Tag Archives: Field Trips

Murals

The Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center – sketches

Both photos enlarge with a click.

As if our Malheur NWR project wasn’t enough, this week I launched into a new project – and for once it’s local. I’m painting somewhere around 340 sq feet of paintings in 15 panels for one of my favorite places. The Hoh River Rain Forest here in our county, but it’s all the way on the far side of the park and takes hours to get there. For awhile, a representation of it will live in our studio. The drawings are almost finished and the fun ready to begin.

Top photo: This is a pretty complex painting, so I used my own photos to piece something together to start the process. This actually wraps around onto four walls; the bottom is the underground area, a railing with forest floor above that, and then an upper canopy area disjointed from the rest. Complex might be an understatement.

I was thrilled to get this commission since this is one of our favorite places. Countless times we’ve hiked the River Trail – the direct pipeline to Mount Olympus. We’ve camped here, watched elk fight it out for their lovers, found the ‘One Square Inch of Silence’ (Google it). Below is Nancy at the beginning of that famous trail. I first hiked here in 1978 – who would have thought that 40 years later I would get to paint a big mural here.

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 stunning photography

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

Posts about other stuff

Kauai Asian Cemetery – A Cautionary Tale

 

We just returned from a little winter field trip to warm up on Kauai. I really cannot remember when I posted anything other than my art on this blog, years probably, but these photos were taken while we watched astonishing events unfolding on the Mainland, and finding this little abandoned cemetery seems to tie it together – and not in a good way.

This is a beautiful place, but we quickly realized the stones told a tragic story. No stones in the ‘old’ cemetery section dated past 1942, the date when we, America, sent 120,000 Japanese to prison for just being Japanese, and few returned to their original homes after that madness was over. These are abandoned graves, meaning people are still here but the families don’t come to remember grand-dad’s fishing stories, or grand-mother’s wonderful meals. No one comes to spruce up the ground, bring flowers occasionally – it’s just abandoned. I’ve never thought that our actions against people might, in fact, reverberate to past generations.

And now, today, what are we doing? The same thing? It seems our tolerance for other cultures, different people, different ways has vanished. This big bronze sculpture is in Kaloa Town, a few miles to the east. This giant piece of art commemorates the truly joyful multiculturalism that was spawned as Hawaii developed. To meet labor demands, the cane companies went to Asia and brought in thousands of workers, the basis of Hawaii’s diverse and harmonious culture today. These people had to get along. And they get along now, and that’s the point. If we don’t learn to get along,  we are doomed to the vastly bigger threat of Climate Change that will probably finish us off as a civilization.

My thought: Don’t give up on Facebook, or that ‘other-race’ family down the street. Walk down, bang on the door and ask them how they are. Make a point of talking to people that aren’t like you in the grocery store. You might learn things aren’t as bad as we’re told they are!

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 stunning photography

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

New Painting Post

Alpineglow

Another painting in my ‘Trail Series’. When I was growing up the word ‘alpenglow’ was like an elixir, something akin to magic. For Mid-western flat-landers who only experienced these places on rare occasions, I vividly remember the few times we finally got up there in the Porcupines or Rockies. My parents knew how to do it, to stay late, wait for sundown when the light came – and later drive down the hill in growing darkness. For Virginia, it was as close to  god as it gets.

I now live where I can see this easily, but not all THAT easily. We still have to work for it with a hike, but that elixir is still there when we arrive, that ‘magic-time’ photographer Galen Rowell always spoke of. So, this little painting is one of my favorite ‘alpineglow’ places, right up the hill from home in the Dungeness watershed of the Olympics. At sunset, it’s a place I’d rather be than just about anywhere.

This ORIGINAL painting is acrylic on board, 6″ x 9″ and $149 framed. Outside edge of the frame is about 12″ x 15″.
This custom frame has a triple liner and glass. Shipping adds just a bit more depending on your zone. This is the original painting, NOT a print.
Email us for details.

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

Golden Path – a new painting

Sold

Going through some old photos in trip journals, I ran across this photo of a local trail in June. It’s February right now, and this place, not 30 miles from  here up in the Heather Creek area of the upper Dungeness Valley is currently beneath a lot of snow. Still, my heart yearned to be there right now, hiking along and looking at the trail flowers – yes, there IS a flower called a trail flower.

