Trillium Lake in June

This painting became the third in a series of paintings I have created based on actual locations in the Pacific Northwest.  The first was done in 2022 and featured Mount Rainier — I gave that one to my parents as I wasn't satisfied with the way the rocks in the stream looked. The second was a smaller painting of Heceta Head — the way the rocks looked was a vast improvement, but I still wasn't satisfied and ended up giving that painting to my sister.

This painting I tried a few things different... First, I painted the trees like how I prefer to draw distant trees when I doodle — straight lines, but rather than all the same color like when I do black and white doodles, I created variations of green for the different species of trees. Next, I decided to play with the texture in the sky and that texture, combined with the ripples in the water in a photo I took, created the unique ripples in the water of my painting.

But the biggest difference came when I tried a different technique when it came to the rocks. I used a deerfoot brush to use a stippling technique and blended several colors of paint to get the desired look. And the realism of those rocks really makes them pop.

A few months back while vending at one event, I experienced the joy of someone not only recognizing the lake, but the exact location on the lake as they told me they fished off that large rock straight below Mount Hood in the picture. I absolutely love those stories that connect viewers to my art.

I am currently deciding on my next painting to make for this series. It may be a coastal location, historical site, waterfall, or somewhere else so stay tuned for when I begin as I plan on updating this blog with in-progress posts