photo credit: Darin Reid

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Instructor Cece sketching on the other rope team

One painting that was great fun to realize is my “Easton Icefall” watercolor. My original inspiration comes from the Easton glacier on Mt. Baker in the North Cascades Mountain Range of Washington state. Over the past two years I’ve made several trips to Mt. Baker, one with the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project and others with Girls on Ice, an awesome program for high school girls to learn about glaciology, mountaineering, and art. Last summer while out on the glacier with Girls on Ice, we took a break while all roped up to sketch this icefall. Part of what fascinates me about rock and ice are the abstract patterns made of big shapes and shadows. While sitting on my pack, I made a quick sketch using pen, watercolor, and white gouache on a light blue Canson Mi-Tiente paper. I often use these media outdoors since they’re portable and dry quickly.

Easton Icefall sketch, 12" x 9", 2008

Once back home in my studio, I leafed through my sketches and notes and recalled the large, blocky shapes of the icefall and the deep blues. I looked through my photos and experimented with cropping this one in photoshop. (I also use the program to render my photos black and white and often “posterize” images to simplify them). After I had a rough idea of a composition, I made small value sketches, considering my darkest dark, mid-value, and brights. The small sketch below was my favorite. Next came the challenge of painting the composition larger and deciding on my palette.

Reference

Value sketch

First Exploration

Studio watercolors often take me several “go’s” until I am satisfied, and this one took three. I was so enamored with the dark intensity of my thumbnail sketch that I initially tried painting dark skies. The darker palette did not resonate with me, though, and I moved into a lighter palette based around the Daniel Smith paints cerulean blue, cobalt turquoise, and pthalo blues. Patience was key for my final painting to allow the large washes of the sky and big ice shapes to dry. Waiting is always the hardest part of watercolor painting for me! I try to work on multiple pieces at once or will go make some tea… or take a walk to resist fiddling. And when is a painting “done”? When my small changes cease to make a difference… and before I overdo them! It’s a fine line. Like this painting? Prints are available in my shop.

Final realized "Easton Glacier" painting

Mt. Daniel, Aug 11, 2007

In my studio, I perused my field sketches and photos and was inspired by Mt. Daniel’s ridgeline and its corresponding shadows. I found a photo for additional reference and converted it to black and white so I wouldn’t feel compelled to use the palette that comes out of my printer.

Corresponding photo inspiration (before cropping)

To begin composing, I cropped the image in photoshop several times and then began a series of thumbnail sketches and color studies. As I did them, I noted my palette and ideas that came up. 

Page 1 of Mt. Daniel ridge line studies

Page 2 of Mt. Daniel ridge line studies

By my fourth sketch, I found a composition and palette I was excited to work with. Now I’m on to the next stage: working larger! Today I did a study to experiment with paint application and color intensity. It’s not perfect, but I’ve learned from the process and will do a couple more versions before I use my 30″ x 15″ sheet I have prepared. Wish me luck!

12" x 6" Mt. Daniel ridge line color study

At the Portals, Ink and Watercolor, 12" x 8.25"

This year as I’m processing my North Cascades fieldwork, I began exploring the composition, looking at my sketch and photos as well. I did a small study of the Portals and liked the overall composition. It took me right back to sitting on the rocks sketching.

Portals Study, 7" x 5"

I decided to scale it up to a larger 23″ x 17″ watercolor on Arches coldpress paper. This is the first layer of paint. After a light sketch with 2H pencil, I painted the sky with a mix of cobalt blue, french ultramarine, and cerulean blue as well as some quinacridone rose and yellow ochre for the warms. Once that dried, I blocked in the large shapes of the rocks with yellow ochre and quinacridone burnt orange.

First Layer

WIth this second layer, I added texture and form to the rocks, working with lunar earth paint mixed with some cool blues. I also highlighted the snow in the background yellow against the cloud and added some crevasses.

Second Layer

This is the final finished piece after I added the darks with blues and purples.

Final painting

Sketching at the Portals, Mt. Baker, August 2007 (photo credit Tom Hammond)

Girls on Ice 2008 (our "silly" photo)

I’m still catching up from the trip (with gear left to scrub and emails to reply to…) but will recap a few highlights. We spent a total of eight days on the Mt. Baker, camped on the snow above 6,000 ft and just to the east of the Easton Glacier. Our first five days were rainy and grey, which included a thunderstorm (on our first night!) The girls quickly discovered that Gore-Tex is not truly waterproof and learned to stay warm with singing and dancing. Throughout the inclement weather, spirits remained high and we learned about snow travel, basic glacier mountaineering, glacier dynamics, and tools for observation. We also had three projects including studying ice worms, mass balance of the Easton glacier, and a time-lapse photography setup. When the sun finally came out, the whole team climbed to Mt. Baker’s crater where sulphuric gases were buffeting out and half our team continued on to the summit. We spent our last two nights at the North Cascades Institute’s Learning Center on Lake Diablo (a stunning place that is well worth a visit!) to decompress, work on projects, and clean up. Everything was all in all a great success!

