Simple List
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View Of Mt. Tahoma
This is a painting that was worked on for 3 successive summers, and then put aside for as many years. It's a subject that never stood still, and I ended up chasing its effects all over the place.
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Bailand Farms Plein Air Session
This small painting was the result of a single plein air session at Trudy Cooper's Bailand Farms. I was accompanied by Julie Stonebraker Nelson, Bin Li, Ray Munger and Liz Talley. We were later joined by Trudy's 9 year-old grandson Ben, who had his own French easel and paints.
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Olallie Morning
This painting from Olallie State Park was begun on location in the fall of 2021, and finished in the studio in the first month of 2022.
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Lake Union
My studio assistant and I were moving paintings into storage and we ran across this work that I'd forgotten about. It was painted on location when I was teaching plein air classes where Lake Union feeds into the ship canal, under the Aurora Bridge.
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Small Paintings From The 90s
I was reminded of these small paintings when a former student signed up for my Online Group Critiques. Cynthia Edmonds acquired these works while enrolled in my plein air classes over 20 years ago.
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Riverfront (Kla Ha Ya) Park in Snohomish
This painting was done from a viewpoint adjacent the VFW Hall on Main Street (First) in Snohomish. I like the way the river meanders through the farmland, and River Road itself is a pleasant drive.
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Charlie & Buffy
I was sent this image of a painting that I did in 1983, by a person who had recently been gifted the work by her mother.
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Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2019
Early this month I participated in the Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2019 event and exhibition at Maryhill Museum. This was my fourth year, and fortunately was not beset by extreme heat, high winds and a 14,000 sq. mi. grass fire, as per last year.
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A Hot Day
I have been contacted via email by a man in Indiana that has a painting of mine that he is interested in selling. It was purchased (not by him) in Portland at Elizabeth Leach Gallery sometime in the late 1990s. Anyone interested can contact me via this website, and I will forward your interest to the current owner of the painting.
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The 1990s, Early To Mid
Two different circumstances have recently brought me face to face with a number of paintings that I did in the early to mid 1990s. The first was the sale and delivery of a painting (Pilchuck River I) to a couple that have collected several of my paintings at a gallery that once represented me in Portland. The other circumstance was the swapping out of some old inventory for new at the Museum of Northwest Art and Culture (the MAC) Art Resource program, in Spokane WA.
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Studio Practice For The Plein Air Painter
I have 4 seats left for this lecture. First come first served. Senior discounts available. More info at https://classes.williamelston.com
image: Charles-François Daubigny, Soleil couchant sur l'Oise, 1865
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Near San Diego
In 1986, after I had moved to Seattle, I took a trip to see my friend William Dubin in San Diego. I did several paintings there, including a smaller version of this, and then a larger one stretching out the composition. It's a scene near the beach, up the coast a bit. It was hot, and this odd triangular parking lot, out in the middle of nowhere, intriqued me. It's just beyond a railway, and didn't seem to have a purpose.
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Off 151st (Snohomish)
This is an alla prima (at one sitting) painting of a favorite view of the Snohomish Valley, above Hwy 2. It's easy to see the level of particulate matter (ppm) in the color of the sky nearest the horizon. It's the smoke. I once read that the pollution around Paris made the Impressionists' skies more interesting. That which doth not kill us makes our paintings stronger.
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Smokey Joe's in Snoqualmie
I was invited by my friend Mehdi Fallahian to participate in a plein air paint out in Snoqualmie Washington. I encouraged a few of my students, Bin Li, Liz Talley and Min Zhong, to participate as well.
I drove to the Duvall Park & Ride, where I joined Bin and Min in Bin's truck. We then went off together to the event. As soon as we arrived I knew what I wanted to paint. There was an old boxy tavern named Smokey Joe's, about a block off Railroad Avenue on King Street. I set up across the street, and did the painting alla prima.
