Hurricane Ridge Plein Air Watercolor Commission, June 2025

June 9th I drove from the Kitsap Peninsula 2 hours across the Hood Canal Bridge to Port Angeles, the gateway to the Olympic National Park. It was an inspired trip because I happened to have a free weekend and the sun was blazing hot (at least for Seattle standards)… which means mountains were out in full view! No clouds. After purchasing a season pass for our WA national parks it was a 45 minute climb up mountain switchbacks with jaw dropping views and old growth doug firs to alpine pines. I arrived at 4pm on the Ridge and hiked the hill, talking to tourists and mountain marmots, I even lay in the snow. A few small journal sketches and the hike back to the car gave me enough grounding to feel ready to paint. I settled at the picnic area with vista mountain views and carried my prepped board and supplies the short distance from my car to the area. It was idyllic to paint and watch the beginning of the mountain glow. The first painting has this golden hour hue indicative of the time of day.

Later that evening I met up with my biologist friend who works with the local cougar population. She told me I’d been painting next to one of their tagged cats… I was blissfully unaware!

The next morning I returned to the mountains and same spot. I painted in high sun for 3 hours. It was a stunning experience. Left to right I saw a panorama of the Hurricane Ridge ranging from Mt. McCartney to Ruth Peak.

It took about an hour just to get the sketch. It was important to my client to be as accurate to the range as possible so for this sketch I used an app that shows names of the local mountain range on a downloadable GPS map. It was a helpful guide for my eye as that many peaks to keep track of can be quite dizzying! I had little company in the way of people and met quite a few grazing mountain deer and fawns. The people that did pass through for picnics spoke different languages, coming from far and wide, which made me realize just how special it is for me to have such easy access to this wonderland of color and form.

The entire experience was a love letter to the western Washington State. The second painting now lives in downtown Poulsbo, Washington.