Abandoned packing shed

The Packing Shed

12 x 18 soft pastels on Kitty Wallis Professional white

by Miki Willa

This painting has been kicking my butt. I think it is finally finished. The place is a lavender farm northeast of Bellingham, Washington. We were there on a very warm day, enjoying the lavender, the bees, and the beautiful surroundings. At one point, I spotted this old packing shed. Apparently, there used to be fruit grown on the property. The shed was still in relatively good condition as far as looks go, but I don't think I would want to spend much time under it. I love these old structures from a distance.

I started the painting with a gradient orange to yellow underpainting. It really kept the painting warm, which I think made for some of my problems. I finally decided to stay with the orange in the sky and work from there. I used the grayed out greens from my Terry Ludwig pastels for the trees in the background. I then used the warmer greens as I came forward. After fighting with it for days, I decided to kick back and have fun with it. Now, I like it.

I have decided to stay with more realism with my pastels and non-representational with the acrylics and collage. That decision has really eased my mind. I do really enjoy the style I have developed with the pastels, but want to expand my horizons. I think this will work out very well for me. I believe change can be very good, but I am of an age where hanging onto some of the old is very comforting.

Small Spaces series

Churning

12 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

by Miki Willa

I first got the idea of doing a Small Spaces series a couple of years ago when I noticed that I was fascinated by little places and scenes. Scenes often overlooked in our everyday fast pace as we work hard to get through life. I found myself drawn to the corner at the bottom of the concrete steps where a flowering weed grew, or the rock formation around one of the steam vents on a volcanic plain. I do love the grand vistas, and enjoy painting them, but once in a while, I see something small that touches my painter soul.

Last summer, we took a short hike in Flaming Geyser State Park. After walking along the Green River, we started up a narrow trail along a small creek. When we got to the point where it became too muddy for my shoes, I noticed a really interesting place along the stream where the water was rushing and churning over a few smallish rocks. The branches hanging over the stream were covered in lichen and moss. This is a small space of no more than three or four square feet in the water.

I used dark purples, reds, greens, and blues in the rocks. The water is all from the Unison light set. The lichen and moss are mostly from the yellow-greens in the Terry Ludwig green set from many years ago. I had great fun creating this new addition to the small spaces series. I think I have turned a corner in my rendering of moving water.

Snow in Seattle

It has been snowing in the Greater Seattle area off and on for over a week now. I spent part of that time painting and part of it creating Christmas stockings for five family members. This project all started because I wanted to make a stocking for my new granddaughter. Her parents wanted new stockings as well. Then my husband spoke up, so I had to have a new one also. Next year, I will make for the rest of the family. It was a fun project. I haven't sat at the sewing machine very often over the last ten years or so. I think I will be doing more fun projects now that I have it set up again.
I lived in the Seattle area for many years before I moved to Hawaii and don't remember real snow in December. This has been a great adventure for me because I haven't had to try and get around in it. I thought I would share a couple of photos of the yard. I don't remember too many white Christmases in my life. I am sure there have been a few, but they are rare. This snow is supposed to stick around until Christmas day, when it will begin to rain. I wonder what the rest of winter will have in store.


This is a view of part of the back yard. We have a wonderful yard that has great character all times of the year. Notice the two bird feeders toward the distance.

This is the maple tree by the front door. I love the structure of the branches and trunk. You can see a fall foliage shot of this same tree near the bottom of this post.

Green and More Green

Green on the Green

9 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

This is the Green River in Flaming Geyser State Park, Washington. I did this one using a complementary color underpainting. I should have taken WIP photos to show you some of the amusing problems I had with this painting. When I thought it was finished, I stepped back with Tom and discovered that the river looked as if it were going to slide diagonally off the page toward the bottom right corner. I hadn't paid enough attention to my water strokes. Then I noticed that I had created a perfect formal garden hedge of flowers all along the river bank. The path was all one value from front to back. I decided to wait until this morning to fix all of this. A few carefully placed strokes with my handy-dandy foam brush took out much of the hedge and helped to fix the river. I found my favorite purple for the nearest part of the path. Then I added the strokes in the river to make it show movement in the correct direction. We were there on a very cool early June day when the river was still running high, and I think I captured both the cool weather and the full river.