My favorite analogy for the rain and whiteout conditions we endured was a “snow globe.” One of the gals observed after “sucker holes” came and went (patches of blue sky) that every time we grew hopeful about a change, it seemed as though someone turned us upside down, shook us ’round, and left us in even worse conditions- and all the more loopy. Giggles were contagious after we learned to dance “Soulja Boy” while wearing crampons on ice. 

First blue sky while on the Easton Glacier (and it was a sucker hole...)

I’ve posted our time-lapse photography video here if you’d like to check it out. We sought to observe ablation and glacier movement (we placed rocks on the ice for markers), but learned that not everything turns out as expected. We unfortunately ran out of battery power right after the weather improved… Many notes were made for next year! Check back soon for more stories and sketches.

Fat Chick (King Penguin), 8" x 10", mixed media

Steve from my Silver Glacier trip a couple of weeks ago also sent me this great photo of me painting in the field. The view is of Silver lake and I’m hoping to complete a large watercolor of it soon. What a stunning place.

Artist at Work, Silver Glacier, June 25, 2008 (photo credit: Steve Dorsch)

North Cascades Park has over 300 glaciers which serve as a bank account of sorts for the region’s water and are essential for ecosystems and our drinking water supply. Four glaciers in the park were selected for monitoring in 1993, each draining into a different watershed. I learned about the Park’s monitoring two years ago when I first met the program’s chief investigator Jon Riedel. Jon was interested and supporting of my work and in considering places to paint, he encouraged me to visit Silver Glacier with his team. Like all of the glaciers monitored, Silver Glacier is receding. If you’re interested in the full results, check out the report here. As an artist, I’m working to contributing to the visual record of these changing regions, and I love the challenge of plein air sketching sur glace.

So Tuesday I drove up to Sedro Woolley to meet Steve and Jeanna in a large blue government owned Tahoma truck. To access Silver glacier, we drove north into Canada to the Chilliwack Lake area and down various logging roads where we finally left the truck. The border crossing into the woods was interesting – in the middle of the young woods (a 20 ft swath of forest was originally cleared along the whole border and is now growing back in select wilderness areas) is a pinnacle demarcating the Canadian and US sides with a border guard waiting to check passports. Ok, no guard, but there is a pinnacle. The trail continues in America as an unmaintained climber’s trail that meanders up Deport Creek, ascends (rather dramatically next to a waterfall) to a cirque basin, and leads to the base of Redoubt Mountain and Mt. Spickard. It’s beautiful and the views felt earned after the hours of bush whacking and clambering over trees and rocks.

We spent the night next to the small “Ouzel Lake” and the following day hiked up to Silver Lake and Glacier. It was a spectacular day and while Jeanna and Steve probed several points along the glacier, I managed to sketch out several small watercolors and feel it was a productive trip. We were also lucky with the weather and stayed dry the whole time! On the painting note, my field kit evolves every time I take a trip. This time I brought ~10 sheets of Arches 140lb cold press paper, Canson Mi-tientes blues and tans, and also chopped the ends of several of my paint brushes so that they would fit well in a compact sack with a small palette loaded with 12 watercolors. Additionally, I carried a small pamphlet book that I made for small ink studies which fit conveniently in my pocket with one waterproof pen, one water-soluble pen, and one water brush. I’ve included some results below.

I’m now looking forward to developing my field work and considering ways in which I might incorporate the data collected by scientists into my work. Any suggestions are welcome and check back for work in progress! Thank you again to Jon Riedel, Jeanna, and Steve for sharing their work with me and for the fantastic time in the mountains.

Silver Lake, 8" x 6" field watercolor

Mt. Redoubt, 8" x 6" ink, watercolor, and gouache field sketch

Jeanna probes the glacier, 6" x 4" ink sketch (while roped up)

The North Cascades have more than 700 glaciers, the highest percentage of glaciers in the lower 48 states- and they’re all receding. Save a few that have withdrawn so far up the high slopes of the mountains that they are protected by shadows and now in equilibrium.

For those of us in the Seattle area, we face consequences for this loss of ice. The glaciers contribute billions of gallons of water into 6 watersheds that flow into Puget Sound. The North Cascade glaciers have served as a buffer against drought and drain into rivers, which provide us with a consistent water supply. Many of the rivers are also dammed and provide hydroelectric electric power. Glaciers also contribute to the stability of rivers which in turn fosters their habitat. The Skagit river supports all five species of salmon. That reminds me, I read an interesting article recently by Alex Steffan on World Changing that discusses how river and mountain ecosystems depend on salmon to remain healthy. Click here for the article.

After Jon Riedel’s presentation, one woman asked, “Is there a high rate of depression for glaciologists?” It reminded me of solastagia, the phenomenon of feeling displaced in our own homes due environmental changes that I’ve seen more and more in the news lately. World Changing has an article about it as well.