Molly Hashimoto

Trillium

On Saturday, April 14th, I'll be heading up to the Darrington and Granite Falls Libraries--part of the Sno-Isle Library System--to teach a short workshop at each branch on painting Washington wildflowers in watercolor. I'm hoping to find some trillium in bloom before then at a local nursery, so I can bring up some real flowers!  A forest floor abloom with trillium is one of the loveliest sights of spring. For this painting, which appeared in the Nature's Peace calendar published by Pomegranate Communications, I first sketched the trillium flower and leaves, then saved the white paper for the flower and painted a loose wash around the plant; the dark wash helps pop the striking white of the flower.

A Scold of Jays

I'm planning for my upcoming Watercolor Wildlife and Birds class at University Heights Center this spring and aim to present a way of painting that gives a sense of the fluidity of the watercolor medium. Painting loosely also serves as a great warm up and conveys the proportions and contours of a bird or mammal quickly.  On this sketch of a scold of jays (such an apt collective noun!) I worked on Fabriano Artistico cold press paper and laid a loose background wash first. After it dried I painted the birds directly (no pencil drawing first) with a DaVinci Maestro #6 brush--it holds alot of paint, but with its beautiful tapered point it's easy to get sharp details like bills and claws. The birds were painted with the  medium value general color first, then water was dropped in to create lighter areas, and then the darkest darks were lightly added with the brush tip.

Birds at Union Bay Natural Area

This morning I strolled around Union Bay Natural Area in Seattle, including the Yesler Swamp area east of the Miller Library. I saw this Song Sparrow up close, and I'm glad to have gotten a good photo, as I'm preparing for a class I'm teaching in a couple of weeks on wildlife and birds in watercolor. It's a class I've offered several times before, and this time around I hope to work more with students on ways to integrate the surrounding landscapes.  We'll paint birds in various habitats, including waterfowl.
This morning I also saw a Ring-necked Duck in the canal near the Husky crew center at Union Bay. At first I thought this duck was a Scaup, but the white on the bill is the clue.

Coming of Spring

Spring has been reluctant to arrive in Seattle, but finally the flowers are  beginning to bloom; I saw daffodils and beautiful cherry blossoms today on a short outing. Fritillaria meleagris has always been one of my favorite spring-bloomers, with its odd checquered lily shape--I saw them growing wild up on Lopez Island some years back. Charles Rennie Mackintosh did a wonderful botanical illustration of them, which I was looking at before doing this version of my own. I'll be teaching a class on flowers and gardens, something I love to do in spring, and we'll try something like this in our class.

North Cascades Institute Workshops

Register now for any North Cascades Institute workshop and receive a $20 discount if you register by April 15, 2012. I'm excited about the April 27-29 workshop I'll be teaching on relief printmaking; the Institute used my print of a Hairy Woodpecker--seen on Diablo Lake when I was up at the Learning Center last summer-- for this postcard they just sent out. If you've never been up to the Environmental Learning Center, this is the perfect time to try it: enjoy the beauty of early spring, the late snow lingering on Pyramid and Colonial Peaks high above our classroom. Inspiration will abound!

Here are 3 simple ways to register:

Register online at www.ncascades.org/get_outside

Register by phone at (360) 854-2599

Register by email at nci@ncascades.org

Watercolor Trees: Students' Work

I've just finished up the winter quarter class on trees, and here I'm sharing some of the students' fine efforts. The painting to the left is by John Tubbs--he used only a large flat brush to paint this, and successfully painted the entire work in about 45 minutes.  He worked on white Arches paper and added gouache for the snow.

To the right is Mary Yakushijin's sketch of snowy trees; she used maasking fluid to preserve the snow on the tree branches.

To the left is Harriet Herschel's painting of trees and autumn color in Bend, Oregon.

To the right is Barbara Broderick's painting of sequoias.

 

Italian Sketch: A Demonstration on Toned Paper

Upon arriving in Venice early in the morning after a dreamlike sunrise flight over the snowy Alps, we opened the window shutters in our hotel room and saw this jumbled and delightful view of rooftops--a kind of back view of Venice. It appeared to be a complex subject to draw, but recently I discovered a book on sketching architecture, Freehand Sketching: An Introduction, by Paul Laseau, with some excellent exercises and insights. Laseau writes that while perspective is a handy device to construct imagined spaces, it is not useful, and possibly detrimental, to sketching existing environments. Using perspective can place an arbitrary screen between you and the environment, leading to rationalizing rather than scrutinizing your subject. I used the book with the classes I taught this winter on travel journals. To sketch freehand, it's important to create the frame first and then fit the larger elements into the frame.  In this sketch, I fitted the roof in the left foreground in first, then the wall above it, adding the outside contours of each of the large shapes. Once those are in place, it's easy to subdivide those spaces by adding windows, arches, chimneys and
moldings. The paper I used is made by the Ruscombe Paper Mill in England. They make a variety of very traditional toned watercolor papers--this warm creamy brown with the lovely texture of small hemp fibers floating here and there is called the David Cox paper, after the famous 19th century watercolor landscape artist. They also make Turner blue, a stunning gray'green/blue hue. All of these toned papers are relatively smooth and allow for precise line work. I stretched this piece first on gator board, as it's rather thin and would buckle under heavy washes, though I think it would work fine for pen and light wash without stretching. 

In Step 1 you can see how I began, as I left some areas unpainted.

In Step 2, more areas are painted, but there are still many details left to add.

In Step 3, you can see completed tiles, and a light glaze of cobalt blue over some of the shadowed areas.

In Step 4, the completed sketch, also shown above, notice how I have painted white on some of the tiles and molding. Those highlights help to show the sunlight striking some areas. And in using toned papers, the addition of white gouache really completes the painting or sketch.  The 19th century British watercolorists used it frequently. I opened a fresh tube of Winsor and Newton Permanent White Gouache, and at nearly full strength it really covers.

North Cascades Institute Workshops

Register now for the 2012 season of workshops at the North Cascades Institute. On April 27-29, I'll be up at the Environmental Learning Center teaching Relief Printmkaing with Watercolor.  Inspired by all the mountain scenery, wildlife and plant diversity, we'll work in the studio discovering the power of black and white contrast, and how to carve dramatic line and tint with brilliant color.  I've taught this workshop at Daniel Smith Artists' Materials and it was one of the most fun workshops I've ever taught! At the Learning Center I always enjoy marvelous food cooked by some of my favorite chefs, including Mike Cuseo, who starts with local organic produce to create his beautiful meals. If you've never savored the wonders of the Environmental Learning Center in the heart of the North Cascades, I hope you'll give it a try this season. In June I'll be teaching a landscape watercolor class; more details on that to follow. I'm excited to visit in late April, as the high peaks will still be draped in the heavy snows of this winter!