Palouse Falls

Palouse Falls. ©2010 Lisa McShane. Oil on Canvas. 36" x 36".
This one is a favorite of mine. Palouse Falls is in a remote area of southeast Washington. It's not a place you accidentally stumble upon. People go there intentionally.

I was there in August intending to see the falls with the idea of painting. It was everything I'd hoped and more. But the high winds kept me from setting up my easel there that day - instead I chose a somewhat less windy and barren field 20 miles farther down the road near Starbuck.

For years I've been looking at paintings of Kaaterskill Falls. It's in New York and the Hudson River painters used it often as a subject. Here's Thomas Cole's wonderful version. And one of my favorite contemporary painters, Stephen Hannock, tackled the subject again with an amazing result. Click here to see a previous blog post on Hannock's 'Kaaterskill Falls for Frank Moore and Dan Hodermarsky (Mass MoCA#11)', 2005. 


But of course Palouse Falls with it's sharp basalt edge, columnar basalt walls and bottle-green bowl is simply a more stunning subject. 


This one will be in an upcoming show, Lay of the Land, at Allied Arts in Bellingham this Friday. The opening reception is 6 to 10 on Friday and the show runs through November 27th. If you're near, I'd love to see you there.

Comments

Stone-Loke said…
I have many good childhood memories of Palouse Falls, but my most recent memory was one weekend when mom said, "We need to show Mark the sights of Franklin County." I'm thinking, "What sights??" but Palouse Falls never fails to surprise and impress. Your painting captures that.
November 4, 2010 at 10:48 AM
Anne-Marie said…
Your gallery opening at Allied Arts was beautiful - and so well attended. It was great to see all that art concentrated in one lovely place. Congrats!
November 8, 2010 at 11:07 AM
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