Jessica Rayan Art

Watercolor painting of the letter "J" surrounded by flora and fauna of eastern Washington in spring. The inside of the letter is filled with a blue sky and puffy clouds. The subjects, from top to bottom, include: Anise Swallowtail, Ponderosa Pine, Rocky Mountain Elk, Silvery Blue, Western Tanager, Balsamroot, Morel, and Glacier Lily.

Closeup of the elk portion of the painting

Closeup of the birds and flowers in the painting.

Finished this up for my little nephew. He was born in the early spring, so I chose subjects more common during that time where he lives. Recognize any?
#watercolor #nature #art #pnw

Small sketchbook held in front a forested river scene, which has been sketched in watercolor on the open pages.

A dark yellow gravel bike is propped up with a forested river in the background. The sky is blue and full of puffy white clouds.

Sunny ride n sketch today! #watercolor #sketchbook #gravel #pnw #pleinair

Sketchbook open to a watercolor painting of golden-colored jellyfish floating underwater.

70/100: pacific sea nettle jellyfish. Working on sea creatures was intimidating and new! Looking forward to doing trees next. #sketchbook #watercolor #marineart #natureart #pnw

Sketchbook held up on a picnic table. The page has two sketches of two different rest area scenes with trees, both done in 20-30 minutes.

Sketchbook page open to a watercolor painting of a deep gorge with a river at the bottom.

Sketchbook page with some loose flower sketches and a sticker from Twin Falls, Idaho.

Sketchbook page showing a watercolor sketch of an old well that was used by Oregon Trail travelers. The well is in the background out of focus.

Sketches from my trip to Idaho last weekend. Mostly done at rest stops! Made this trip more times than I can count to viait family as a child. #sketchbook #watercolor #natureart

Small sketchbook held open to loose sketches of a vulture, feather, and a stand of trees in a clearcut. In the background, the clearcut with a few standing trees is visible against a blue sky.

Photograph of my micro sketch kit for cycling. It includes a 3x5" sketchbook, a small aluminum palette, a black pen, a white gel pen, a waterbrush, and an ultralight art bag.

30 minute sketch n snack on today's ride in Marckworth State Forest. #sketchbook #pnw #gravelriding

Photograph of a large-scale sculpture suspended from trees in a forest. The art installation is comprised of green and blue semi-opaque resin oblong shapes attached to netting.

"UNION" by John Grade. This installation is meant to represent the cell structures that make up the rings of a Western Red Cedar. Located in the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle, WA. So beautiful to walk under and take in. #publicart #sculpture #pnw #natureart

Watercolor sketch of a purple shore crab.

Things are getting back to normal here, and I've had bandwidth to paint again. 69/100 PNW Nature is the beautiful and tiny purple shore crab.
#sketchbook #watercolor #pnw #sciart #natureart

Watercolor landscape of big yellow flowers in the foreground, giving way to tall evergreen trees and a view of a mountain range in the distance.

Landscape photograph big yellow flowers in the foreground, giving way to tall evergreen trees and a view of a mountain range in the distance.

"Saur's Balsamroot" from my own photograph. Slowly learning to reply less on matching reference images.
#natureart #wildflowers #watercolor #landscape #pnw

Photograph of a sketchbook held open in front of a bed of tulips. The sketchbook pages show loose watercolor paintings of various tulips.

Tulip sketching at Roozenagarde today. Colors I don't get to use as often! #skagitvalleytulipfestival #pnw #outdoorsketching #watercolor

Photograph of a sketchbook being held against a coastal backdrop. The weather is partly cloudy, and a large island can be seen in the distance. The sketchbook shows a watercolor sketch of the ocean and island.

I took my kid backpacking last weekend and found a bit of time for beach sketching. The rocky, wild Washington coast speaks to something unsettled within me. #pnw #hikingsketchbook #artoutdoors #watercolor

A PO box is the ideal form of social media

An illustrated calendar for the month of March with each day containing events or scenes from my life. The sketches are in black ink and colored with watercolor.

A zoomed-in view of sketches for March 24-27 and March 31. The first is split between 24 and 31, and shows a partially-painted flower and two vaccine syringes. 25 is a gravel trail, 26 is a lightning storm, and 27 is a dog being walked between pink flowering cherry trees.

A zoomed-in view of sketches for March 28-29. 28 shows a mop paintbrush, 29 shows a partially eaten peach pie, and 30 shows an x-ray of a broken clavicle.

March's illustrated calendar journal. Rough weekend with my son breaking his collarbone mountain biking, so art time has taken a backseat for a little bit.
#sketchbook #calendarjournal #journal

A table cluttered with art supplies from my point of view. Practice sketches are propped up and a laptop is open to a reference photograph. I'm sketching flowers with a fountain pen on the pad of paper in the front.

Today's POV: art desk and practice makes progress.
#behindthescenes

An illustrated calendar journal zoomed into March 10-13 and March 17-20. 10 is a trail view, 11 is a new planner, 12 is the planner filled out, and 13 is a side view of a tool used to measure a cyclists leg angles. 17 is color swatches in a sketchbook, 18 is a trail view, 19 is a part of my art studio, and 20 is a cherry blossom.

