PORT TOWNSEND — Original artwork by award-winning Port Townsend artist Richard Jesse Watson is being auctioned online now to benefit the Plant-A-Thon Project, which will add another 5,000 trees to the Tarboo watershed beginning Saturday.
This year’s Northwest Watershed Institute’s Plant-A-Thon on the Tarboo Wildlife Preserve — which is on Dabob Road near Quilcene — will be this Saturday and next Saturday, said Jude Rubin, director of stewardship for the Port Townsend-based nonprofit.
Children will help plant
This Saturday’s planting effort is at capacity for volunteer planters, she said, with more than 100 children and their parents registered from the Chimacum Pi program, Quilcene Elementary and Sunfield Land for Learning.
But volunteers can sign up for the following Saturday, Feb. 12, if they RSVP by 10 a.m. this Friday.
All trees are planted in honor of individuals, Rubin said.
For each tree planted, there is a corresponding tree card that is sent in honor of a particular person.
Cards are $5 each and can be purchased through the Swan School website, www.swanschool.net.
Each year, the institute commissions a different artist for the tree cards.
Watson’s image, “Sharing Their Journey,” graces this year’s cards, along with the words “A Tree Is Planted.”
Watson’s original ink and acrylic image is being auctioned on the Swan School website, www.swanschool.net.
The auction began Wednesday and will continue through Friday, Feb. 18.
Commissioned for project
Watson, who has illustrated more than a dozen children’s books — including Tom Thumb, High Rise Angel Food Cake and The Magic Rabbit — created “Sharing Their Journey” on commission for the 2011 Plant-A-Thon’s tree cards.
Watson then donated the original artwork to be auctioned off to pay for the next year’s artist’s commission. Bidding was up to $700 early Wednesday.
“This auction pays it forward to the next year’s artist for their commission,” Rubin said.
Last year’s artist, Max Grover of Port Townsend, “started this tradition by donating his artwork to the project,” she said.
“We decided the best way to honor Max was to auction it off and pay it forward to the next artist.
“Max’s generosity got it going,” Rubin added. “Watson also generously donated his painting.”
Watson’s awards and honors include the Golden Kite Award, the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, People magazine’s Best Picture Book of the Year, the IRA/CBC Children’s Choice Award and the C.S. Lewis Gold Medal.
Proceeds from the sale of his artwork will benefit the five schools that participate in the Plant-A-Thon and environmental restoration efforts.
Those who buy cards can specify a school that will benefit or can direct that the money be split among all five schools that participate in the Plant-A-Thon.
Cards are still available and will be sold until they are gone, Rubin said.
Seventh year
The Plant-A-Thon, now in its seventh year, has added 24,000 trees — 17 or 18 species of native plants, including Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, cedar, Indian plum, alder and vine maple — to the watershed in an effort to restore salmon and wildlife habitat.
The Feb. 12 session will feature volunteers from Jefferson Community School and Swan School, as well as Greywolf Ranch in Port Townsend, Jefferson Juvenile Detention, Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and myriad AmeriCorp volunteers.
It also will be right across the road from the first planting, Rubin said.
“There’s a handful of people who have been in it every year, since the beginning,” she said.
“So they’ll get to see how it’s coming along.”
One person was a boy who was 11 years old his first year of volunteer work. Now, he is headed for college this fall and will serve as a crew leader both Saturdays, Rubin said.
RSVPs to the Feb. 12 planting are necessary because the institute provides lunch to volunteers and parking is tight, Rubin said.
To RSVP as a volunteer, e-mail zac@nwwatershed.org or phone 360-385-5358.
________
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
