Molly Hashimoto

Sacred Trees

I've been working on several new watercolor paintings, and each of them has a tree, or a forest as a subject. I saw this venerable rocky mountain juniper at Yellowstone Park when I was teaching there last September.  Being a lifelong tree lover and one who cherishes Central Park, I was thrilled to read this morning in the New York Times about a project to map the trees of Central Park; Edward Sibley Barnard and Ken Chaya spent the last two years studying the park and have created a beautiful map called Central Park Entire. The two men spent almost $40,000 of their own money to complete the project--it was, essentially, a labor of love--they are hoping that through website sales they will break even.  Barnard says that "old trees have a sacred element...they created us. We're all mammals that spent our time in the canopy."  Chaya added that he considers the park to be one of the most important masterpieces of American art. And he went on to say this is a masterpiece that is always changing. Only 150 of the original Olmstead and Vaux trees remain in the park. Storms and old age take their toll, but there are always new trees being planted, thanks to the efforts of the Central Park Conservancy. I've written several posts about Central Park and its trees, and my favorite spot in the Park, the Ramble.

More Intaglio Experiments

I've been working on more solarplate intaglio etching--looking for the right images to work out in wash and dark and light contrasts is key to exploiting this medium's potential, and I'm still figuring it out. I've done two previous sketches of this scene from Diablo Lake at the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learnng Center, and also last year I did an egg tempera painting of it. I'm not sure if anyone else is using walnut ink to create the solar plate image, but I like the wash effects and I'm working out exposure times.  One plate I exposed actually burned through all the surface plate material--you can expose a plate for up to 2 minutes--so after that first plate, I reduced exposure time by 30 seconds. For this print I used Magnani Pescia cream paper, and Charbonnel Burnt Sienna ink, mixed with a little raw umber.  I love the colors of certain Old Master drawings--Tiepolo, Rembrandt, Leonardo--mostly they used bistre or other drawing sticks, but Van Gogh used colored ink to great effect also.

Cave Art

Last weekend I saw Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a new 3D documentary film by Werner Herzog about the Chauvet caves in France. It was such a feast for the eyes--witness the beautiful modeling of these stunning horse heads. One of the best things about the film is how Herzog allowed the art to speak for itself--he didn't do alot of interpreting, though he did give voice to several of the scientists who have worked there.  
Mostly the camera lingered on the amazing paintings. As an artist I found myself just a bit frustrated by the lack of information about how the paintings were created, but I found a book called Stepping-Stones: A Journey through the Ice Age Caves of the Dordogne by Christine Desdemaines-Hugon, which discusses some of the methods of ancient cave art. Artists applied pigments to the caves in many ways; sticks of colors were made from chunks of raw materials, distinct brushstrokes can be seen on some art, colors could be dabbed or sponged on walls with pads of moss or fur. Fingers also smudged the pigments for shading.  And most interesting, some pigments were sprayed on. The porous limestone was humidified first and then areas were masked--in the non-masked areas the dry, finely ground pigments were blown through blowpipes of hollow birds' bones, or directly from the hand or mouth.  This is not at all different from the technique of fresco painting. 

Cascades Foothills Springtime

 Yesterday I hiked in the Cascades foothills and found some beautiful springtime phenomena--I love wood violets, the yellow flowers contrasting with the deeper green of the spade-shaped leaves.

This trillium is several days old, and has the rosy glow of a fading flower.
Here fiddleheads are beginning to unfurl.

Plein Air Watercolor in Seattle: Students' Work

   This spring my plein air landscape class and I have gotten out just a few times, because of the relentless rain and cold. This photo was taken on a sunny outing at the Arboretum.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the right is Melissa Haumerson's sketch done that day. 

Terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone

  I began this watercolor painting back in the fall, after seeing this otherworldly terrace while teaching a class for the Yellowstone Association Institute. I was inspired by the work of Gunnar Widforss who painted Jupiter Terrace at Mammoth, and whose work I viewed at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center in Gardiner, Montana. Our Yellowstone Institute class visits the Center and it is always a highlight of the class.

Watercolor Flowers: More Student Work

 Diane Adams painted a pansy in the monumental style of Georgia O'Keeffe, using complementary colors to really make the flower pop.  This cool wet spring really makes a gardener grateful for violas and pansies, as they thrive in these conditions.    
 
 
Barbara Broderick painted these tulips in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Deborah Greene painted a monumental rose, using wet into wet techniques. Earlier in our session she painted this clover.  
 

Watercolor Flowers: More Student Work

  Last week in class we took a look at Charles Rennie Mackintosh's botanical illustrations. Everyone came up with a marvelous tribute to his work, making it their own. To the left is Terri Stueve's ode to Himalayan Blue Poppies.

 To the right is Harriet Herschel's Iceleand Poppy.
 

Watercolor Travel Journal at the Libraries

 
 Yesterday I spent the day at the Darrington and Granite Falls libraries teaching patrons there about how I keep travel journals. Participants were all ages, and it was so much fun sharing my recent travel photos with all of them. At Darrington, the group was mainly adults; here are some of their efforts: