I served as Artist in Residence in Cascade Siskiyou National Monument during the last week of June, 2023. It was a glorious time, with spring flowers and new growth everywhere, and the weather was pleasant. The strongest impression I had, though, was that everything was green. Overwhelmingly green.
I live on Washington’s dry side where the predominate color is desiccated brown. There really aren’t many shades of brown: light brown, medium brown, dark brown, brown in sunlight, brown in shadow. And for most of the year, the occasional touches of green are faded, like the pale green of sagebrush. In contrast, green was not at all reticent at Cascade Siskiyou National Monument in June.
Cascade Siskiyou has a full palette of greens. “50 Shades of Green” could have been the title for at least one of the paintings! I frequently work en plein air and try to replicate the feeling of a specific place. It’s challenging when everything is green because green comes in such an amazing variety: Pine tree green is not fir tree green; grass green is not moss green; dogwood tree green is not aspen tree green, along with random touches of contrasting burnt orange and russet. Furthermore, green is not easy to reproduce. Yellow plus blue is green, of course, but which yellow (bright cadmium, earthy yellow ochre) and which blue (sky blue cerulean or deep-water ultramarine)? Each combination produces a different range of tones. And any yellow-blue mixture must be moderated with its complement, a red hue, so it looks like it belongs in nature rather than in a coloring book.
So I spent my time in the Monument painting green in all its glory. I painted the variety of greens in the forest and in the reflections in Hyatt Lake, and I painted the delicate soft pale green of mullein and the chartreuse green of moss on a fence. There were more greens, lots more, reflecting the variety of plants and ecosystems in the Monument. I suppose the overwhelming green was, in part, a seasonal condition and that summer, fall, and winter would bring a different set of colors. And that will be a challenge for another Artist in Residence!
Words and paintings by Leslie Ann Hauer
