Mother’s Day on Whidbey Island
My family and I went on a two-night bike trip to Deception Pass and took every opportunity to sketch the views.
By Maria Coryell-Martin
For our annual Mother’s Day Trip, we took a two-night bike trip to Deception Pass on Whidbey Island. The trip had some highs and low—some of the roads were busier than we’d have liked— but we did have some quality family time, beautiful spots to sketch, and all in all it was a memorable trip!
For sketching, I brought my Pocket Art Toolkit, and filled up the back side of my A6 ZigZag Book. I sketched with my Desk Pen, a medium Pentel Water Brush, and my favorite Folio Palette.
Hastie Lake Park
We paused for snacks while biking at Whidbey Island at Hastie Lake Park, a beautiful west-facing beach access point. I quickly sketched the view. I washed in a light layer of Yellow Ochre over the background sky, landscape, and water, to try and capture the warm quality of light.
For the various foliage, I mixed a variety of greens using Quinacridone Gold and Yellow Ochre with Phthalo Blue, Phthalo Green, and Indanthrone Blue. I tried to do wet-on-wet mixing directly on my page, but my paint dried quickly on my paper!
Pass Island
The next day we visited Pass Island at Deception Pass State Park. My family and I worked our way down to an overlook where I sat down the sketch. Deception Pass bridge spans the gap between Whidbey and Fidalgo Island, with an arching support on Pass Island. Within the high rock walls, water from the Salish sea is funneled through narrow channels with high currents and peak flow, which create dramatic whirlpools.
With my tools in hand, I focused on first sketching in the contours of the biggest shapes before me, then I laid down washes of colors. While sketching I watched boats both going with the flow and struggling against the fast current. A sea lion also steadily swam upstream, surfacing for air every few moments with an audible breath. As I sketched, my family walked up to the bridge to wave down. Can you see me in the photo they took? Look for the red jacket! My paper dried slowly as rain started to sprinkle and some of my paint smudged at the end.
North Beach
The sun came out for our final evening at Deception Pass State Park. We clambered up rocks to sit and watch the lowering light. The water was calm and trees reflections were visible on its surface. I enjoyed splattering some paint for texture with my water brush, pulling the bristles back with my thumb and releasing them to spray paint over the corner of my page.
Coupeville Ferry
My family and I were tired by the time we reached the Coupeville Ferry, having biked close to 30 miles together. We sat at a picnic table to wait for our ferry, and I contemplated what to sketch.
I’m such a landscape person, that I decided to challenge myself with a scene more focused on people. I sketched the contours of folks playing on the beach, from a family skipping rocks, to a dog walker, and folks on the driftwood. I kept the people simple and had fun!
All in all, it was a great trip with family!