Tag Archives: Easel Paintings

On the Trail to Lake Ann

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Last week we took our little ferry (locally named Bob, because that’s what it does best) over to Whidbey Island, then drove inland a couple of hours to the North Cascades and Mount Baker. This trail is so high it was still spring, with lupine, columbine and paintbrush everywhere. At one point, there was enough fireweed in bloom to make a scree slope completely magenta. We crossed a side creek by hopping rocks, and I stopped to take a reference snapshot of this scene looking upstream into the glacial bowl. The contrast between blue-sky reflection in the foreground, and the yellow sun-bounced light off distant trees makes for a very interesting scene, doesn’t it?

These little digital cameras have really improved how I can do these paintings. Before, I’d have to stop, pull apart my pack to get at my 35mm, go back and figure the shot out – and then wouldn’t know until I processed the film if the stuff was any good. Now, I pull the camera from my pocket and simply take a bunch of shots – and review them as I go (just like you do too). What’s interesting is that my painting process is still the same. The painting, the end result of all this, always looks very different from the beginning reference shot. I guess I’m not really trying to improve on nature, just rearrange it.

We liked this area so much, we’re going back this weekend for some more trail-miles. Might even result in another painting!

This painting is varnished acrylic on linen canvas, 9″ x 12″ and $140 unframed.
The gold frame makes it a total of $180 and shipping adds just a bit more depending on your zone or if you take the frame.
Email us for details.
This one isn’t going on the main website, but will be only on the blog.

Thanks for reading this week.
Larry Eifert

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Junaluska

“Junaluska” – launch and shoreboat for the 1929 fan-tailed classic “Olympus.” When launched, Olympus was originally named Junaluska. This boat now charters out of Seattle for trips in Puget Sounds and places north.

Notice the varnish reflection on the combing and below it on the deck. I love these double reflections, and I think the painting was created solely because of this area.

Prints of the painting are now available. Email us for more information.

Red Rowboats

Port Townsend is full of these types of small wooden boats – probably more so than any West Coast town I know of. I especially liked the wine-glass stern of this one, so I painted it twice – in the same painting. It was tied on a concrete dock, but I turned it into a classic old wooden dock to match the classic old boat. Acrylic on paper.
We now have giclee prints of this painting. Check them out here.
As of May, 2008, this painting is still available. Email us if you’d like more information.