Before she put away her pastel stick, Jude Galbraith wanted another opinion.
She prodded Jayne Quig, her painting companion who was working on her own version of the same landscape a few steps away.
They were focusing on the historic Engle farmstead on Ebey’s Prairie.
“OK Jayne, is it done?” Galbraith said. “Does it need more turquoise to it?”
Quig sized it up.
“Give it a try,” she said.
In a matter of moments, the two painters were finished with their work and packing up to look for new scenic landscapes with Penn Cove in their sights.
They were among 25 painters from Western Washington spending the week on Whidbey Island for the Camp Casey Paint-Out, put on by the Northwest Pastel Society.
Attendees spent five nights in dormitories in the old Fort Casey Bachelor Officers quarters at the Camp Casey Conference Center in Coupeville.
It was the second time in four years that the group chose Whidbey as its backdrop.
The group also invited another nonprofit, Plein Air Washington, to be a part of the event.
“It is our annual paint-out,” said Janice Wall, president of the Northwest Pastel Society. “Everyone gathers in one place; in this case, under one roof. We stay and live together and paint together.”
As part of the itinerary and plein air philosophy, artists break away in small groups, scattering to different parts of the island, taking their easels with them to paint onsite.
“We start out locally at the camp and state park and break out gradually,” Wall said.
“People were free to wander in small groups and paint whereever they wanted. In some cases, people were looking for places to paint and folks offered their private property.
“It was fun. We met people who live here who were very friendly to us.”
Painters using oils, pastels and watercolors covered the island, with stops in Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Freeland and Langley.
“It’s beautiful,” Wall said of Whidbey Island. “It’s diversified. There are farms and fields and beaches and incredible views. And Camp Casey provides us a very good place to stay and live together.”
Galbraith, who lives in Darrington, often smiles when people ask how long it takes to do one of her paintings, which in the case of the Engle farmstead, was less than two hours.
“It took me a lifetime to get to this point,” she said. “That’s the way it is.”
They canvas the island looking for beautiful scenery and the right lighting.
And just when they think they’re done, they add another stroke or two, and consult each other.
Just like when Galbraith asked Quig about adding turquoise.
“Turquoise is an all-purpose color,” Quig said. “It goes with anything. It’s very complimentary with people’s skin tone. It’s cold and warm at the same time. We like turquoise in our paintings.”