The title? It was a very lush green place along a river named Green.

The color of haze

Sound View

9 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I finally made time to get back to the studio this week. Since I still have several local monuments to paint, I decided to get the Mt. Rainier painting taken care of. I am not entirely satisfied with it, but I will try and explain my feelings about this Puget Sound icon.

First, some basic information about the mountain. Mt. Rainier is 14,411 feet high, making it the highest mountain in the Cascade Range. It is an active stratovolcano, and it has 26 glaciers. That is the most glaciers on one mountain in the lower 48 states. Parts of it are open year round for hiking and day trips.

When I first moved to the northwest during my college days, in the dark ages, I have been in love with this mountain. Of course, I am not alone in this love fest. It is a part of local lore as well as conversations. "The mountain is out today," is a great weather indicator. The goals of many local residents include climbing the mountain at least once in their lifetime. Many celebrations take place on the mountain, as well as few losses over the years. Going to the mountain for a day trip or a week long camping adventure is a must. Seeing the wildflower meadows in late spring is awe inspiring. The most interesting thing about this mountain is that it appears differently each day and each season.

On a recent trip to the northwest, before moving here, I took several photos of Mt. Rainier from the decks of the Bremerton-Seattle ferry. It looked so big and close in real life. When I got home and looked at the photos, I was disappointed that the sense of proximity and size were completely lost. When I decided to paint it last week, I decided to exaggerate those points. One important point is that the snow cover on the mountain takes on the colors of the sun at each point during the day. Late afternoon and early evening, the reflections are pinks and oranges. I wanted to include that in my interpretation. There is often a haze or low cloud cover masking the base of the mountain and the foothills leading up to it, which adds to the mystique of the mountain, I think. The haze is where I first got into trouble in the painting. I finally went to Daniel Smith's and bought new pastels in the light range, and that helped.

Finally, I am pretty happy about the mountain, but the mid and foreground need something. Any suggestions would be received well.

Painting Details - or not

Virginia's Pond

12 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

In my continuing journey to become a better artist, I find I am looking more critically at some of my favorite artists to see what they are doing right. I am beginning to see that there is a way that these artists handle details that draws me in. James Gurney wrote a post about what artists include in their paintings that was really though provoking along these lines. One of the artists who handles details in a way I find quite wonderful is Richard McKinley.

McKinley knows just where to include details and where to indicate them. He uses color, line, and light to draw the viewer into his landscapes and details to guide you along the path to the place of most importance. I am fortunate to be signed up for a workshop with him in July. I am looking forward to learning some of his techniques.

Today's painting is done from a reference photo of my friends', Virginia and Jerry, pond in northwestern Washington. Several years ago, they bought a large and wonderful log house on several acres. Thanks to a family of beavers, they looked out from their deck onto a great pond. I have been meaning to paint this for years, but lost the photos until a few days ago. I was drawn to this photo because of the yellow leaf. Tom thinks I need to make the leaf look more like what it is. I am working on it.

Deception Pass

Deception Pass

12 x 18 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I finally got time to work on a larger piece. I really had fun with this one. This is one of my favorite places in Puget Sound. It is at the northern end of Whidbey Island, and it separates Skagit Sound from the Straits of Juan de Fuca. It was named Deception Pass by Captain Vancouver on one of his exploratory voyages because he was certain it led into a sheltered bay, but found it to be a strait instead.

I am finding that I use totally different greens and blues here. I wasn't frustrated once in finding the right green. Besides, I recently read Richard McKinley's post about greens and tried to apply some of what he said. I think it really made a difference.

I read an article in the latest Pastel Journal about painting local landmarks, and how that is a good thing. I have also seen artists talk about local landmarks being so cliche. For me, I paint what I enjoy seeing or what moves me in some way. I also find that I am painting the kinds of things I am drawn to in other people's art. I was reading Travels With a Sketchbook in . . . the other day, and Katherine was talking about analysing what you like by going to a large exhibition and seeing what you are drawn to. Now, I just have to figure out how to find the right market for what I do. It is time to start marketing my work.