Bruce Washburn

watercolor depicting a lake with a small island that holds a little cottage, seen from the rocky lake shore where a small blue rowboat rests, under a bright blue partly cloudy sky

My watercolor depiction of the subject of Yeats' poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree". I've not yet had the good fortune to visit this place, so here is how I imagine it might be.

watercolor depicting the street outside of the restaurant La Maison Rose in Paris with two people illuminated by street lights, a car, and a cat

"La Maison Rose, Montmartre, Paris" ...

I composed this watercolor from views I gathered while wandering around Paris late in the evening after a long work day several years ago. day, but at this hour they seemed to return to their natural habitat.

My current gallery wall at the Portola Art Gallery

One of the courtyard gardens at the Allied Arts Guild

The front entrance to the Portola Art Gallery at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park CA

Some happy news to share: I’ve been selected as a new member of the Portola Art Gallery at the landmark Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park! So glad that my latest watercolor paintings will be alongside 21 award-winning local artists working in a wide variety of mediums. Gallery hours: 11am-4pm Mon-Sat

A watercolor depicting the high desert and eastern side of the High Sierra in California with Mount Whitney in the distance

I'm very happy to have my new watercolor of Mt. Whitney included in "California Dreaming", a juried exhibition at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto.

📍 668 Ramona St.
📅 Sept 5–23
🎉 Opening Reception: Fri, Sept 5 | 5:30–8 PM (I’ll be there!)

watercolor view of zion canyon on a sunny day with storm clouds on the horizon

Zion Canyon observed from Observation Point. I have fond memories of hiking to his vantage point, a long climb through Echo Canyon and well worth it. The sweeping vistas would seem to call for a larger format, but I wanted to try a pocket-sized rendering of the view. This one is an 8x10".

A watercolor painting the area around what is now Los Altos California, during the early 20th century, with orchards of apricot trees at harvest time in the foreground, a white farmhouse, foothills with coast live oak trees, and the distant coast range mountains with a cascade of summer fog.

I recently completed a commissioned watercolor for a collector who requested a painting of the area around Los Altos, California, depicting how it might have looked during its agricultural heyday in the early 20th century. It was an honor to be entrusted with this commission.

A watercolor painting with an orange and white tabby cat sitting among azaleas and other plants in a sunny garden.

Thank you for hosting the art show Cats of Yore! This is a new watercolor of mine that features our old cat Toby.

I'm a painter working in the San Francisco area, specializing in landscapes and architecture, though I try to include a cat whenever possible.

www.brucewashburnart.com

A watercolor painting with an orange and white tabby cat sitting among azaleas and other plants in a sunny garden.

"Morning". This new watercolor of mine was inspired by the Mary Oliver poem of the same name, and depicts our old cat Toby who liked to spend part of the morning outside the front door in the azaleas, where he could survey the street.

A watercolor painting of the eastern Sierra ghost town Bodie under a stormy sky

My recent watercolor of the eastern Sierra ghost town of Bodie is in the new Art Guild of Pacifica group exhibit, themed "Elements of Life", at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica.

Opening reception: Friday, July 11, 7PM. Exhibit open through August 10.

A view of one of the gallery walls with several paintings including my two watercolors on the right side

I have two recent watercolors in the Coastal Arts League's Summer Show: "Vernal Fall in Spring" and "Los Altos Farm in Early Morning".

Many talented local artists working in a wide variety of mediums to see!

Gallery: 300 Main St., Half Moon Bay, open from 12-5PM (closed Tue/Wed).

A view looking towards the north side of the Watchman under a partly cloudy sky with strong shadows and bright sunlight

Here's a new watercolor depicting the Watchman, a sandstone mountain so-named because it seems to be guarding the south entrance to Zion Canyon in Utah. I based this view on a photograph I took while hiking the Watchman Trail back in April 2014, so I'm highlighting the springtime colors.

Pencil drawing of a black and white cat

We are staying at a Camden Maine inn for a couple of days and we were greeted by the inn cat “Einstein”. Sketched his pawtrait while having my morning coffee.

Watercolor painting depicting the town of Mendocino California at sunset viewed looking to the north from the Mendocino Headlands with town buildings in the distance and bluffs and the ocean in the foreground

A new watercolor of Mendocino CA viewed at sunset from the headlands south of town.

I've painted this view a few times before, I love how the time spent painting can take me back.

A watercolor depicting the high desert and eastern side of the High Sierra in California with Mount Whitney in the distance

Here's a new watercolor of mine depicting the view of Mt. Whitney in the Sierra Nevada from a vantage point near the Whitney Portal road, west of Lone Pine, California.

Reference photographs by Brian Washburn.

A watercolor depicting a farm scene under an orange cloudy sky with a white farmhouse, rows of fruit trees, and a path in the foreground

Happy World Pigment Day (March 22) ... here's a watercolor depicting an early 20th century Los Altos California apricot ranch in cadmiums orange and yellow, french ultramarine, prussian blue, yellow ochre, and assorted others.

