Stellar Day in the Pacific Northwest

Yes, sunshine and fall colors!

One of our rare fall Pacific Northwest STELLAR DAY.

I took my dog, Ebony, for a walk on the Chehalis Western Trail here in Olympia, Washington.

I love the arches of color and the depth seen down the trail.

It is like a fairy land.



The leaves are a still-life in themselves.......

Sunday Sketches

Still learning about this Sketchbook Project 2012 process.

Today's lesson; Joanne verses "the paper."

I wanted to give a blast of color with watercolors to emphasize the leaves' fall color. The paper got saturated and started to shred. Immediately I took out the hair dryer before disaster occurred and I would have to remove another page from the sketchbook.

I remembered that my ink pen leaked through this paper, therefore, I opted for colored pencil to bring out the leaves and trees.

Hey, it worked! Score one for Joanne!



I have to figure out what to do with the next page because it is now wavy from the use of water on this page.

Ah, the challenge continues........

Autumn Leaves

The other day, as I walked the Chehalis Western Trail in Olympia, Washington, with my dog, I found myself shuffling the piles of leaves which reminded me of childhood.

Did you ever get a chance to play in the autumn leaves?

The next day I met the person whose job it is to blow the leaves off the trail. For maybe an hour or so the trail was totally void of leaves, imagine that!

When I walked the trail again the leaves returned and the patterns were very striking with the wet, black asphalt as a background. I found one of those huge maple leaves and took its picture.


Nature's still life.

Light's Moods

Light is often the inspiration that guides me to a new subject.

One of the greatest thrills is coming unexpectedly upon a sudden and dramatic lighting phenomenon, when the light catches an object in a way that tugs at my emotions and stops me in my tracks.

Most often, the way the object is revealed ignites my desire to paint, but light is not always just a comment on the subject. Light itself is mysterious, inseparable from the subject it illuminates. There are occasions when the light becomes the focal point and the objects are there just to complement it.

Here is on of my watercolor paintings where the morning light is coming through the trees illuminating the fall leaves.


Light in the Forest
Joanne Osband