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Spokane Workshop
Before traveling to the Columbia River Gorge for the PNW Plein Air 2018 event, I spent a weekend in Spokane doing a workshop. We painted on Latah Creek and at Manito Pond. This painting was the demo for the Manito Pond session.
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Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2018
I will be participating in the Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2018 event in the Columbia River Gorge during the first week of August. The event will culminate in an exhibition at Maryhill Museum, with an opening reception on August 4, 5-7pm.
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Raining Bridge
This third image is also from the Picasa download. It's a view of the railroad bridge west of the Hiram Chittenden Locks, from the Commodore Park side. The painting went through many changes; it was one of those variable seasons that Seattle is known for. It ended as a rain painting.
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Snohomish Valley w/ Mount Rainier
This painting, done in 2008, has never been exhibited. I was never really satisfied with the treatment of the distant Mount Rainier, and I may revisit the painting again with brush in hand.
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Installation: Here, There and Everywhere.
This is the installation of my current exhibition at Dodson’s Fine Jewelers, in Spokane, WA. I regret that my photographs do not do the installation justice, but it was the best that I could do under the circumstances.
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Upcoming Exhibition at Dodson’s in Spokane
I’m getting ready for my upcoming exhibition at Dodson’s Fine Jewelers, in Spokane WA. The show, “Here, There and Everywhere,” opens November 3, with reception at 5 – 8 PM, and will continue until December 2.
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Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm
At the suggestion of my student Sarah Anderson, we’ve been painting at Larsen Lake Blueberry Farm, in Bellevue, WA. It’s a beautiful spot, with interesting views of the lake and the farm itself.
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Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2017: Maryhill Museum
I spent 4 days participating in the Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2017 event at Maryhill Museum, on the Columbia River Gorge. It was a grueling affair, with temperatures as high as 110 degrees. There were 42 artists involved, and the event culminated in a month-long exhibition at Maryhill Museum, where it will hang until August 27th.
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Lightning Over Spirit Lake
Many years ago, when my mother was still alive, she asked me to do a painting of lightning over Spirit Lake, Idaho. Spirit Lake is where I was born, and where my family had lived for the first seven years of my life.
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Work In Progress: Plaza Guemes, Buenos Aires
This is a long-term project, a painting of Plaza Guemes. Plaza Guemes is a public square in the Palermo Viejo district of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Work In Progress: Snohomish Valley, End Of Summer
This work in progress was begun earlier in the summer, while everything was still green. The valley is still predominately green, but beginning to shade into fall colors.
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From Catherine Creek Trail 2: Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2016 / Maryhill Museum
From August 22-28 I participated in the Pacific Northwest Plein Air 2016 event in and around the Columbia River Gorge near Hood River OR and Maryhill Museum, Goldendale WA. The event was a competition, exhibition and sale, hosted by the Maryhill Museum.
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Sunshine Celebration Plein Air Class Sale
Summer finally seems to have arrived, and I’m celebrating the Sun’s rejuvenating rays by having a sale on Plein Air Class Session Credits. You can go to my classes page for details about the sale, which include some of the deepest discounts I’ve offered.
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Bothell Landing 3
I returned to Bothell Landing with several plein air students this past week, and reworked an image that was begun at this time a year ago. Looking up the slough, with the early sun passing through the trees and lighting the embankment beyond, there was one difference: This year the Cottonwood trees had decided to let loose their snow-flurry of puffy seeds a bit early.
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Crossing The River (Monroe Street Bridge)
This painting is another view of the Monroe Street Bridge, seen from Post Street, just above Spokane Falls. It’s a venerable old bridge, which I first painted in the early 1980s.
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Snohomish Valley Study – Greens
This painting was done during one of my landscape sessions at a viewpoint that my class frequents during our plein airseason. I’m looking forward to the return of good weather and the rich greens of spring and summer, as well as a return to some of Seattle’s more urban subjects. I’m also planning to do some Skagit Valley subjects for my upcoming show at i. e. gallery, in Edison, WA in April. Details will be posted on my galleries and exhibition calendar pages in the near future.
