Molly Hashimoto

Sitka Center for Art & Ecology Workshops

Last week I taught 2 workshops at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology on the Central Oregon coast and we spent time in the forest painting enormous Sitka spruce trees. As the trees mature the lower branches become bare of needles as they receive less light and all that you can see at eye level are massive trunks with countless stiff heavy branches uplifted in a shallow v, a kind of herringbone pattern, but much less delicate, all of them lavishly decorated with bright green mosses. Each of the students came up with remarkable work here; I think the dark enchanted riches of the Sitka spruce forest inspired every one of us.

 Here is the new growth of a Sitka spruce, the hue looking surprisingly like a Colorado blue spruce. This branch was draped by a yellow-green lichen, matching the bright new cones.

Protecting Washington Habitats

 I've spent hours roaming Union Bay Natural Area, the North Cascades and other places in Washington in search of wildlife, birds and landscapes to photograph and paint, and countless hours in my studio, and even more hours writing about my efforts on these pages; it's important to realize that these creatures upon whom we rely for inspiration in turn rely on adequate habitat for their survival. Climate change threatens those habitats, which is why I think it is crucial to support organizations and work to create legislation that will help species survive the change that is already occuring. The Sierra Club is conducting a Resilient Habitats campaign nationwide and in Washington state, including Puget Sound which you can join.  There are seven steps to the campaign, which include:

1. science-based blueprints for building resilient habitats

and natural systems carbon sequestration;

2. adequate and appropriate core areas, buffer areas, and

connecting corridors to give species the space to adapt;

3. limitations on all non-climate stressors that exacerbate the

impact of climate change on natural areas;

4. climate-smart management and adaptation strategies;

5. strengthened natural systems to safeguard communities

from climate change;

6. restored natural areas to help sequester atmospheric carbon

dioxide pollution; and

7. reliable sources of funding to build resilient habitats and

natural systems carbon sequestration programs.

 Get involved and stay tuned to the Puget Sound Resilient Habitats Campaign through the Sierra Club Facebook page.

 

Watercolor Journals for Children: Lake Hills Library

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday I taught a group of 22 very engaged children all about how I keep nature and travel journals. I brought some of my favorite photos from parks and travels and I was immensely gratified by the genuine interest the kids exhibited; it's always so much fun to see what they come up with. Here you see children and their interpretations of a long-billed dowitcher, a Townsend's chipmunk, deer, a gray jay and a coyote.  Many thanks to King County Library for funding this program!
And to Maggie Wong, the wonderful children's librarian at Lake Hills for these photos and getting all these kids and families interested in the program! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
 
 

North Cascades Institute 25th Anniversary Poster

    I was so honored to share my painting of Pyramid Peak, Diablo Lake and Diablo Dam with the North Cascades Institute to help them celebrate their 25th anniversary with this poster.  Recently Jon Jarvis, National Park Service Director, with Chip Jenkins, Superintendent of North Cascades National Park,  gave the Institute and its founder, Saul Weisberg, its Outstanding Partnership Achievement award, to acknowledge 25 years of working together with the National Parks. Read more. The poster is available through the North Cascades Institute in any of the 5 North Cascades National Park bookstores for $10, or for $15 which includes shipping and handling by phone at (360) 854-2500 or email at nci@ncascades.org  Proceeds will benefit the youth programs of the Institute. Christian Martin asked me to write a few words about why I painted this scene and last week he included them on the North Cascades Institute's blog Chattermarks.

Summer Birds at Magnuson Park's Wetlands

 High summer brings some interesting visitors to Magnuson Park's new wetlands. A friend who is a master birder thought that this was likely a long-billed dowitcher, already migrating south.  The bird was remarkably complacent about our presence, and we got to watch it tunneling into the pond's mud with its amazing bill.

Later in the week we saw this California quail, surveying the wetlands from the deck of an old stump. I thought they were usually more secretive, having seen them a couple of times in the past running for cover on the nearby Burke-Gilman Trail,  but our slow movements did not disturb the bird much and we got to observe it for several minutes.

SAM Exhibit: Beauty & Bounty: American Art in an Age of Exploration

One of Thomas Moran's many versions of the Grand Canon of the Yellwstone hangs in the new Seattle Art Museum exhibit Beauty & Bounty: American Art in an Age of Exploration, which runs through September 11, 2011. The exhibit includes more than 120 works and is a survey of 19th and 20th cenutry American landscape paintings and photographs. I especially enjoyed some of the lesser known paintings and artists including Hudson River School artist Martin Johnson Heade's Storm Clouds over the Marshes. I thought I was looking at something much more contemporary. That was true of a couple of George Innes canvases also. I also loved the work of John Kensett, one of the founding artists of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Carleton Watkins' and William Henry Jackson's photos are stunning. I love the size of them--somehow they don't seem as dated as the monumental oil canvases of Moran and Bierstadt. I'd have been very glad to see some watercolors in the exhibit; two artists in the exhibit were masters of the medium, Moran and William Trost Richards. I really regretted that the exhibit did not include Northwest artist Abby Williams Hill, about whom I have written on this blog.  She really belongs in this exhibit  because of her work in the early 20th century commissioned by the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroads. There are other northwest artists, and those who visited the northwest included, which is why I am a little surprised she was not included. If you'd like to see her work in person, you can visit the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, where many of her paintings hang in the Administration Building.

More Student Art from the North Cascades Weekend

Jennifer Molesworth sent me this scan of her dramatic sketchbook page from the June North Cascades Institute workshop. This was the view from the Lily Shelter, just outside the Environmental Learning Center on Diablo Lake. She used a wet into wet technique to begin with and then added leaf shapes when the first wash was dry. I like the hint of violet in the background, suggesting the ridge seen through the trees in the distance.

Nature's Peace Calendar for 2012

 My new 2012 calendar Nature's Peace is now available for purchase from Pomegranate Communications and from many retail outlets nationwide.  Pictured here are the front cover and also the back cover, which shows all the illustrations for each month. My watercolors are paired with quotations from the writings of John Muir; Pomegranate's editors chose some beautiful quotes.
Art in the calendar is inspired by my visits to national parks and wilderness areas, including the North Cascades, Yellowstone and Mt. Rainier.