Molly Hashimoto

Goldfinches

Pomegranate Communications has just published Goldfinches as a notecard. I've been working on a series of bird prints, and am planning to teach a workshop on these for the North Cascades Institute in the upcoming season at the Environmental Learning Center. The date of the workshop is April 27 to 29, 2012; registration will begin in February. I've completed prints with several different species, including hummingbirds,  barred owl,  hairy woodpecker, California quail, and mountain bluebird. Pomegranate will be publishing the bluebird as a small notecard next month.  I'm also working on some  new ideas--the warbler I saw last week at my feeder (my last post) seems a strong candidate for a print, with its black and white and yellow markings.

Birds: The Colors of Winter

The recent snow in Seattle delighted me in many ways. Keeping the hummingbird feeders thawed and snow-free, and filling the suet feeders kept me busy indoors when I wasn't outdoors enjoying the transformed urban environment.
Observing the birds visiting the suet feeder just outside our kitchen window was like having a front-row seat at a movie! The yellow-rumped warbler visited dozens of times--here fluffing up its feathers keeping warm while waiting its turn on the feeder.

A towhee visited briefly, and that was a testament to how hungry the bird must have been, as they are generally very shy.





The flicker has visited before--our neighborhood is full of them, and I often hear them drilling on our metal chimney pipe.

Maple, Moon and Snow

I recently completed a set of moon and snow paintings for Pomegranate Communications, who will be publishing them later this year in a boxed set of holiday notecards: December Moon. It was challenging and fun coming up with the four designs.  I had just traveled to Yosemite, and then the Portland Japanese Garden, and those places inspired my illustrations. There was a beautifully intricate Japanese maple at the garden, and I imagined it with snow, and changed the perspective just a little bit, to include a pond and distant shoreline. I used masking fluid to save the snow atop the branches and small shrubs. The blue paint I used was a mixture of Daniel Smith indanthrone blue and phthalo blue red shade.  It gave me some dramatic dark indigos.

Whidbey Island Wildlife

We spotted this Sunflower Star on the beach at Double Bluff on Whidbey Island yesterday. It was a quiet, windless morning with sun and wonderful wildlife. This star is also called the 20 rayed star, and it is the fastest in the west! In the space of 10 minutes we saw it travel 3 feet.  I don't think I've ever seen a sea star travel before!!

Several common mergansers were fishing and diving along the shoreline and we saw this one catch a fish.

All Things Counter, Original, Spare, Strange

This week at Snoqualmie Pass, where we skied, I saw these beautiful natural patterns, and couldn't help but hear the words of one of my favorite poets, Gerard Manley Hopkins, in one of his finest poems: Pied Beauty. Here is an excerpt. Even readers who are not religious can appreciate the poetry of the Jesuit priest Hopkins--his innovations with the English language, and his deepfelt love for nature speak to everyone.

Glory be to God for dappled things...

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow, sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He fathers forth whose beauty is past change:

Praise him.

 

 

New Year's Vision: Pileated Woodpecker

Out for a walk on the Burke-Gilman Trail this New Year's Day, we spotted a pileated woodpecker on a tree, a happy vision for the day!  I've seen them many times on the Trail, but have never been lucky enough to have my camera with me, so I've started bringing it with me when I bike or walk the Trail to run errands, as it seems that's when I always see them, when I am not looking for them. So many beautiful things come this way, uninvited and unexpected. 

Travel Journal Sketches

Churches make some of the most beautiful and fascinating architectural subjects. To the left is Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, an interesting amalgam of styles, as are so many other European churches, as succeeding generations added and rebuilt. Styles include Romanesque (foundations c.1165), late Gothic (additions c. 1525), and the interior of the church (c. 1797), which is lushly ornamented in a Baroque style. Nikolaikirche is famous for the prayer services and demonstrations in the 1980s where thousands protested against Soviet rule. In my sketch, I emphasized the unusual angles created by all the later additions to the church.
To the right is Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where J.S. Bach was cantor and director of music for 27 years. We heard two concerts there, including chamber music, and an organ and choral concert-- unforgettable! I recently read Evening in the Palace of Reason by James Gaines, about Bach and Frederick the Great. During his time at Thomaskirche, Bach had constant battles with the Leipzig city directors and it was sad and very surprising to learn how unappreciated he was by his employers during his tenure.  It was only later, long after his death,  that Leipzig embraced him, going so far as to move his grave from a cemetery outside the city to the church. Here again you can see the combination of styles, from Romanesque to Gothic. I really loved all the spires and chose to sketch the church from a vantage point that would show all of them.

On January 29, 2012, I'll be teaching a one day workshop on travel journals at Daniel Smith Artist Materials, and I'll be sharing different methods for sketching and painting.

Watercolor Travel Journal Workshop

On Sunday, January 29th, I'll be teaching a workshop at Daniel Smith Artist Materials on Watercolor Travel Journals. Pen and wash is a favorite medium and the images here were done both during and after a trip to Leipzig and Dresden, in the former East German Republic. In the workshop, participants will learn new ways to sketch architectural subjects. One of the approaches I teach bypasses perspective, and instead offers a way of placing parts of subjects proportionately. I will also offer some easy ways to incorporate perspective. The workshop has filled, but to accommodate the extra folks, I will be adding another date, so you can call Daniel Smith at (206) 223-5599 if you are interested in attending the workshop at a later date--it will be on a Sunday.

The natural world is a major subject for me, and we will spend time on thumbnails and quick sketching techniques for mountains, trees, water and other elements of nature.

Watercolor Sketches: Student Art

Today I'm sharing the work of student Eric Ramhorst. Over the time he has studied with me, he has created countless pen and wash sketches of places that he has visited, or read about and researched. He works freehand, and achieves admirable proportions and perspective in architectural subjects, which are among his favorites to sketch.
To the right is Eric's sketch of Freeborn Lutheran Church, between Arlington and Mt. Vernon, Washington.

To the left is a sketch of Grytviken, on the island of South Georgia. In winter quarter 2012, I'll be teaching a class on travel journals and sketching and I look forward to seeing Eric's new work.

An Unusual Holiday Tree: Camperdown Elm

On our walk through the Arboretum on Thursday, Arthur Lee Jacobsen pointed out this amazing, amusing little tree, the Camperdown Elm. I thought it made a very fantastical sort of Christmas tree.  Arthur said it is best viewed when leafless, as the contorted weeping branches are exposed in winter, while at other times of the year they are hidden by a lush canopy of leaves.