I discovered the pleasures of outdoor painting a few years ago while working on a story about travel sketching. Since then I've expanded my painting kit and aspirations and embarked on a yearlong project to discover Washington state's wonderfully diverse landscapes, in all seasons and all kinds of weather.
The San Juan Islands in winter have a gloomy beauty I love. The patchwork of gray-blue rocks and gray-green lichens calms the mind. Ravens croak from dense stands of rain-blackened firs, suggesting sad mysteries and ancient history.
By Paul Schmid | January 9, 2004
LOPEZ ISLAND You can really click through the gears and get your spokes blurring on this charming little island in the San Juan archipelago, about 12 miles north to south through gently rolling hills of farm fields and forests and along sea-breezy shoreline lanes.
But you'll want to do as Lopezians "low-PEEZ-ians," as in those who live here and take your time.
This is not a busy place, except at the ferry landing, and this is not a place where people hurry, except to catch a ferry.
By Greg Johnston | September 4, 2003
