Glass Butte Juniper

Glass Butte Juniper - 6x6 - Oil on Gessobord

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A sunny day with the most perfect puffy clouds overhead! The reference photo for this work was taken from a peak on Glass Butte just east of Bend, Oregon, while collecting some really beautiful Mahogany Obsidian chunks. Don't trust those innocent puffy clouds, though, within a half hour they brought in a quick snow flurry! Needless to say, the springs in the Inland Northwest can be a bit unpredictable.

Kittitas Sage

Kittitas Sage - 5x7 - Oil on Canvas Panel

A warm and sunny day in the Kittitas Valley! There's something about fields of sage and distant hills that get me every time.

Pastoral Reverie IV

Pastoral Reverie IV - 6x6 - Oil on Panel

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The poplars stand tall against the silhouetted landscape. I loved the simplicity of this scene, and the calm tones the smoke gave everything.

Pastoral Reverie III

Pastoral Reverie III - 5x7 - Oil on Linen Panel

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My favorite part of this series has been the many various shapes the trees create. The hazy smoke simplified them to basic outlines, and the groupings created very interesting patterns.

Winter Calm

Winter Calm - Oil on Panel - 6x6

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A cold winter fog was cast over Bateman Island while I was taking a walk. I kept looking and looking for something that spoke to me, and then I turned around and saw this bend in the trail and the beautiful colors in the trees. Who knows what I would have painted had I not turned  around, but I'm glad I did!

Peace in the Foothills

Peace in the Foothills - 6x6 - Oil on Panel

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I've been sorting through the thousands of photos I've taken over the year, looking for the ones that bring out the same feeling of the day they were taken. The cut wheat fields and foothills to the Blue Mountains are hallmarks of the Walla Walla, WA area. When I visited the air was thick with smoke from distant wildfires, making the distant trees bluer than they normally would be.

Down the Gorge IV

Down the Gorge IV - 6x6 - Oil on panel

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The view from the top of the Rowena Crest along old Hwy 30 provides the final scene for my Columbia River Gorge series. The Columbia River rolls 800 feet below.

Down the Gorge II - Columbia River Painting

Down the Gorge II - Oil - Landscape - 6x6

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No amount of expressive brushwork seems to be able to capture the chilling wind I felt at the top of the Rowena Crest when I drove along US 30, the Historic Columbia River Highway. But I tried anyway!

At the Foot - Wallowa Valley Oil Painting

At the Foot - 6x6 - Landscape

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Another scene brought to you by Google Maps! No, I'll never get tired of virtually driving around the beautiful Wallowa Valley of eastern Oregon. Since the Columbia River Gorge is in HD now as well, you may see some paintings from that area soon too!

High Desert Rain - Oregon landscape Painting

High Desert Rain - 5x7 - Oil on Linen Panel

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Sometimes ideas need to percolate before painting them. The reference for this photo was taken last March outside of Bend, OR, as a snow and rain flurry blew past my husband and me.

Clouds Over the Bay - Washington Coast Painting

Clouds Over the Bay - 6x6 

Oops! Meant to post this little one yesterday. This is the same bay in the photo yesterday, but a bit closer up. I liked the shot because the clouds really gave the sly a lot of depth. The Washington coast has a really amazing variety of clouds!

Grays Bay Grey Day - Coastal Washington Pacific Northwest Painting

Grays Bay Grey Day - Landscape - 6x6

While driving home from Ocean Park, WA, I snapped a couple photos from the four mile long Astoria Bridge spanning the Columbia River. This little painting is the result of one of them! I *think* Grays Bat is just between the foreground land mass and the distant coastal mountains, though if someone from the area has a better idea of the name/place I'd defer to them! It does make for a catchy title at least. =)

Valley Shadows

Valley Shadows

Valleys are tricky. I think my favorite part of this painting is where the low hanging clouds hide behind the closest hill, and the wisps of distant pines are gently poking out, while the cloud gently fades into the air. The reference for this one was again Chinook Pass, it's a beautiful drive even on Google Maps!

Storm Over Wallula Gap - Columbia River Landscape Painting

"Storm over Wallula Gap" - Oil on Panel - Landscape

Basalt cliffs are always a problem for me. Which is a terrible, terrible problem to have when you live in an area that has basalt three miles thick! But I snapped the reference photo for this painting while watching a storm blow over Wallula Gap, and fell in love with the way the light hit the cheat grass and basalt covered hills! It was absolutely enchanting, and capturing the light in oil paints was exciting!

Tidal Pool Jigsaw - Ocean Landscape Painting

Tidal Pool Jigsaw - Landscape - 6x6 - Oil on Panel

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The most fascinating thing to me about the beach near Ocean Park, WA, is the dancing patterns of tidal pools. Always changing shape, reflecting back the different shades of sand and sky; they're simply mesmerizing!

Like the previous  painting, due to the wind while I painted this en plein air there is sand along the bottom. It's a feature, not a defect! The painting captured the essence of the beach, and took some actual beach along with it for good measure.

Storm's a Brewin' - Eastern Washington Landscape Painting by Melanie Thompon

Storm's a Brewin' - Oil on Panel - Landscape - 6x6

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This is yet another small plein air work that was painted out of absolute necessity. I saw the clouds building in the east and I really had no choice but to do my best to capture them!

All these thunderstorms have been reminding me of being a kid at my parents house. I remember going out onto our deck in pounding rain to watch the lightening pass by, I always was amazed by it. I'm sure this fascination puts me at a disadvantage with regards to natural selection, oh well!

Sauk Prairie Bison - Pacific Northwest Art

Sauk Prairie Bison - 6x6 - Oil on Panel

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This is my favorite plein air from my weekend in Cle Elum, WA. I've never been drawn to painting animals, but  as my husband and I were driving around looking for things to paint I just couldn't resist! I was so surprised to see  a herd of buffalo in the middle of Washington!

Clouds Over the Blues - Landscape Oil Painting by Melanie Thompson

Clouds Over the Blues - Landscape - 6x6 - Oil on Panel

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I've almost always painted clouds as white. But lately I've been noticing that even if they look white to my eye outside, if I paint them pure white, or even the palest yellow, it doesn't seem to convey the sunlight of that moment quite right. So I've been trying new ways of coloring clouds, and I'm enjoying the results!

I captured the reference photo used for this painting on a hike near the Godman Guard Station in the Blue Mountains of south-east Washington State. I was so excited to go, and so obsessed with what plein air gear I would pack, that I forgot to grab my hiking boots! So it was a hike in my Sanuk flip flops made from yoga mats; thankfully the air was warm and the sandals comfy. They did pretty well!

Around the Bend - Plein air oil painting

River Bend - 8x10 - Landscape - Oil on Canvas Board

A simple, quiet day along the Columbia River in the Tri-Cities. Rattlesnake Mountain is a continuous presence here, so it makes an appearance in many of my plein air works! Thankfully the interesting contours are constantly presenting new challenges to capture.

Hogback Hillside - Oregon Landscape Oil Painting

Hogback Hillside - 6x6 - Oil on Panel - Landscape

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There is a road heading south toward the Steen Mountains of south eastern Oregon that I was exploring through Google Maps street view called Hogback Road. It runs along a sharp ridgeline, going on my very basic geology knowledge it looks like the ridge is some of the northernmost part of the Basin and Range area. Lots of sagebrush, and it seemed fitting since the temperature here in the Tri-Cities has been close to or over 100 degrees for several days. Maybe I should try painting some rain clouds!