Clouds Over the Hay

Clouds Over the Hay - 6x6 - Oil on Panel

Click to BidWe've been getting some variable spring weather the past few days: wind, rain, sun, you name it! So the clouds have been fantastic. The hay had just been cut and was in long rows, creating a view I really wanted to paint!

Rain Passes By

Rain Passes By - Oil on Canvas Panel- 5x5

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This was an exercise in capturing some of the tumultuous weather we've been experiencing recently! This little burst of rain was so interesting as it passed by the Rattlesnake Hills north of Richland! I've been so used to working on smooth gessoed panels and linen boards recently that it was a bit of a surprise just how much the texture of the canvas shows through!

Along the Burnt River

Along the Burnt River - 6x6 - Oil on Gessobord

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After my trip through the southwest, I've been in a bit of a rut. Nothing kicks me out of a rut like a good ol' cruise through Google Street View! The Burnt River Canyon is a brief detour off the route my family has taken for as long as I can remember to get to Boise, Idaho. It's a trip we make multiple times a year, trekking south and east on I-84, but I'd never noticed this little side road before. The red willows along the creek were simply stunning!

Calm in Horse Heaven

Calm in Horse Heaven - 6x6 - Oil on Panel

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This is a companion piece to the previous one, the variety of shapes and possible compositions in the Horse Heaven Hills of the Columbia Basin are endless! I absolutely loved the atmosphere the rain gave to the desert hills.

Complementary Winter

Complementary Winter - 6x6 -  Oil on Gessobord

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The winter haze was thick over the Horse Heaven Hills, the name for a ridge line overlooking Benton City here in beautiful eastern Washington. There was something about the way the cool purple upper crest transitioned into the golden slopes that really caught my eye. The atmosphere was a little mysterious and very paintable!

Whimsical Day - Daily Painting

Whimsical Day - 5x7 - Oil on Linen Panel

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I'm not sure why this painting's palette struck me as whimsical, I think it's the purple shadows and vivid gold hill, or maybe all the colors are just a little more pastel than I typically work. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I do think it was a fun palette to try!


Note: Collectors may notice that my shipping costs have gone up! It is because my original prices were set to cover the cost of packaging and shipping USPS First Class, but I've been for several months now shipping USPS Priority Mail for the peace of mind. I am very satisfied with this service, and so I've updated my price to reflect the cost of the upgraded shipping.

Summer Marsh - McNary National Wildlife Refuge Plein Air painting

Summer Marsh - Oil on Panel - 6x6

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Ah, these cold days have me remembering back to when I could paint on location without gloves and a hat! This little plein air piece was painted at the McNary National Wildlife Refuge: a beautiful little marshland outside of the Tri-Cities.

Recently I was hiking around and painting at Dry Falls here in Washington. It's a really beautiful area! I blogged about it here, and here's the finished painting:

Dry Falls Winter - 11x14 - Purchase Info

Kittitas Clouds - Central Washington landscape painting

Kittitas Clouds - 6x6 - Oil on Panel - Landscape

A summer storm was building over the hills of Kittitas County near Ellensburg while my husband and I were driving home from a hike. Many of the paintings of late have been from pictures taken the past several months from hikes and trips, it's a symptom of me organizing my stash! I love it, though, because I get to relive all the fun times I've had this year, and makes me think about where the next hike will be! =)

Crumbling Clouds - Oregon Landscape Oil Painting

Crumbling Clouds - 6x6 - Oil on Gessobord

I've been going through the many many landscape photos I snapped while driving along Highway 97 from Tri-Cities, WA, to Bend, OR, in March. Being early spring, the weather was turbulent! There was snow, sun and rain within a span of 15 minutes! I wanted to capture a slightly more calm moment of this trip, watching as a cloud slowly disintegrated into rain over the desert.

Cloud Break Over Hell's Canyon - Idaho Landscape Painting

Cloud Break Over Hell's Canyon - 6x6 - Landscape

I have a soft spot for Hell's Canyon, which is why it pops up in my paintings fairly often. I have many many photos of the area from when I helped fight the Poe Cabin Fire there in 2007, and it really is the landscape that made me fall in love with wilderness.

I spent the weekend with family in Boise, ID, so you can look forward to some paintings from the Idaho foothills in the future!

Teanaway Dusk - Sunset in Eastern Washington Painting

Teanaway Dusk - 5x7

There is something special about the Cle Elum area. I had so much fun tromping around, taking pictures, being amazed by the landscape, basically heaven. What I love about this area is that unlike the arid shrub steppe area I live in (and do love), the Teanaway area is this interesting place where evergreen forests and desert collide in a spectacular way. The weather is fairly warm and dry (for the Pacific NW), but you still get that clean mountain air! 

