An Old Painting: Tug At Interbay

Author
William E. Elston

Published
Feb 07, 2018

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This painting was done in the late 1980s, when I first started showing at Davidson Galleries. It represents a tugboat moored at Interbay, between Myrtle Edwards Park and Smith Cove Park. We tried to sell it to Foss Inc., who operate a fleet of tugs in Puget Sound, but they would only buy it if the tugboat itself had their logo. It would have made the painting look strange, since the logo would have been illegible at the distance the tugboat is depicted.

The painting began as a sketch in graphite, on an excursion with my late friend Curt Hanson, who was visiting at the time. It was one of the few occasions that we had worked together in Seattle. I remember watching him grappling with the unfamiliar color of the sky, so different from where he was living in Connecticut, or where we had both grown up in eastern Washington.

The painting did serve as the showcard for one of my many exhibitions at Davidson. It sold, but I can't remember who the client was. I also don't have a record of the size, though it was probably 5 feet wide or larger.

The area has changed, like so much in Seattle. Interbay now hosts a large marina, and the giant cruise ships are parked adjacent Smith Cove. A view like this would no longer be possible.