Though Iβve not yet met her, Iβve found Molly Hashimoto a delightful travel companion. I see her dreamy watercolors and vibrant block prints at a couple places I frequent in the Pacific Northwestβthe Seward Park Audubon Center and the North Cascades Institute. Just more than a week ago, in the gift shop of the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, I instinctively picked up a box of cards and, hello, they were Hashimotoβs Western tanager in front of Eldorado Peak in North Cascades National Park.
Coincidently, Iβd brought Hashimotoβs book, βColors of the West: An Artist’s Guide to Nature’s Palette,β with me to Santa Fe. In the Orange chapter (chapters are arranged by colors found in nature out West), I found out that sheβd been to the last two public lands Iβd visitedβBandelier National Monument in New Mexico and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana. In fact, in the Gold chapter, she even did a treatment of Yellowstoneβs North entrance, where Iβd stayed a couple of nights.
Speaking of gold, youβll discover plenty of it in her book, one of the most clever, multi-layered works on art and public lands since QT Luongβs βTreasured Lands,β which I reviewed at this time last year. Luong and I share photography as a platform, though Iβve studied landscape artists such as Thomas Moran and Chiura Obata, both of whom Hashimoto profiles in her book.
βColors of the Westβ is part art book, part instructional, part travelogueβhowever you get your inspiration on trails or easel, youβll find it here. As mentioned, Hashimotoβs book is divided into chapters representing colors found in nature out West: green, blue, gold, red, orange and violet. She discusses how the colors are found and produced in various public lands, several of which are discussed in mini-profiles per chapter. Every chapter also includes Artist Heroes profiles and breakouts on technique.
Even if you are not a painter, youβll still want to read the technique sections, and not just because Hashimoto has an extensive teaching background as places such as the North Cascades and Yellowstone Forever Institutes. To wit, discussing βWet-into-Wet,β in the red chapter, Hashimoto writes, βIn early September, after checking out the Mount Rainier National Park webcamβs Paradise page and seeing spectacular virtual fall color, I knew I had to drive down to see it.β
This is one of several head-slapping passages in βColors of the West,β where youβll say to yourself, βCβmon, you mean there are other national park nerds who get inspired to visit by checking out webcams?!β
Like Luong, Hashimoto is a world-class artist who makes her art accessible through her book. Sheβs like your quirky friend who will hike up that ridge with you, but sheβs just going to haul some paint, brushes and maybe a canvas with her. As such, I wish there were a more portable version of βColors of the WestββKindle or, like Luong did with βTreasured Lands,β a PDF version for those who purchase the hardcover. Iβve decided I want to keep her around on my artistic, public-lands adventures.