![\"\"](\"http:\/\/larryeifert.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Fort-Townsend-sketch1.jpg\" "\\"Fort-Townsend-sketch\\"")
<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n(Lots\u00a0going on in this sketch – this should enlarge if you click on it)<\/p>\n
((Sorry to say, but my server has been playing some evil tricks with me. Hopefully the blog\u00a0is back in business.))<\/strong><\/p>\n I paint this stuff all over the country<\/strong>, from Alaska to the Great Smoky Mountains, but very rarely\u00a0have I been able to accept a large mural commission within a mile or so of our home. Here’s the sketch almost ready for\u00a0painting – and it’ll be fun for me.<\/p>\n Fort Townsend is an old army barracks that supposedly protected Port Townsend about 150 years ago. In reality, the town protected the fort, and so as time went on the property fell into the hands of the Washington State Parks – and now it’s one of the rarest lowland old-growth forests in Puget Sound. It’s dry country here 40 miles northwest of Seattle (yes, it’s true) and with only 18″ of rain annually, the trees don’t get very big. Because it’s never been logged and the ground has been undisturbed for about\u00a08,000 years, some pretty rare plants grow here. You can find calypso orchids,\u00a0candystick, gnome plant, pinedrops and spotted coralroot. These are all interesting\u00a0plants that live off other plants – so they aren’t green, and this painting is all\u00a0about showing that. Candystick looks\u00a0just like its name. It’s a colorful stick like something\u00a0you’d find at the candy store.\u00a0To get this sketch\u00a0going, I simply\u00a0used my backyard plant and bird list for the pileated woodpecker, brown creeper and all the rest. The deer is from a photo from our front yard. The squirrel, chipmunk\u00a0and most of the small birds could be drawn from life on our feeder every day.<\/p>\n When it’s finished, we’ll develop an exhibit in the park centered around the painting and its story, and each time we go there for a hike (and it’s often) I’ll\u00a0feel like I’m a small part of this\u00a0rare place. This project is being funded by a generous grant from the Friends of Fort Townsend (especially Ann and Nancy)\u00a0and the Washington State Native Plant Society who know the value of art in education. Thanks to them for allowing me to show off\u00a0 my backyard!<\/p>\n Thanks for reading this week. Click <\/a>here to go to the online blog this was to.<\/p>\n Click <\/a>here to go to our main website – packed with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.<\/p>\n Click<\/a> here to check out what Nancy’s currently working on with her photography.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 (Lots\u00a0going on in this sketch – this should enlarge if you click on it) ((Sorry to say, but my server has been playing some evil tricks with me. Hopefully the blog\u00a0is back in business.)) I paint this stuff all over the country, from Alaska to the Great Smoky Mountains, but very rarely\u00a0have I … Continue reading Fort Townsend Old-growth mural – almost in our backyard<\/span>
\nLarry Eifert<\/p>\n