Road to the Wallowas - Eastern Oregon Eagle Cap Painting

Road to the Wallowas - 5x7 - Landscape

Despite not even visiting yet, Joseph, Oregon, is on my short list of places I could see living. It's temptingly located close to the Imnaha River Valley (another spot I'd like to see in person), Hell's Canyon, the Blue Mountains and the Wallowa Mountains! That's a lot of painting material. Seeing as I can't stand the cold, however, summer trips to the area may have to suffice!

This painting was painted from Google Maps Street View, there are some gorgeous mountain views in HD around the Joseph/Enterprise, Oregon, area!

Clouds over Chinook Pass

Clouds Over Chinook Pass • Oil on Panel • 6x6

My husband described this painting as "a bit loose," which in his language means a little more abstract than is his preference. But to each their own! I was fascinated while taking my virtual trip over Chinook Pass by the interesting patterns made by the cloud shadows, only letting the sun occasionally peak through. I thought the shapes should take center stage, keeping the whole thing a bit more abstract than my usual work.

Chinook Pass View - Washington Landscape painting

Chinook Pass View • Landscape • 6x6

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Chinook Pass is one of the beautiful scenic areas that I have yet to visit. If my tour through Google Street View was any indication, though, I'll need to soon! It's simply a stunning area with looming views of Mount Rainier and those one of a kind, misty, clouds that make the Cascades unique.

Road with a View - Alaskan Landscape Painting

Road with a View - 6x6 - Oil on Panel

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Yet another work from my Google Maps Alaskan Adventure, what a beautiful state! I get the feeling if I ever drove through Alaska in real life, I may never leave.

A note to my collectors:

I will be unable to ship paintings that are won from August 2-5. I'll be on the road painting, and hopefully will be able to post new paintings, but shipping won't be possible. Those auctions completed before the 2nd or after the 5th will be shipped on time!

Yakima River Blooms - Northwest Flower Painting

Yakima River Blooms - 6x6 - Oil on Gessoboard 

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So rabbitbrush may not quite be what most consider wildflowers, but around here we take what we can get in the middle of summer. Florals are way out of my comfort zone, but I'm very happy with how these turned out!

Edmonds Plein Air II

Edmonds Plein Air II - 6x6 - Landscape

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Can I toot my horn here? I love this painting. We got into Edmonds late in the day, but the mountains were out and the light was beautiful! I was looking forward to an afternoon of plein air painting. Unfortunately, thanks to all the running around we did to check in, stop by the host gallery, wander around the downtown, I was left with backlit, flat mountains and the rapidly changing light of evening.

All this was forgotten the next day, when the late morning light and some big puffy clouds left shadow patterns across Puget Sound that blew my mind! The colors were soft but powerful, and I did my best to capture that here.

Here's a little snapshot of me and where I set up in Edmonds!

Road to the Grande Ronde

Road to the Grande Ronde - Oil on Panel - 6x6

This Google Street View tour was conducted a little closer to home. The Grand Ronde River has the craziest loop-de-loop path as it cuts through the Blue Mountains, and there is an amazing road that starts high at the top of a ridgeline and winds down, down, down into the Grande Ronde Valley. The switchbacks made me dizzy, even through the screen!

Thompson River View I - Fine Art Oil Landscape by Melanie Thompson

Thompson River View I - 6x6 - Oil on Panel - Landscape

When on my virtual tour through Canada I came across the Thompson River, and knew I had to paint it. Not only was the river named Thompson, but the clouds were casting the most amazing shadows on the distant hills. It was so nice, I painted it twice, the next one will be up tomorrow!

Ochoco Color Study - Original Oregon Landscape Painting

Ochoco Color Study - 6x6 - Oil on Canvas panel - Landscape

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I'm having some MAJOR issues with a large painting of this scene, so I'm creating smaller studies to test some of the color/composition ideas I've had.

This scene is somewhere in the Ochoco Mountains of eastern Oregon. On our way home from a trip to the John Day Fossil Beds my husband and I programmed the GPS to take us home, and followed the course it told us to. I've been looking and looking at maps trying to figure out where exactly it took us, because the route made NO sense at all. We didn't realize that, of course, until we were at the summit of the Ochoco range on a US Forest Service road, seeing traces of snow and thinking "Wouldn't 395 have been faster?" But I did catch a glimpse of this great little stream, and here it is!