Discovery Park sits on the western edge of Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood, occupying a bluff of old-growth forest, open meadow, and sand spit that was once Fort Lawton, a decommissioned Army post returned to wildness. At 534 acres it is the largest park in the city, and from its western bluffs the full weight of Puget Sound opens beneath you, with the Olympic Mountains rising on the far shore and the West Point Lighthouse standing at the water's edge below. It’s beautiful.

Following a recent birthday, I took a personal day to paint. The sun was out, the high was 61, and the sky was filled with light pillow clouds moving up slowly over the Sound. Sitting on the bluff, I could almost watch them form. Having set up early, I found myself layering cloud formations through time, building one passage after another until the canvas held an entire afternoon of sky. The tide kept its own schedule alongside mine. It was half tide when I arrived, cresting around noon before pulling back to low by the time I packed up near five. The weekday timing kept the bluff quiet, almost private. It had always been a dream to paint from this place. On this particular Friday, it finally happened.