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Plein Air Christmas Sale!!!
Give the gift of Plein Air! I’m currently offering a Christmas/Mid-Winter sale on packages of 8 and 16 Plein Air Classes. Check out the “Classes” page of my website for the discounted price. Package also includes 2 bonus sessions in my painting studio during the winter months.
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My Old Haunts: Works From My Current Exhibition
These are works from my current exhibition “My Old Haunts” at Dodson’s Jewelry and Fine Art.
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Installation Photos From “My Old Haunts”
Here are a few installation photos from my current show at Dodson’s Jewelry and Fine Art, in Spokane, along with the painting “The Thing In The Yard,” oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, copyright ©2015.
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Upcoming Spokane Show – Work in Progress
This is a work in progress for my upcoming show in Spokane. It is an overview of a segment of Latah Creek where I lived between 1982 and 1985, before moving to Seattle. Latah Creek was also called Hangman Creek, after General George Wright had Native Americans that thought they were attending a treaty signing summarily lynched.
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Beat the Clock! Flash Sale For Plein Air Classes.
Update: This sale is now over.
I’m currently having a flash sale for Plein Air Class Sessions, available through my website. If you have been thinking about trying plein air, and would like to do so under professional instruction, please check out the deep discounts that are being offered. If you are a current student whose session credits are running out, now is the time to renew!
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Portfolio Revisions
I’ve been re-working my website portfolio to present galleries with higher resolution images. This has involved trying to relocate the original images that have been lost due to failed disks, computer transfers, etc. Fortunately I was able to find a large cache of original files stored online in a warehouse image library.
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Spokane Plein Air Workshop/Demonstration
I will be offering a Plein Air Workshop Demonstration in Spokane, June 20 – 21, from 10 AM to 2 PM each day. Anyone can sign up for one or both days, and either watch as a demo, or paint along as a workshop. Those who choose to paint along will get some one-on-one critique throughout the duration of the workshop.
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Work-In-Progress: Snohomish Valley Spring
Some works-in-progress at Snohomish Valley viewpoint. One is a reworking of a panel that I was not satisfied with. I’m much happier with the changes, both compositionally and atmospherically.
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Plein Air Classes Beginning in April
Plein Air Classes begin mid April, with the first location being in Seattle.
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Last Promo For Plein Air Classes!
I’m having one last promotion for Plein Air Classes that begin in April. There is a counter on my website that indicates how long the promotion will last.
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Flash Sale Over!
The Plein Air Class session credit Flash Sale is over. My apologies to those that wanted to sign up at the discounted rate.
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Plein Air – Foster Island
Here is another Arboretum/Foster Island piece that was done in 2001, working alongside my plein air class.
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Plein Air Class Flash Sale!
I’m currently having a Flash Sale for Plein Air Painting session credits, with savings up to $180. There is a counter on my Classes page that is counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds that these discounts will be available. You can BEAT THE CLOCK by signing up right away!
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Looking Forward To Plein Air
I’m looking forward to better weather, and further excursions into the world of plein air work. This particular piece was done at Fishermens’ Terminal in Seattle, and became the study for the much larger painting of the same name.
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Plein Air Class Holiday Special!
If you have considered taking a Plein Air (open air) painting class, or would like to give classes as a gift to a loved one, now is the time to sign up.
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Auction Miscellany
Sometimes it’s fun to Google your name and see what turns up. On rare occasions works that have been consigned to secondary market galleries or auctions are listed in the return on query, and these are a few of those.
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Morning Fog 2: Snohomish Valley
Another effort to capture the eternally escaping light, while life sifts through our grasping fingers like sand in an hourglass.
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Morning Fog: Snohomish Valley
Started painting at 7 AM with student Min Zhong. When we arrived, the early morning fog was lying low in the valley.
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