An illustrated calendar journal zoomed into March 14-16 and March 21-23. 14 is a weed growing between pavers, 15 is a top-down view of six people at a table making art, and 16 is a bubble bath. 21 is paint pans and a sketchbook, 22 is maps, and 23 is part of a sketchbook.

Two weeks of calendar journals. The rainy PNW spring is here, and I keep having to find unique ways to show "the best thing about yesterday was art time". #sketchbook #watercolor #calendarjournal

Sketchbook open to a page with a landscape and test color swatches. The landscape shows a view from the Saur's Mountain trail in spring. There are yellow balsamroot in the foreground, giving way to trees and the mountains beyond.

Sunday sketchbook. Practicing simplifying from reference photos. View is from Saur's Mtn trail in WA. #pnw #sketchbook #watercolor #natureart #landscape

A small sketchbook open to a watercolor painting of an orca whale swimming underwater.

68/100: orca whale. A classic ocean creature of the PNW!
#watercolor #sketchbook #natureart #pnw #marineart

A scene of the fields and country homes in the Irish countryside, with many shades of green. Sunlight is spilling through a cloudy sky.

#BlueSkyArtShow #Sunlight
Flying into Ireland. 36”x36”
I wish I was heading there again this year.

Small sketchbook open to a watercolor painting of dog whelks sea snails and barnacles in an intertidal habitat.

67/100: dog whelks. These small sea snails leave behind colorful shells on our rocky beaches, my faves are the orange ones :)
#sketchbook #watercolor #natureart #pnw

Only fair to give the Eider Ducks an airing too. Every February I spend a week or two on birds. This year I had the added incentive of being part of a bird themed exhibition.

The pieces for the show headed off yesterday. Fingers crossed they arrive safely in Aberfeldy.

#seabirds #printmaking

Ooo your rendering of the rocky area is amazing!

A small sketchbook open to a watercolor painting of a spawning sockeye salmon couple. They are red with a green head, and swimming in shallow water.

65/100: sockeye salmon. Salmon feed the forests of the Pacifc NW every fall.
#fish #pnw #watercolor #natureart

Yes! We have a great time playing on community days 🩵

A partially completed illustrated calendar for the month of March done in ink and watercolor. The subjects are scenes from my life.

A closer view of March's illustrated calendar journal, showing March 1-2 (visiting a lake and a rocky beach) and 7-9 (flowering currant bud, Fuecoco pokemon in bushes, and cleaning supplies.

A closer view of March's illustrated calendar journal, showing March 3-6. They depict a sign for a little library I like to ride to, my haircut, art supplies, and a heron at a rocky beach.

March so far. I've missed my fountain pen, such a joy to draw with.
#illustratedjournal #calendarjournal #watercolor #sketchbook

The artist is Steve Alien of Overlord Artistry. His website is www.overlordartistry.com

Large mural with the statement "MAKE GOOD CHOICES" over a stylized and surreal underwater nature scene. The artist is listed as "Steve Alien" of Overlord Artistry.

Stopped my ride to appreciate this mural along the Centennial Trail today. It was a good choice as I was greeted by friendly cats.
#mural #pnw #publicart

Photograph of a sketchbook held over the artist's sketch kit, which is laying in beach sand. The sketchbook shows small illustrations of a bird on a beach, driftwood texture, shells, rocks, and notes on the environment.

Photograph with a closeup of driftwood texture in the foreground and a beach in the background. The Olympic mountains can be seen beyond the Puget Sound.

When in doubt, art at the beach.
#sketchbook #naturejournal #pnw

An illustrated February calendar depicting scenes from my daily life. The medium is black ink with a single watercolor accent color. The month starts with blue and slowly graduates to green throughout the days.

A closeup of February 24-26. The illustrations depict groceries, magic show items, and a small scene of a cyclist in the forest.

A closeup of February 27-28. The days depict an art show attended for my child, and a scene of children playing outside on a sunny day. There is a partial landscape of a lake at the end.

February began with a freezing winter storm and came to a close with a warming gentle breeze. I tried to focus on my pen work this month and limited the palette to accent colors.
#dailysketching #calendarjournal #sketchbook
#journal

An abstract watercolor painting done on circle-shaped paper, with some recognizable forms of trees. The lighter pigments blend softly in the background, while bolder, clear forms come forward. The shapes and lines echo the circle shape, with colors in the center beginning white and spread from gold to red to blue to indigo.

Using circular paper helps my mind unstick from creating "perfect" art. A mister plus a water brush does the job of getting colors down, then just playing. #watercolor #abstract #art

“It can often seem that those in power don’t want us to enjoy making things for ourselves — they’d prefer to establish a cultural hierarchy that devalues our amateur efforts and encourages consumption rather than creation.” — David Byrne

I'm learning how to write more descriptive and effective Alt text, and use it for all of my images. I mostly post art with occasional photos.