Colors of the West Artist Lecture with Molly Hashimoto in Olympia

Artist Molly Hashimoto shares her inspirations from nature that are collected in her gorgeous book  Colors of the West (Mountaineers Books) which explores wild places through the lens of watercolor “en plein air” painting, a French term meaning literally “in the open air.” Steeped in the natural world, award-winning artist Molly Hashimoto has sketched in the outdoors and worked as a plein air artist and teacher for more than 20 years. In that time she has filled more than 40 sketchbooks with landscapes, vignettes, studies of flora and fauna, and natural history notes—all created while visiting some of the West’s most stunning landscapes.

This new book is organized by color, a unique approach to teaching both intermediate and budding artists how to really see color in the outdoor spaces around them, and then apply it to journals, other art projects, or simply beautiful memories. The average person can see 17,000 colors (!), so Molly explains the concept of palette, that is the range of colors that unites elements of geography, geology, and the different kinds of light created by atmosphere, season, and latitude. Molly’s own hand-drawn sketches and paintings of familiar Western landscapes help convey these colors, along with sidebars and insets on individual species (trees, birds, mammals, and other flora and fauna) and historical notes related to the park or site she has sketched. Tips and techniques for outdoor journaling and painting are included throughout.

From the green hues found on Cascade Head on the Oregon Coast and in Yellowstone’s quaking aspens, to the reds that highlight the rocks in Arches National Park and the giant sequoias in California, readers and artists of all levels will learn a new appreciation for the colors of the West—and how the details of natural beauty can be revealed when we stop, observe, and pay attention to the outdoor world.

Molly Hashimoto's paintings have been published as notecards, holiday cards, calendars, and gift books—from a calendar that pairs her paintings with quotations from John Muir to card sets that feature her delicate bird prints. Her work has been exhibited at a variety of galleries throughout the Northwest and at the Whatcom Museum of Art in Bellingham, Washington. In 2004, her painting Lewis and Clark Trail: Missouri River won First Prize in the Shoreline Arts Festival (Washington), while several