Tag Archives: Port Townsend

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Western Sandpipers – A Camouflaged Migration original oil

Western Sandpipers – Northern Migration 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 24″ x 30″. It’s now available. I have other frame options for this as well.

I’ve had my sights on this painting idea for awhile. In fact, since I had my canoe along the Port Townsend shoreline a few months ago. I was paddling peacefully along and suddenly, right in front of me and within about 15 feet, a cloud of little brown sandpipers erupted off the beach – scaring the heck out of me. It was actually a wonderful experience, and I tucked that memory away for later. And, here’s the experience a second before they all flew.

These birds change colors from their summer arctic feather colors and patterns to much brighter colors to attract a mate. A few months later when fall comes around, they head south for the winter and change again to dull brown, grayish white and many other shades for camouflage to hide against overhead predators such as hawks and eagles. It also makes them almost invisible to paddlers like me!

And so, I made the painting with that in mind. Not obviously bright-colored birds, no brash and colorful wildlife, just a real experience I had seeing about 30 birds very close-up. It’s a believable experience, I hope, as you run your eyes around the canvas counting birds.

Here’s an early photo of my process with this painting with a working frame I use as I go along. You can see the progress of working out the design, adding the birds and shells. The big log in the background hasn’t been figured out yet.

This painting is $1300 with the silver frame you see at the top. Shipping is extra but boxing is included. Outside framed measurements are about 24″ x 30″. Oil on canvas and varnished. If you’re interested, or just want to communicate, write me at larryeifert@gmail.com

And below is the boat I used for the sandpiper experience – I built it last year!

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

Larry Eifert

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 – 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.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Small oil studies, Wildlife

Small Oil Paintings Vol 4

Here are five more of my little oil studies – and all are available at the moment. Drop me an email at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested in purchasing them, or would like to see some of the others I haven’t posted yet. They’re all on linen canvas board, 5″x7″ and the framed outside measurements are 7″ x 9″. Shipping isn’t much as they’re small paintings. Email me if you’d like to know more about any of these: larryeifert@gmail.com Think Valentine’s Day!

Bewick’s Wren framed Sorry, it’s sold

Bewick’s Wrens are classic LBJs (little brown jobs) that I see right outside my studio window. That upright long cocked tail with the spots is a giveaway to which wren it is. The branch is a twig I brought in to the studio so I could have a first-hand model. Framed: $95 and available.

Bewick’s Wren oil on canvas Sorry, it’s sold

Bufflehead portrait framed

From a distance, I don’t often see the crazy iridescence on these beautiful birds, but walking recently on the local section of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail (not two miles from our place here), one popped up next to shore and I could see the rainbow colors on the bird’s head. So, I made a painting of the experience. Bufflehead portrait is available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Bufflehead portrait oil on canvas board

Chestnut-backed Chickadee framed Sorry, it’s sold

Chestnut-backed Chickadees are the true Northwest Coast’s own chickadee species. There are others here, but this one is only here along the west-edge forests that have these reddish to brown needles, tree lichens and leaves, so it really blends in well here. I paint them often. This chickadee painting is available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, framed for $95.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee oil on canvas board Sorry, it’s sold

Douglas Squirrel framed

Douglas Squirrels, also red squirrel or chickaree is the Western forest squirrel in its various forms. In the Puget Sound lowlands, it’s called Douglas Squirrel after David Douglas, discoverer of maybe other things like Douglas-fir. He’s one of my heros, getting constantly lost and having the Indians save him. This little squirrel is fearless, and several of ours have allowed me close contact. They’re good at breaking into our studio’s shingled roof attic and yelling at the house cat.

I painted this from a photo I took of the rascal! It’s available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, framed for $95.

Douglas Squirrel oil on canvas board
Dark-eyed Junco on Queen Anne’s Lace framed

Dark-eyed Juncos are all over our place here, and recently one crashed into a window thinking it was a pathway to another part of the forest. So, this is a homage to that bird. Maybe you will live on, memorialized on a wall somewhere, little friend. They’re beautiful and subtle little birds. I’ve painted these guys many times. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Dark-eyed Junco on Queen Anne’s Lace oil on canvas board

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.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Small Oil Paintings Vol 3

These are more of my little oil studies – and all are available. Drop me an email at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested, or would like to see some of the others I haven’t posted yet. They’re all on linen canvas board, 5″x7″ and the framed outside measurements are 7″ x 9″. Shipping isn’t much as they’re small paintings. Email me if you’d like to talk about any of these: larryeifert@gmail.com Think Valentine’s Day!

