Work in Progress - After Tryon: Skagit Dike


Underpainting for After Tryon: Skagit Dike. 9" x 12". Oil on Linen Panel.

Dwight Tryon. Dawn, 1893, Collection of the Smithsonian

In March I drove south on I-5 through the Skagit Flats south of Mt. Vernon and was struck at a gorgeous scene to the southeast: yellow sky, gray clouds and a row of trees. It looked like a Dwight Tryon painting.

I'd been studying Tonalism and reading the extraordinary book, Like Breath on Glass, about Whistler and the Tonalists. While the book has but one Tryon painting reproduced, I looked others up online.

Then a day or two later Lorian Signori had several posts about Tryon on her blog here and here and also here.

Last Friday the weather was lovely and my husband and I went to Skagit so I could look again at the row of trees. They're lined up on the Skagit River dike, which is why it's just one row with so much light coming through them. Gorgeous. Then to Edison for Fish and Chips and beer. Tasty.

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