Hurricane Ridge, Mt Vernon, and Deception Pass

Well, we had a fun couple of paint outs since I last posted. The Hurricane Ridge paint out had a surprisingly large number of people come out and paint, maybe 20 of us were there over the weekend. I was there on Saturday that weekend, and has a really nice time painting the scene with the dramatic clouds over the mountains.

Towards the end of the day Karen Bakke and I were starting to paint a mountain slope, when it started raining really hard! My painting did not do well in the deluge and ended up looking like this:

Karen had better luck with the oils, and while we had to pack up quick, she finished the painting in the studio:

The next week, we had a nice sunny weekend in Mt. Vernon/Deception Pass paint out. I was only able to go to the Mt. Vernon one, but it was nice to paint side by side with Sharon Curran, who did this lovely painting of the Skagit River:

Couple more from the paint out:

(Kathleen Ritz)

(Brooke Borcherding)

By the way, the deadline for the upcoming art show and competition coming pretty soon.  This year's theme is Meadows to Mountains, and will be juried by Michael Situ. The deadline is September 15. Here's the prospectus. Happy painting!

Featured Artist: Sylvia Carlton

I'm glad to say that the second in our planned regular series of posts highlighting our advertising members is Sylvia Carlton. As the founder of Plein Air Washington Artists, all of us in PAWA owe Sylvia a great debt of gratitude. If not for her founding PAWA and being its president for a large part of its existence, we would not be the organization that we are now.

More in Sylvia's own words:

As PAWA founder, I am passionate about painting outside on location. I love being outside painting what I see and how it moves me. The beauty of the landscape is like music to me. I want to paint the day’s light in all of its subtleties and its glory. 

I am also a studio painter inspired by what I see outside and through inspirations by ‘painting from life’  usually florals. I rarely paint from photographs but rather from smaller paintings, sketches and still life. 

Always eclectic, my style will change depending on how my painting unfolds or how my subject speaks to me. My work can range from traditional to whimsical and abstract. I interchange materials such as Oils, Acrylics, and occasionally Oil Pastel. 

When others are able to experience the beauty of the natural world through my artwork I am happy. I was honored to have been chosen to show a number of my plein air paintings in the inaugural exhibit at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

Here's a sampling of Sylvia's work:

Poppy Daze

Rainy Day At Skagit Wildlife

Orchid Splendor

Coastal Storm

Personally as someone who likes to paint in acrylics, I find it inspiring and comforting whenever I see Sylvia painting in acrylics in our paint outs, among the sea of oil painters (not that there's anything wrong with oil painters). Regardless of medium, there is a directness to Sylvia's work that I really appreciate.

Sylvia's work is available online, www.sylviacarlton.com, at her studio on Bainbridge Island by appointment anytime, or through Blue Water Artworks, Poulsbo WA.

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In other PAWA news: our prospectus for the upcoming art show and competition is up.  This year's theme is Meadows to Mountains, and will be juried by Michael Situ. The deadline is September 15. Here's the prospectus. Happy painting!