meadow within 200 feet of this photo location and I’ve never heard a cello, viola and violin played along with eagles and ravens chinning in from the balcony – and as loud as the wooden instruments. Remarkable.

And here’s the initial species list I created on location. It was written in the order of discussion and while we didn’t see all these critters here, we saw almost all of them somewhere on our stay – even the grizzlies.

 

 

Stay tuned. It’ll be a fun painting – and there are five other smaller paintings coming as well. I’m excited.

 

 

 

Finally: I don’t usually do this, but I’d like to recommend the channel-side small inn and restaurant we stayed at in Sitka. It’s the Fly-In-Fish-Inn and it couldn’t have been a better experience. Ken and Carla made us feel like we were family.

 

 

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Click here to go to the online blog this was to.

Or click here to follow me on Facebook. I post lots of other stuff there, like trip photos of this expedition.

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

Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography.

Click here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website. Her books are now becoming available as Amazon Kindle books.

New Painting Post

Exit Glacier – A New Puzzle

WOOO-WOO: Our new 500-piece jigsaw puzzle is now ready to ship. We’re more than happy to announce this one – the rich habitat below the toe of Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park near Seward, Alaska. I’ve blogged about the progress of this project, from our field trip and concept sketches last fall to the finished mural a few months ago. Now the printed products are arriving, and I think this would be a great puzzle to put together.

 

And here’s the puzzle box back with all the fun stuff about the painting. As you can see, it was funded by Alaska Geographic, a very involved and prolific non-profit that works to support many of Alaska’s parks. I’ve bought their books for years, and now I’m proud to say we’re ‘one of them’ in a small way.

You can either buy the puzzle on the website here, or just email us with your shipping info and we can mail and bill. Buying two puzzles saves you freight as it’s only $2 extra for the second one.

Email us for details.

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Click here to go to the online blog this was to.

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

Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography. She has a new blog about the Washington State Capitol Campus that’s pretty fun.

New Painting Post

Glacier Bay Old-growth

Keeping it going, this week was spent working on five smaller paintings for Glacier Bay National Park. Nancy says I tend to loose track of obligations, appointments and schedules, well, try keeping five paintings with lots of details all on track. Ah, priorities! It’s like juggling. This one is a purely fictitious place but based on reality. The landscape around the Visitor Center and Lodge at Glacier Bay National Park is fresh from the ice and its forests are still pretty young. It will likely be changed before it’s finished, but my task here was to paint what WILL be there eventually if the forest there continues to evolve as it should. If things go according to one option in nature’s normal plan, this will become a western hemlock-dominated forest, a few huge trees, logs almost completely covered with moss, skunk cabbage and devils club. Everything would be green filtered light as if you’re inside an emerald. Did I get it?

Here’s the first-draft concept sketch.

And below is the second draft before I started painting. It’s still very different from the final painting, but the elements are taking shape. In the end, the huckleberries left, devils club and skunk cabbage came in after the Park straightened me out. Those two species require more moisture than I had realized was there, so we shifted things around.

I get a fair amount of mail saying that comparing these sketches are the best part of my weekly posts. It’s the ‘inside scoop’ that few see, and I think it’s easy to recognize the fact that the pencil is the painter’s most valuable tool. The second most valuable tool might be that I’m working with two guys from the National Park Service that really care. It’s such a treat for me to have interactions with people who know what their doing, both on the ground with Melenie and Tom at Glacier Bay in Alaska and Chad at Harpers Ferry Center in West Virginia. I just never tire of learning about this stuff, especially from smart people. And that we did a conference call this week featuring a land-line and cel phone joining Alaska to Port Townsend together with a desk’s top in West Virginia is even better.

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Click here to go to the online blog this was to.

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

Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography.

New Painting Post

Fairbanks Alaska Greenbelt

I’ve painted images of city greenbelts before, but nothing like this. In fact, for those of us in the Lower 48 and used to concrete-surrounded greenbelts along city streets, it’s probably difficult to image spruce swamps with moose and sandhill cranes in one. But then this is Fairbanks, Alaska, northern most metro in America. Last week I passed around the first effort with this project – and now here’s the second. Boy, it was fun painting the nature from this far north. Wish I could have gone up for a field trip, but it’s not quite looking like this yet. Thanks to everyone on this project for giving me such free-reign to have some fun.

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Click here to go to the online blog this was to.

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

Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography. She has some new and wonderful galleries in her album sections.

New Painting Post

Fairbanks Alaska Gets Some Eifert Paintings

This week I finished up two pieces of art for outdoor installations destined for the Chena Flats Greenbelt Project in Fairbanks, Alaska. Lots of mining – lots of messed up watersheds have left this area in need of lots of repair. These paintings are about what I seem to do a lot of these days: show how a landscape MIGHT look if we give it a chance. There are many agencies and non-profits involved in this, but it really seems to be just a small group of involved citizens doing their best to improve their backyard. I’ve been working with a very impressive and diligent woman there who was willing to pare down text and make this look good – and I think together we developed it into a pretty nice piece of interpretation.

And here’s the original, first-draft sketch. Critters came, left, changed – but in the final it’s pretty much like the first idea. That’s how art should be, I think, because the first flash of thought is usually the best. Thanks, Sally.

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

Click here to go to the online blog this was to.

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

Click here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography.