PORT ANGELES –– It’s not easy to switch to being a quick-draw artist when you’ve been soothed by a week of painting in forests, on beaches and beside rivers under an omnipresent sun.
“The weather’s been so beautiful, it’s kind of hard to switch into the rush of this pace when I’ve been so relaxed,” Sharon Eckhardt of Anacortes said while painting a tugboat from the Port Angeles esplanade.
And though the two hours they had to paint the city seems like an eternity compared to the 0.4 seconds it reportedly took the greatest quick-draw artist ever — James “Wild Bill” Hickock — to draw his pistol, the painters in the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center’s Paint the Peninsula contest still felt the pressure of a ticking clock.
“We only have two hours, so I don’t have much time for interviews or anything like that,” a hurried Robin Weiss of Poulsbo said while painting the 100-year-old Clallam County Courthouse on Lincoln Street.
Eckhardt, Weiss and 31 other professional artists from across North America have been out on the North Olympic Peninsula this week capturing their impressions of a landmark environment.
Their work will culminate in a Sunday celebration.
Thursday saw the painters on the streets of Port Angeles whipping out oil and watercolor creations of the city in a two-hour time frame.
“I should have my drawing done by then,” said Minnesota artist Mike Rada, sketching out the pile of sunshine-struck steel propeller blades next to the Black Ball Ferry Line terminal on Railroad Avenue.
Winners of the quick-draw contest and a juried contest of their en plein air — “in the outdoors” — paintings created over this week will be honored at a community celebration and exhibit of the outdoor art creations at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd., from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Sponsored by the Green Crow timber company of Port Angeles, Sunday’s party includes free family art activities in Webster’s Woods Art Park, food and drink from Mom’s Spritzers and Snacks Food Truck.
Paintings, of course, will be on sale.
Professional artist Jim Lamb will judge the paintings Saturday.
The Paint the Peninsula competition’s grand prize is $1,500 for Best of Show.
Lamb is also teaching a three-day plein air workshop at the arts center Monday through Wednesday. Registration is available at www.paintthepeninsula.org.
Painters will demonstrate their outdoor skills from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Port Angeles Farmers Market at Front and Lincoln streets; from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Camaraderie Cellars, 334 Benson Road; and from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the fine arts center.
Entrants in the Community Paint Out Competition, which was open to amateur artists, are on display at The Landing mall, 115 E. Railroad Ave., through Sunday.
There will be a ceremony to award a total of $700 in cash awards to the top youth, teen and adult painters as selected by voters. Votes can be cast until Sunday.
More information about the center and its events can be found at www.pafac.org or by phoning 360-457-3532.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at jsmillie@peninsuladailynews.com.