This watercolor was inspired by the Irish guitarist/songwriter John Doyle's ballad "Liberty's Sweet Shore", written from the perspective of someone traveling from Ireland to North America during the Great Famine of 1845-1852, approaching the entrance to the St. Lawrence off the coast of Labrador.

A watercolor painting showing wooden boxes stacked in the foreground, a winding dirt road heading into hills with rows of crops, a farm house, and a water tank.

Los Altos farm, early morning.

Here's a watercolor rendition of what the southern San Francisco Peninsula might have looked like during its agricultural heydey in the early 20th century.

Some painting features are based on photographs I taken on the grounds of the Los Altos History Museum.

Statement begins: The mass firing of both new hires and recently promoted senior staff within NOAA, including mission-critical and life-saving roles at the National Weather Service (NWS), is profoundly alarming. It appears that NOAA staff fired today include meteorologists, data and computer scientists responsible for maintaining and upgrading weather predictive models, and technicians responsible for maintaining the nation’s weather instrumentation network (among many others). Housed within NOAA, the U.S. NWS is a truly world-class meteorological predictive service, perhaps singularly so. Its cost of operation is only ~$3-4/yr per taxpayer—equivalent to a single cup of coffee—and yields a truly remarkable return on investment (at least 10 to 1, and perhaps 100 to 1, depending on methods of estimation). NOAA and the NWS collectively offer tens to hundreds of billions of dollars each year in net economic benefit through a combination of averted losses and efficiencies gained....

I have written a short statement responding to mass firings today of #NOAA / National Weather Service (#NWS) staff (which were concentrated among recent hires as well as highly experienced staff who had recently been promoted). Please see below screenshot & below for full text.

A watercolor view of El Capitan and Half Dome in Yosemite with early morning sunlight highlighting the snow-capped terrain.

Looking through my "to paint someday" folder I found this photo taken on an early morning in late January 2017, and "someday" turned out to be today. In this watercolor El Capitan and Half Dome seem to me as if they are old friends greeting each other, and greeting the new day.

I've been working on some ideas for a commissioned watercolor, where the client would like a representation of the rural landscape around Los Altos CA during the first part of the last century. Here's a view including a water tank and windmill near an orchard of apricot trees.

An old fishing boat stranded in a grassy field with trees and hills in the distance and a muted stormy sky.

SF Bay Area folks who have driven Highway 37 along San Pablo Bay may be familiar with the site of this fishing boat stranded in a field near the Port Sonoma marina. It's been there for over a decade, maybe quite a bit longer. I call this watercolor "Dreaming of the Sea".

A watercolor painting depicting the Merced River in Yosemite Valley

I have a new watercolor in the current Members Exhibit of the Art Guild of Pacifica, at the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica CA. The theme of this exhibit is "Ode to Joy". Here's Yosemite Valley and some of its inhabitants, imagined as they might have been on a summer afternoon a very long time ago.

The lighthouse is pictured at night under a starry sky and decorated with strings of small white lights.

A watercolor of Abbott lighthouse in Santa Cruz, decorated for the December holidays. Cheers!

A view of the Main Street and buildings with sage brush in the foreground hills in the background under a stormy sky

A new watercolor of mine.

Bodie is a ghost town in California on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. After the discovery of gold in 1876 it grew up and by 1879 it had a population of around 8,000. All downhill after that, achieving Ghost Town status in 1915. Reference photo by Brian Washburn.

Watercolor painting of Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park, as seen from the Mist Trail in late autumn

My watercolors and I will be at the Winter Art Faire in Pacifica this weekend (Dec. 9-10 from 11-5, Sanchez Art Center, 1220 Linda Mar Blvd), along with a few dozen other arts and crafts folks. If you're thinking about shopping small and local for the December holidays, consider stopping by.

Watercolor painting depicting a rural valley with a barn and two deer in the foreground

If you are in Pacifica CA between now and November 19th, drop by the Art Guild of Pacifica's 65th Annual Members Exhibit at the Sanchez Art Center, 1220 Linda Mar Blvd, Fri-Sat-Sun, 1-5pm.

My entry depicts the Stage Road north of Pescadero, and a view from a hill looking back down into a valley.

The painting "The Morning Paper" by JK Semans at the de Young Museum's "Open 2023" exhibit

The painting titled "Azure Guard" by Jake Messing at the de Young Museum's "Open 2023" exhibit

View of two galleries at the de Young Museum's "Open 2023" exhibit

If you are in or near San Francisco between now and January 7 2024, you could consider visiting the de Young Open 2023 exhibit at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, a fantastic collection of 883 works submitted by artists from 9 Bay Area counties. www.famsf.org/exhibitions/...