Molly Hashimoto

Garden Watercolors: Student Work

After our visit to Jennifer Carlson's garden, students worked with their sketches in the intervening week and came back with some finished work, or new work inspired by sketches. The image to the left is Noel Kreicker's interpretation of the garden shed, laden with pots, in a backdrop of tall conifers.

To the right is Atit Marmer's plein air pen and wash sketch of the same scene, viewed from a much closer perspective. He began by wetting the paper and painting intense colors right into it. Once the wash had dried, he used a fine point pen to indicate more specifics, like pot shapes and flower forms.

Mountain Bluebird Boxed Notecard

I just received my order of the boxed Mountain Bluebird notecard; it's just off the press,  a reproduction of a block print I created several months ago, published by Pomegranate Communications.  Pomegranate describes this card as a notelet-- it's smaller than the usual 4 X 6" notecard. 
 

It comes in a bright blue box, matching the wonderful hue of a mountain bluebird. Thanks, Pomegranate, for the beautiful design work!  You can order through this link; it will also be available at retail outlets, including all the North Cascades National Park stores.

Trillium & Old Growth Forest

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed a short outing up to McClellan Butte near Snoqualmie Pass--what a happy surprise to find trilliums still blooming above 1600 feet.

High up on the trail we encountered a grove of old growth trees--there is definitely a different character to those groves which is hard to describe, but in a few words, I will try. If I were blindfolded and walked beneath these trees I would know I had entered a different part of the forest--suddenly it becomes quieter and cooler, I feel no wind, hear a distant woodpecker that I could not hear before, though the bird is no closer now than it was minutes ago. Then opening my eyes, I see the rich cinnamon bark of a centuries old Douglas fir, majestic as any sequoia or more-celebrated giant species, reaching up to the sky beyond where my eye can follow it. These forests have been compared many times before to the inner spaces of cathedrals, Gothic pillars rising to the heavens, light filtering through the upper branches like clerestory windows. Perhaps there is no better metaphor.  So little remains of these forests that were so widespread--I am grateful for the national parks, where larger tracts have been preserved. But even here, in a mixed use forest, this spared remnant is something to be thankful for.

Artists Visit the Carlson Garden

Yesterday in glorious sunshine my students and I visited Jennifer Carlson's garden in Magnolia--her business is Haven Illustrated, and all of her work is profoundly connected to what she creates and grows in her amazing garden. Everyone in the class responded with a wonderful sketch--Jennifer's powerful design sense informs everything in the garden and everything she does. It reminded me of a quote I recently encountered--by Nagatake Asato, former director of the Tokyo National Museum. There is no distinct separation of art from life in Japanese tradition. There is only life, and the art of Japan cannot be extracted from it.

Once in a while you encounter someone whose life is directed by an innate appreciation and understanding of nature itself, and its artfulness--I think we all felt that way yesterday at Jennifer's garden. Her garden is based on sustainable urban practices--including composting, rainwater cisterns, backyard chicken coops--and she shares all she has learned with the greater community through classes and seminars taught at urban horticulture venues.

Cedar Waxwing: Handtinted Print

This is another in a series of carved bird prints I've recently done--a cedar waxwing in an alder overlooking Magnuson Park. I created this print in the same way as the Goldfinches print published as a card by Pomegranate Communications. I have discovered by doing over a dozen of these types of prints over the last few years that they often work best when bright colors are juxtaposed with the black of the print. I'm currently working on a print of a Western Tanager seen last August at Cascade River near Marblemount, with Eldorado Peak in the distance.

Gallery of Prints: North Cascades Institute

I'm following up my posts on the printmaking workshop I recently taught at the North Cascades Institute with a few more images created by students in that workshop. I am hoping some of them will send along more finished prints to me, as I will be sad to bid adieu to their marvelous work.

 

 

 

Evergreen Sorbet: North Cascades Institute Cuisine

One of the best things about a weekend at the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center is the experience of fresh, local food, prepared by the wonderful chefs there. Among them I count Mike Cuseo as a friend; last weekend he treated us to several exceptional meals including a bountiful salad of fresh greens available each time we sat down at the table.
He prepared a special treat for my class--I am so grateful--Evergreen Sorbet flavored with pine and douglas fir, fragrant, sweet, full of the healthful scent and taste bouquet of conifers-- essence of northwest forest! Mike believes in the importance of cooking our own food, growing it, and preparing in our own kitchens. As an integral part of the Institute's Foodshed Project, he writes in his most recent post, Edible Geography, about the importance of food and living a sustainable life. Read it on Chattermarks, the North Cascades Institute's blog.

North Cascades: April Fauna

Last weekend at the North Cascades Institute we went out sketching on Diablo Lake and saw these newly hatched Canada Geese and their parents on the shore.
The next day early in the morning I saw a Brown Headed Cowbird on the shore--I'd never seen one there and it seemed surprising to me--I expect to see them in the lowlands. 
On Saturday several of us hiked up to Sourdough Creek Falls and we ran into grad students Alex and Colby, who had found this Western Red-Backed Salamander under a log.  Here is a photo of the salamander in Alex's hand, to give you a sense of its size.

North Cascades: April Flora

I was fascinated by the diversity of the flora at the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center last weekend while I taught the printmaking workshop. To the left is Bernice Harris' photo of a Fairy Slipper, Calypso bulbosa. We observed a large colony of them on the trail to Sourdough Creek Falls.


To the right is one student's botanical print of a black cottonwood leaf; she was delighted by how it looked on newsprint, and we thought it was reminiscent of Mexican artist Jose Posada and later folk art-inspired woodcuts of the 1920s and 30s.
The same student created these colorful fiddleheads.
Here is another student's print of a dogwood blossom.

Other students created prints inspired by flora and fungus of other seasons.

April Pilgrimage in the North Cascades

Last weekend in the North Cascades, the clouds parted to reveal snow-clad Pyramid Peak. Whenever I teach a class for the North Cascades Institute I like to experience the mood of Pyramid Peak and often feel as though it is presiding over our efforts.
Most of the work created in the workshop was directly related to our environment there--the forest, the peaks, the flora and fauna. Each of the participants was creating a memory of that special place by making art about it. It reminded me that some of the earliest prints in Europe were made to be sold as souvenirs to travelers to the holy sites of pilgrimage. These prints functioned like the more familiar pilgrim badges that people pinned to their hats and cloaks after visiting shrines--and showed the world that they had undertaken these difficult journeys and returned refreshed and changed.