Ferry in the Mist

Yesterday I completed my latest oil painting, which I titled "Ferry in the Mist". I have been interested in painting a ferry for quite some time, and this seemed like a dramatic enough setting where I could knock it out and be happy with both the backdrop and placement of the subject. Emerging from a Puget Sound fog bank, this Washington State Ferry was framed perfectly as it churned along with Mount Rainier providing a perfect backdrop. I took some artistic license in the positioning of Rainier- Little Tahoma which juts conspicuously out from the left side of Rainier in the painting is actually on the eastern fringe of the giant volcano- and as a result is not visible from Puget Sound. However, given my interest in the aesthetic terrain feature of that peak residing next to the mountain- and a belief that seeing Little Tahoma will make Rainier instantly identifiable from the myriad of other snow-capped peaks in the Pacific Northwest, I didn't see the harm in making that slight modification to the finished product. The painting is now framed and is sitting on my wall in the main room of the loft.

Already moving on to the next oil, I spent some time going back and forth on what the subject should be. Every once in a while I jump onto a theme for paintings. Perhaps based on my upcoming Tokyo trip for the Mt Fuji climb, I'm back onto cherry blossoms. Every year, the Tidal Basin in Washington DC becomes an explosion of cherry blossoms- also known as sakura in Japanese. The last sakura painting I did of the Tidal Basin was looking the opposite direction of the Jefferson Memorial- instead focusing in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. An evening scene, the flash on my camera lit up the cherry blossoms and provided an incredible contrast to the muted reflections bouncing off of the mirror calm Tidal Basin. I truly enjoy how this particular painting turned out but am interested in working more with the cherry blossom setting and seeing where I can go with it.

DC. Ahh, DC. What a weird town. I either love it, or hate it. When I'm driving down the Beltway in completely stopped traffic that rivals Los Angeles I count the seconds till I'm on a plane. But when I'm down around the monuments and the National Mall, I love it. Each monument is unique in it's own right- and among all of the monuments, the Jefferson Memorial is hands down my favorite. Not simply because of the commemoration to this great man and Founding Father, but also to the architecture and even the history behind this building. Quick fun-fact: During WW II, the Jefferson Memorial was built on land fill and the massive Jefferson statue adorning the inside constructed of plaster, with bronze paint to cover it. Bronze was simply too expensive and necessary for the war effort to use on a statue. Only after the war effort did the Government quietly replace the plaster statue with a metal one. The picture at right, taken on a calm spring morning a few years ago is one of my next paintings. I'm going to overemphasize the blossoms and make some of the shadows on the memorial itself a little more sharp but love the colors and texture of the water.. so those will remain as-is. Hopefully I can crank that one out before I launch in March.

I'm also going to experiment a little with cherry blossoms as the subject, but try to merge a few different styles. I really like the traditional Japanese style rice paper paintings where sakura is prominently displayed and there is a singular focus on the branch and flower. But I also like to mix it up a little bit here and there after focusing on a realistic painting like "Ferry in the Mist". I wouldn't really call some of my paintings abstract, but some do come close. One of those paintings, "Palm Trees"- is more or less abstract and impressionist with a generous dose of tans and light browns. So when I was looking at the styles of both paintings- classical Japanese rice paper and my whacky Palm Tree style I think I am going to focus the next painting on nothing more than the cherry blossoms and branches. Yes, others have done this- most notably Van Gogh, with great success. But while I love his painting, I also find it a bit busy. So I'm going to do a little thinking on the next one and then wing it. We'll see how it goes.

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