Studies of Mt Hood, Viewed from the Northeast

I wanted to do a little oil painting of Mt Hood’s northeastern face - as seen from Hood River and beyond to go with a series I'm working on for an upcoming group art show at the Arrowleaf Workshop Gallery in May.

I’ve drawn and painted Mt Hood’s face as she appears from Portland (the west) so many times that I can trace out its shapes and angled forms without a reference. Each curve and crevice of shadow deeply etched into my subconscious.

Snow-capped mountain at sunset behind leafless trees and a river. A white contrail streaks across the clear sky. Quiet scene. — Mt Hood's Northeastern Face

But if you’ve ever been out to Hood River or White Salmon you’ve probably noticed that the mountain looks completely different - she has this elegant swooping peak and in some ways really does look like a hood that's been swept up from folds of stiff fabric.

In order to create this mini painting of Mt Hood’s Northeastern face, I needed to familiarize myself with its forms. But, if I wanted it to evoke that special magic of the mountain, my painting needed to flow from a deeper, inner place of vision - not be a traced, paint-by-numbers type of reproduction…

The artist Emily Carr, put it best:

“What is the truest test of a picture? Not form or colour or design or technique. It is the intensity of the experience and feeling, the existence of the thing spiritually.”

So this meant studies.

To capture and communicate the essence of something there are so many different lenses through which to explore your subject in order to create a really meaningful expression of it. Or at least one that feels meaningful to me.

Lenses like:

Detail
Form
Movement
Directionality
Color

For me, the best way to explore these elements is by doing studies using different mediums - harnessing the unique communicative qualities each medium has to offer.

Art supplies on a patterned rug: sketchbook, paintings of blue mountains, paint palette with vibrant colors, brushes, and notebooks.

For instance:

Bic pen: A great place to start. The classic Bic creates the sketchiest sketch that's great for shading and scratching out forms without concern for clarity.
0.5 Faber Castell pen: Forging the lines of your subject. It's a little too fat for much detail, but I feel like the lines help map out the character of things and solid blocks of shape and shadow.
"C" Faber Castell pen (square calligraphy tip) : Form & Directionality, expressed through angles and shadow.
Gouache: Form, movement, energy, color. The simplified and solid shapes you can create with a pointed brush can capture the general movement of your subject and give weight to distinct forms and shapes
Colored Ink: Similar to gouache can imply form and movement, focusing on the simplification and identification of the striking forms and how they interact as a whole.
"XS" Faber Castell pen: Detail. I always find that marking out the actual details in as much realism as you can with simple line-based shading helps to solidify an image in my mind and make me feel like I’m really getting to know my subject.
Black ink with fine tipped nib: Once familiar with details and more movement and form, the flexibility of the pointed nib allows you to give your lines graceful curves and undulations that capture a little bit more magic than a regular pen pen.

Abstract mountain art with three designs: colorful swirls above, a rendered peak in ink, and a minimalist sketch. Earthy tones and textures. — Ink & Gouache Studies

Then there's the idea of communicating the mountain’s general form by defining its edges. The lines and

shapes that make up the mountain tell a lot of the story, but the backdrop behind the mountain brings more definition to its form that one might realize. One of my favorite lessons learned from plein air artist Jef Gun, is to pay attention to the edges of things and how they interact. He talks about how different components of a landscape, be it sky and tree “are in conversation with each other" and that the points where they meet hold a lot of weight.

It's strange that no matter how detailed or realistic a drawing or painting of a mountain might be, it can still appear lifeless in comparison to a few broad strokes of paint that define the moment where the sky meets mountain - giving it shape.

Sometimes it is the balance and presence of another element that can bring a subject to life, just as darkness gives meaning and existence to light and vise-versa.

So when I started doing some studies of Mt Hood using ink, I realized that I needed to switch gears and start incorporating the sky using gouache, harnessing its opaque flatness to offset the outline of the mountain. Because that line and shadow work of my initial studies that focus on the Mountain's details only tell half of the story:

½ = What comprises the body of the mountain: Light & Shadow.

½ = The sky and land that comes to meet the mountain: the edges that bring the mountain's form to life.

Palette with mixed paints beside a sheet with abstract blue mountain sketches on brown paper, atop a colorful, textured rug.

I don't think there is some kind of strictly ordered step by step process that needs to be followed - first this, then this. It’s more a meandering exploration because as Emily so wisely explains,

“We can’t paint until we can see and feel our way into our subject, experiencing it. There are no shortcuts.” - Emily Carr, 1933

"Keep It Wild" text with floral images, announcing Arrowleaf gallery event in White Salmon, WA. Reception 5pm May 1. Artwork benefits charity Friends of the Columbia Gorge.

Come see the painting!

Coinciding with the White Salmon Wildflower Festival, the "Keep It Wild" art show will be featuring 200 6x6" pieces of artwork by local and regional artists at Arrowleaf Gallery. 5% of all proceeds will be donated to Friends of the Columbia Gorge in support of their important conservation work and stewardship of the Columbia Gorge.

Where: Arrowleaf Workshop Gallery, White Salmon, WA

When: May 1-31st - Opening Reception Thurs. May 1st, 5-7pm