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A familiar scene in our little town are the huge cargo ships that travel up and down the Columbia River.

January, with it's fog, cold and persistent rain is a great month to paint scenes from the Columbia River. I fully expected to hear a fog horn blasting during class, but it was a rare, clear day!

Those who know me, know I spent a good part of my working career in the port industry!  I learned all about the ships and cargo that moves up and down the Columbia River in Southwest Washington state.

It's a fascinating segment of the economy, but now that I'm retired it's an equally fascinating subject to paint!

My watercolor classes are held at the Kalama Public Library, because they have a great space for classes, and well: I love libraries! 

The Setup

I created this composition by combining a photo of a Gearbulk carrier with another photo of the background hills, and a third photo of the foreground water. Since ships are complicated architectural structures with many angles and curves, I tried to simplify the shapes as much as possible, especially the bridge, cranes and funnel. 

It was a challenging painting! But my students were up to the challenge! Everyone's painting turned out unique and beautiful.

I enjoyed this class very much. I hope you enjoy the photos!

The Demonstration

Students at Work

Student Paintings in Progress

The Final Result

This is my demonstration painting. Each student's painting was similar, yet unique, with variations in water color, distant hills, and sky. 

Thank you for reading my blog post!