Wintering Ruddy Turnstone framed

Ruddy Turnstones are along most of our home bay’s shorelines now. In summer, they’re very spectacular in feather colors, but winter feathers are more subdued. Actually, I prefer them this way right now. Framed: $95 and available.

Wintering Ruddy Turnstone oil on canvas

Below: Golden-crowned Kinglet is available. These tiny birds are really fun to paint. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Golden-crowned Kinglet framed – Sorry, it’s sold

Golden-crowned Kinglet is available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Golden-crowned Kinglet oil on canvas SORRY, IT’S SOLD

Varied Thrush is really common here and I paint them often. Same family as the American Robin except they like deep forest instead of lawns. It’s available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, framed for $95.

Varied Thrush framed Sorry, this painting is sold.
Varied Thrush oil on canvas Sorry, this painting is sold.

Swainson’s Thrush is also really common here in summer, but they arrive in late Spring. I painted this from a photo I took of one on our little pond and can you blame me for wanting to paint a summer bird? Another deep forest bird that is currently in Mexico, where I should be, too. It’s available. 7″x9″ outside measurements, framed for $95.

Swainson’s Thrush framed
Swainson’s Thrush oil on canvas
Olympic Chipmunk framed

This last one is of an Olympic Chipmunk, only found right here (well, up the hill from us in Olympic National Park near treeline). They’re endemic to the Olympic Peninsula. I’ve painted these little guys many times. 7″x9″ outside measurements, $95 framed.

Olympic Chipmunk oil on canvas

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.

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’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

And Instagram is here.

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.

Hiking, Nature Art, New Painting Post

Little Oils – Late Afternoon, Grassy Trail

There’s a brief time during a hiking day (imagined) when the sun is almost down, the atmosphere seems overly warm and sort of glowing. I envision going down a trail and seeing a big meadow ahead. Anticipation of something that might be really meaningful.

This is an 11″ x 14″ oil on stretched canvas. The gold frame as you see it makes the outside measurements about 14″ x 17″. It’s currently available from me for $275, frame included – Yup, no gallery upcharges. Shipping would be a bit more, depending on your distance from me. If you’re interested, please email me: larryeifert@gmail.com. Please see the little essay at the bottom.

I love that experience of the good experience about to happen and have tried to get that feeling here – and in almost all my ‘trail’ paintings in the past. These mostly come to me in winter, when I can’t go actually get here, can’t enjoy it as I would in the warmer days of summer.

When I paint these landscapes, especially ‘trail’ stories, I get lost in making them – it’s like I actually really am hiking along in a real place.

Below is a corner of our studio I’ve been using for these current batch of oil paintings. French easel, glass palette, maul stick – and a great view of the forest beyond. See that little ledge below the gold frame, the one with the Atworth logo on it? About every third brush stroke whacks that right end of it on the way back down to the palette for more paint. It gets more paint than the canvas.

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

Larry Eifert

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 – 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.

Nature Art, New Painting Post, Wildlife

Little Oil Paintings – Vol 2

This second round of little oil studies are mostly sold, but the top few are still available. Drop me an email at larryeifert@gmail.com if you’re interested. This probably won’t be a Christmas gift unless you live on the Olympic Peninsula.

They’re either linen canvas board or stretched canvas, mostly 5×7, framed outside measurements are 7″ x 9″. Shipping isn’t much as they’re small paintings. Email me if you’d like: larryeifert@gmail.com

Nuthatch Nest Hole sorry, it’s sold.
Song Sparrow portrait study. sorry, it’s sold.
Red-breasted Nuthatch sorry, it’s sold. Oil on canvas board.
Olympic National Park alpine meadows SORRY, IT’S SOLD
Brown Creeper portrait study: sold to Heidi Brill – excellent!
Chestnut backed Chickadee – Sorry, it’s sold.
Oregon Junco on yellow willow leaves. Sorry, it’s sold.
11″ x 14″ Song Sparrow in winter twigs. Sorry, it’s sold.

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.

Hiking, National Park Service, New Painting Post, Wildlife

North Fork Sol Duc River – a new painting

This painting is 16″ x 20″ acrylic on canvas, and is available. Email me if you’re interested at larryeifert@gmail.com.  It’s available with the nice Taos school inspired frame and I already have a shipping crate ready to go. Shipping would be extra but we usually ship UPS so it won’t be much.

This painting was inspired by a day hike up the North Fork of the Sol Duc River in nearby Olympic National Park. Not many hikers get here, as it requires a breathe-taking thigh-deep river crossing, but it’s worth every icy step. Once on the east side of the river, the trail goes for miles along the banks, from pool to pool and finally turns into a vague rambling through streamside brush. In places there are sandstone-scoured potholes, meadows beneath huge big-leaf maple groves, just a glorious Olympic ramble. This place has produced several paintings from me, all similar, all emotional light studies of this pristine river’s journey from alpine down into the main stem of the Sol Duc.

