Works in Progress Part 4

Alders, Cherry Point: sketches, underpainting and first layers

On Christmas Day my family took a hike to Cherry Point, along the coast in Whatcom County.

Cherry Point is a beautiful area just north of the refineries. There are still herring beds, purple starfish on the beach and heron and eagles roost in the trees on the bluff. Several years ago the local land trust asked for my help in approaching the landowner to allow it to be purchased for a park. I did, the landowner was kind enough to agree and the area is now a small county park that provides access to the shoreline.

It was sunny on Christmas and the winter shadows were just right. This is the start of a painting based on that day.

You can see the sketch of this and several other paintings. Then the underpainting, and now the start of the layers. The sky may be too dark and I'll go back over that a couple of times to lighten it.
I have several other works in progress from Christmas Day. It was a beautiful hike.

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