So, with all that in my mind’s eye, this little painting arrived.

And here it is framed.

This ORIGINAL painting is acrylic on board, 6″ x 9″ and $149 framed. Outside edge of the frame is about 12″ x 15″.
This custom frame has a triple liner and glass. Shipping adds just a bit more depending on your zone. This is the original painting, NOT a print.
Email us for details.

Thanks for reading this week. Send this to someone who might appreciate what I’m painting and tell them to sign up. I’m trying to expand my list. An email will work.
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

Red-breasted Sapsucker – Hoh Rain Forest

We were hiking the Spruce Trail at the Hoh Rain Forest a couple of months ago, no people – winter had arrived. Then a brilliant flash of  red, a sapsucker landed right in front of us on the trail not ten feet from us, just sat there. After a bit it began jumping around, looking at us as if trying to explain something, but who knows what – we’re not good at sapsucker-lingo. This went on for a good amount of time, and then, as if finally giving up on us, it few off down the trail. We followed, and here it was again, repeating the same routine. I’ve never had the chance to spend as much time with one of these fairly rare birds – it was intriguing.

I’m fairly well convinced that we’re not the only smart things on this planet, if we are at all. There are complex goings-on that, mainly because of our arrogance, we’re missing. I would have loved to have spent time here with this little colorful bird and learned from it, but, alas, we knew not where to begin, so instead I just stupidly sat there with my mouth agape while Nancy clicked away. At least I can paint something in memory of the experience.

This ORIGINAL painting is acrylic on board, 6″ x 9″ and $149 framed. Outside edge of the frame is about 12″ x 15″.
This custom frame has a triple liner and glass. Shipping adds just a bit more depending on your zone. This is the original painting, NOT a print.
Email us for details.

SOLD

Thanks for reading this week. Send this to someone who might appreciate what I’m painting and tell them to sign up. I’m trying to expand my list. An email will work.
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.

Murals, Wildlife

Point Reyes National Seashore

Point-Reyes-final

I think some of you will say “wait a New York minute, I’ve seen this.” True, but this week I was in a client’s office looking at my website on her computer and this painting wasn’t there. Embarrassing.  There were posts of progress, of locations last year, the sketch – but I spaced out the posting of the final version. I keep this stuff on my blog/website for reference, like a catalog – and with almost 500 pages it’s a handful to keep track of. So bear with me while I add this one from last year to it.

If you haven’t seen this place, it’s Point Reyes National Seashore just north of San Francisco. A landscape full of atmosphere and history for me (I’ve hiked it, rode a horse through it, sailed by it in my own boat twice). We arrived at Headquarters and asked what they wanted in the painting. The beach, lighthouse, fog, ocean, redwoods, Doug-fir, Drakes Estuary, Tamales Bay, about 50 sq miles of coastal scrub with all the critters. Nothing to it! The painting hangs in the main visitor center, the back of the new park map features it, and now it’s  here.

Finished map and mural.

finished-maps=web

Labels were added on a draft design that wasn’t used.Point-reyes-labels

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.

Posts about other stuff

Just A Small Piece of Art I Often See!

Trail-sign

I can’t even remember when I did this, but some years ago I designed the logo for the Olympic Discovery Trail. This trail more or less follows the old railroad grade from Port Townsend, 120 miles all the way across the north Olympic Peninsula to La Push on the outer coast. I donated the stylized art that featured some trees, mountains and a cresting wave – all the components of nature you might see on the trail.

The thing is, we see this little piece of art on many hikes and many places, especially in winter when we’re walking the low country. Walking along, I spy these little blue signs on posts or trees and it makes me feel a part of this place, a small and insignificant thing to be sure, but still a part of it. I make a living selling art, that’s for sure, but there are sometimes other rewards than painting for my bread and butter. This is one of them.

And there’s a bit more. Parts of this beautiful trail are also part of the 1200-mile Northwest National Scenic Trail that goes from Glacier National Park in Montana, through Port Townsend and on to La Push and Olympic National Park. It hooks into the Continental Trail, that amazingly-serious 3100-mile trail that goes from Canada to Mexico down the spine of the Rockies. I see hikers with full packs passing through town quite often in summer, and while most people in Port Townsend have other thoughts than a national scenic trail with my art along it, I have to say I’m proud of these little pieces of aluminum scattered along they way.