Where does this trail start and end? On Olympic National Park’s Sol Duc River Road there’s a parking area just a quarter mile upstream from Salmon Cascades. The trail heads upslope on the east side of the road, the drops to the North Fork in half a mile past the ford. It’s about eight miles upslope to an old CCC shelter, then a few more miles to Mount Appleton and Blue Lake. While the main Sol Duc trail system is mobbed in summer, almost no one makes it this pristine place, just a raven’s flight of a couple of minutes.

This painting is 16″ x 20″ acrylic on canvas, and is available. Email me if you’re interested at larryeifert@gmail.com.  It’s also available with the nice Taos school inspired frame (like you see here) and I already have a shipping crate ready to go. The offering price framed as you see it here is $950 – shipping cost is extra but it will go double boxed UPS.

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.

New Painting Post, Wildlife

Under the Maple – an acrylic painting

A very personal painting for me, as these birds live with us in our little meadow here. I know them well.

Varied Thrushes are cousins to  American robins, which we also have. They’re at home on the ground in the forest, kicking leaves around looking for insects or berries – while robins tend to live in the open. We have many of these guys right here in our little patch of forest. In Fall through Spring, they can almost disappear when the maples and alders drop their leaves and look exactly the same camouflaged colors. The trillium in bloom shows it’s spring, the big-leaf maple leaves haven’t decomposed yet from last fall, the birds are brighter than normal sporting their breeding colors. I couldn’t resist putting it all together to make a painting based on a Mar’s red base color.

Here’s the link for the little 4-minute video I made about my process.

There wasn’t a sketch for this – I just started painting but with some clear ideas of composition. Here are the two reference photos I took not 100 feet from my studio.

At our place, trilliums tend to group together. I understand ants disperse the sweet seeds pods, so maybe ours are just lazy.

In the trillium reference, you can see dozens of alder catkins on the ground – it’s spring! As I progressed with this, I took a progress photo. No sketch, it helps me to see how it’s going if I look at it on a device, even my phone. In some ways, I like this version as well as the final painting.

This painting is 18″ x 24″ acrylic on canvas, and is available. Email me if you’re interested at larryeifert@gmail.com.  It’s available with the nice Taos school inspired frame and I already have a shipping crate ready to go.

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

I’ve been adding new videos to my YouTube Channel here. Most are about my painting process, shot in my studio.

Larry Eifert

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 – 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.

New Painting Post, Wildlife

The Neighborhood – a new painting

2023-3-11 “The Neighborhood” is an acrylic painting on canvas, 30″ x 40″. It’s a little story about the communities of wildlife on the Olympic Peninsula where we live – paint. This has been on my easel for awhile, changing and evolving, sort of like the critters, themselves. We’ve seen over 90 different species here in our forest, but so far not a single elk.

No preliminary sketches were made for this painting – it was laid out as I went along, placing the elk’s nose right in the center-of-interest and everyone else radiated out from there. I set the stage for a place a bit more wet than here in dry-Port Townsend, a rainforest commonly seen just west of here.

Below are some closeup shots of the details.

I made a funny little video of my process with this painting – it’s up now on my YouTube Channel. I think it’s important to be able to laugh at yourself and this one brought tears. Damned easel. I didn’t do much editing to preserve the absurdity of it.

I go into this in my video on my channel here. There are others, too.

Or here: https://youtu.be/Dj3gCVx2U6A

This painting started out as a deer painting, then it quickly evolved into an elk and after remembering the giant bull elk (two of them) I almost ran into last summer not 2 miles from here. It grew into a full-blown ecosystem effort with many critters, all of which are here in our forest – except the spotted owl. That bird has been replaced by a similar character (barred owl) that might take my head off any minute.

Below: besides the elk, there’s a Pacific wren, two black-headed grosbeaks (they nest here in the forest), a downy woodpecker and snowshoe hare.

This painting is 30″ x 40″ acrylic on canvas and is available for sale. Email me at larry@larryeifert.com for information. Framed as you see it here, I’m asking $2300 framed, normal price for this size. No gallery fees.

And we also have this darker frame. Shipping is extra, but we have the crate ready to go.

I also did some still photography of the studio recently for my videos. Here’s a fun shot of the interior where I spend many hours of my life. It should enlarge with a click.

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

I’ve been adding new videos to my YouTube Channel here. Most are about my painting process, shot in my studio.

Larry Eifert

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 – 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.