"Evening Train" Trans Canadian Highway

Ever since I was a little kid I have loved trains!  My dad helped me build an "N" gauge railroad layout with an engine similar to this Canadian Pacific engine.  That was our project to work on together for a few years. I am still fascinated by them. This painting depicts the trains we saw rumbling across Canada's great plains while driving the Trans Canadian highway.
12x8 oil on panel

"On the Road" Trans Canadian Highway

We are back on the road again.....headed for the Canadian Rockies...Stay tuned, we have miles yet to travel but the destination is spectacular!...=]

12x8 oil on panel

"View from Kerry Hill Park" Seattle city skyline

I took a break from the Canada images to paint this view of Seattle from Kerry Hill Park in Queen Ann. My solo show at the Directors Gallery on Bainbridge Island has been very successful but has left Alki Arts in the lurch for work....so this painting will go to them along with a few other recent paintings.
20x16 oil on canvas   sold

"Cut Field" along the Trans Canadian highway.

"Cut Field"  8x10 oil on panel    SOLD

We spent two days driving across seemingly endless prairie. Huge vistas of big skies and distant horizons.Cattle were scattered across the landscape and the Canadian Pacific Railroad followed along most of the highway. I love the stark beauty of those scenes and now it's my job to try and take my memories, some sketches and some flat lifeless photos and create the mood and feeling I had while traveling through Canada.

"Close of Day" on the Trans Canadian Highway.

I'm working my way slowly back into my normal routine at the studio. Yesterday I did three small paintings as studies for larger work......This was a quick sketch in oil of some images taken while traveling along the Trans Canadian Highway ....somewhere between Calgary and Banff.
10x8 oil on panel

"From the Sketchbook" Amish family, Holmes county, Ohio

Every time we get the chance to visit Ann's parents in Ohio there is always a trip to Amish country..This time we visited the town of Berlin and stopped for some ice cream. This young mother and her daughter were selling baskets along the road and took the opportunity to cool off under a large fir tree.

"Sketches from the Canadian Rockies"

Sometimes you can finish a sketch and sometimes you just have to get back on the road. The top sketch is the highway coming into Banff. We stayed at at a camp site with a great view of HooDoo mountain..From there we were able to trek to Sulpher mountain and the hot springs, Lake Louise, Moraine lake and the Columbian Icefields.

The picture (above) is the view from about two miles up Sulpher mountain. It encompasses the town of Banff and the Bow river valley. We didn't want to pay the exorbitant fees for taking the tram so decided to hike the four miles (vertical) to the top!  That was the first day in Banff and got me broke in for the rest of the trip! Fortunately they allowed us to ride the tram down for free!

This tram cost about $30.00 canadian per person and takes about 15 minuets to get to the top(as opposed to the two hours it takes to hike) but you miss a lot of great mountain scenery on the way. Before we started, the sign at the bottom stated that you need to buy a ticket to ride the tram down. At the top we really didn't want to hike back down so I asked the operator if we could ride and she said "Sure"!  If you don't ask you don't receive....I'm just sayin....

"Lake Agnes" Canadian Rockies , from the sketchbook

I did this sketch after hiking 3.7 km up the mountain from lake Louise to lake Agnes. They had a beautiful tea house built at the lake fully staffed with tea and light lunch options....It was very refreshing after the long hike, but the best pay off was the spectacular mountains surrounding Lake Agnes.

"Approaching Alki" sketches from 2011

It's never a good idea to post on your blog or Facebook page when you are leaving for an extended vacation....That's the reason why it has been so long between posts! We flew to Ohio and picked up the vehicle that will replace my old red van....A nice new..(Well....new for us)....custom camper van, graciously donated by my in-laws and drove it across Canada and back home....We had a short break and then off for Camp High Rock 2011...a yearly summer camp for kids off the Yakima Indian reservation....We had a great time!! ....and I have lots of reference photos and field sketches to work from!  In fact,  I will be posting sketches for awhile until I generate some paintings....I have spent some time stretching large canvases and preparing panels ...so I'm all ready to go!!!..Stay tuned and thanks for following I.P.A.!!

This is a pen and wash sketch from my sketch book. I have been using a soluble marker and india ink mixed with water in one of those water brushes to sketch with and sometimes a little watercolor.