Larry-&-Me-Royal-Basin-Hike

Thanks for reading this week. Send this to someone who might appreciate what I’m painting and tell them to sign up. I’m trying to expand my list. An email will work.
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

Whidbey Island Prairie – Spring and Early Summer

Spring-prairie-progress

Work in progress: a new painting on it’s way. Click the image and it should enlarge in your browser.

Unveiling of an almost-finished new project today. I’ve been working on this for some time and it’s closing in on completion. Thought I’d toss it out for comments. I still have some bit to go, like adding another layer of closeup grasses and sedge, refining some of the flowers and critters – just tightening it up.

Nancy
Nancy at the prairie – pack strapped on full of camera gear for reference shots.

This is the sixth painting for the Whidbey Camano Island Land Trust and it will eventually be an outdoor wayside panel “planted” in a piece of rare natural prairie they’ve recently acquired. It’s right along the bluff in the Admiralty Inlet Natural Area Preserve – and in the background you can see Port Townsend and the Olympic Peninsula. So what’s the big deal here? It’s rare natural prairie, yes, but also a place with some very interesting and rare plants, like the Golden Paintbrush. And the site is only one of a handful where this beautiful plant grows. While it grows here naturally, the Land Trust is actively adding thousands of new plants or all types to jump start that’s already here. It’s a massive undertaking I’m continually impressed with – and I can’t even mow my own grass on a timely basis.

Nancy1
At the plant nursery where the Land Trust is supplementing thousands of new plants to help the prairie regain its original ecosystem. It’s a long haul that will take years.

This is the first of two of these prairie paintings. Stay tuned – I’ll send out photos of this one upon completion, and keep you in the loop for the second. It’s a very fun project for me.

Thanks for reading this week. Send this to someone who might appreciate what I’m painting and tell them to sign up. I’m trying to expand my list. An email will work.

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

Royal Basin Trail – Into the Light

Royal-Basin---Into-the-Light

We recently hiked this glorious trail, and I always love to relive good times by painting them. Miles of old-growth forest in a mature western hemlock forest, trails going off in various directions to alpine places of glorious solitude, the sounds of the Dungeness River always in ear-shot. It’s a special place we go to often. So here’s a little painting expressing that. If I die tomorrow and walk into the Light, this is how I hope it will be.

Royal-Basin-Into-Light_framed

This ORIGINAL painting is varnished acrylic on linen canvas, 6″ x 8″ and $145 custom framed with a triple mat and glass. The glass size is 11″ x 14″ and outside measurements are 14″ x 17″.
Shipping adds just a bit more depending on your zone. This is the original painting, NOT a print.
Email us for details.

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

Little Tarn – Bailey Range

Lillian-Tarn-2

We hiked along this slope, in and out of little groups of snow-stunted hemlock, and after awhile this stunning view appeared. The Bailey Range beyond, little tarn full of quiet reflecting water, alpine edge-of-the-forest where the mountain hemlocks group together to withstand some pretty harsh winters. Two big Cascade frogs sat in the water watching us, as if we might be frog-hunters, which we are certainly not. I posted another little alpine tarn painting on the last blog, and it’s found a home a very long way from Olympic National Park – and its new owner wishes differently. That painting touched something, so this one might do the same. Hands off, Yaming, let’s let someone else have a chance.

What I’m endlessly enjoying with these subalpine painting studies are the positions of the graphic elements, the snow-slimmed trees, the freeze-shattered boulders, little bits of water that are always arranged in flawless designs. I think I’m drawn here for another reason too, that of seeing a landscape unaltered in any way by us – an increasingly rare thing these days. These rock gardens look like a master gardener has been here, but the caretaker is Mother Nature, the only real master gardener.

Little-Tarn-framed-2

And here’s what you get – if you’re interested:

This ORIGINAL painting is acrylic on board, 6″ x 9″ and $145 framed and ready to hang. A triple custom mat, framers glass, a nice cherry custom frame. Shipping adds just a bit more depending on your zone. This is the original painting, NOT a print.
Email us for details.

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.