Molly Hashimoto

Moonglow: Winter Paintings

I recently completed a series of paintings about winter. On a few lucky occasions while teaching at the Environmental Learning Center for the North Cascades Institute I have seen the simultaneous effects of moonglow and alpenglow on Pyramid Peak. Sublime is a word I might use to describe this phenomenon. Moments like these in nature are what I often want to paint, but it's dangerous artistic ground because it has been so well-trodden.  I try to find unusual subjects, ones that have not been photographed and made famous, and it's difficult to create anything that comes close to the raw power of a living landscape. But like most artists, I keep believing I will get closer to that with each new painting.

Library Programs: Artists in the Parks

Yesterday I offered  programs at the Marysville and Granite Falls Libraries on sketching and painting in the National Parks. Many enthusiastic patrons came, all set to look at natural specimens, sketches and my photos and try their own hands at creating art inspired by the Parks. I was delighted at how warmly they responded to everything. What a fun day! We used a variety of media, which gives everyone the opportunity to see how simply and easily you can work outdoors.

More North Cascades Students' Work

In October I taught a class at the North Cascades Institute: Autumn Beauty and Bounty. In our indoor time we celebrated the harvest by sketching and painting squash, corn and other fall fruits and vegetables. This still life is by Katie Roloson, curriculum coordinator at the Environmental Learning Center. In addition to her work for the Institute and all of its myriad educational programs, she is an avid climber, hiker, cyclist, and accomplished artist!

Here is Robin Pederson's study of a squash. I really admire how she revealed its shapes, both contour and bumpy details, without losing the immediacy of the sketch. It's difficult to do yellows and keep things fresh.

Robin also did this wonderful sketch of Liberty Bell. In our plein air trip to Washington Pass she painted it outdoors, but also in the classroom afterwards, created several variations on this. It was great fun watching her!

Watercolor Sketch at Washington Pass

The fresh snow we observed on Liberty Bell Mountain last weekend in the class I taught for the North Cascades Institute made sketching a bit more difficult. I don't bring masking fluid out into the field with me, so sketching South Early Winters Spire required a little deft brush work to avoid the patches of snow. I worked on dry paper to keep those areas white, and didn't add the cast shadows until I had gotten back to our classroom. I used a medium value of pure cobalt blue for the shadows.

Here's my photo of the spire and you can see what I was working with. I exaggerated the gold of the larches, and probably left more snow than was actually there. I had a huge backrun occur on the sky, and did a little creative wiping out to fix it, figuring I might show a little bit of the cirrus clouds that began to form as we painted (and after this photo was taken).

Painters at Washington Pass

Here are several of the intrepid painters from the recent landscape watercolor class I taught at the North Cascades Institute. Time of day here was about 11am. When we arrived there were no clouds in the sky, but gradually long strokes of cirrus began reaching across the sky. I regretted starting my sketch before they appeared, as clouds can add alot of drama to a sketch.

 

Here's another photo of painters with Silver Star Mountain to the east.

North Cascades Institute October Weekend

Last weekend I taught a watercolor workshop at the North Cascades Institute. The highlight was, without a doubt, the trip to Washington Pass to see Liberty Bell Mountain.  We left the Learning Center at 8:30am, in order to appreciate the early morning light on the spires; here you can see the fresh snow, and understand the name of the peaks seen left: South and North Early Winters Spires. Notice the great light--it's not easy to get that in autumn, as the sun angle at our latitude is rather extreme.

 Here is the same view about an hour later. What a difference. It's much more backlit, a situation we encountered last fall. I struggled to paint that-- and determined that this time we would get out very early for best light.

North Cascades Institute 25th Anniversary Picnic

Last Saturday the North Cascades Institute 
celebrated their 25th anniversary with a picnic at the Environmental Learning Center. Hikes and canoe rides were offered-- I got to go out on the canoe for a trip that was nearly an hour long and paddled up to this view of Ruby Mountain and Logan Peak. The day was partly sunny with incredibly still waters by afternoon, something that is pretty rare up there. We listened to some short and entertaining speeches from young people who had recently participated in outdoor programs, and the director, Saul Weisberg, spoke about the goals and accomplishments of the Institute. At the end, he expressed his ardent wish that the people who participate in the wide range of programs offered go home changed, with the hope of making the world a better place.

Vine Maple, North Cascades

The weather is hinting at fall this morning and I am reminded that I'll be traveling up to the North Cascades Institute's Environmental Learning Center in a few weeks to teach a class--we'll be focusing on fall color. Last year, teaching the same class, I discovered this beautiful vine maple on the shores of Diablo Lake. I've often thought that wild vine maples must share some genetic relationship with cultivated Japanese maples, with their elegant growth habits. So much of the Japanese aesthetic is based on wild nature; I've observed many things in alpine settings that made me think of Japanese gardens.

Northwest Forest

  Last week I painted this watercolor of the forest below Cascade Pass. I had never seen devil's club look so beautiful and fresh--the plants must have loved the moisture of this spring and summer.  I keep seeing devil's club everywhere this month. Here at Cascade Pass in North Cascades National Park, the plants were just leafing out.

To the right is a specimen I observed at the Kruckeberg Gardens in Shoreline, where it is also offered for sale.

Two days ago I went to the Big Four Ice Caves near Verlot and saw these beautiful fruiting plants. In the dark forest they glowed like rubies. Native Americans used them extensively for their medicinal properties, and possibly because of their dangerous spines, they were seen as protection from evil in its many guises.

Black Bears in the North Cascades

Each year that I have taught at the North Cascades Institute I've seen black bears, often a sow and her cubs. She lives near the Environmental Learning Center, and all of my encounters with her have been memorable. This time I was driving up to the parking lot and my dear and lifelong friend and hiking companion Gerry Fuller was in the passenger seat and was quick enough to get a wonderful photo of the mother, surrounded by goldenrod and oxeye daisies. One cub was with her, the other was on the other side of the road so we moved along to give them the chance to reunite. To paint this I used masking fluid for some of the daisies and goldenrod, so that I could quickly paint the background forest and the dark fur of the bears. Having the fine photo was very important, as it's pretty difficult to get any kind of a good sketch of a big mammal moving. This fall I'm hoping to get to the Woodland Park Zoo with my sketching class, where we'll view the grizzlies and mountain goat at the Northern Trail habitat.