Watercolor Painting… A Connection to Nature

Sunday May 18, 2025 was the 45th anniversary of the eruption of Mt St Helens, and the 4th Free Plein Air Watercolor Class offered by the Friends of Baltimore Woods (FOBW).  All the classes in the past have been staged in the Upper Meadow of Baltimore Woods. This class was staged in the cool and shady woods of Catlin Forest near the Lower Meadow. Amazingly, it is remarkable to note that the Lower Meadow was once the site of a Toyota Parking Lot. The parking lot was de-paved in 2012 by FOBW, Metro and Depave. It is now the site of a FOBW & Portland Garden Club Meadow Habitat Restoration Project and accordingly a home to native birds and wild bunnies. (You can read about the latest meadow flora and fauna metamorphosis in Leah’s “Spring 2025 Nature News” article.) The adjoining Catlin Forest is also a weekly outdoor classroom for local Little Roots pre-school students.

Our returning treasured watercolor instructor, Ronna Fujisawa, gave skillful demonstrations of watercolor mixing, color palette selection and other nature painting tips in her characteristically relaxed and encouraging demeanor.  In Ronna’s words….“Painting is a connection to my natural environment and a discovery of what is real through the act of painting. Watercolor, oil, and mixed media painting is…..how I react to life….I began watercolor painting in 2011 when I was living in Hawaii…..I love painting in the plein air and letting my creativity flow surrounded by nature.”

A total of about 15 students participated and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to creatively capture the landscape magic of the woods and meadow with brush and paints on paper. It is hoped the free classes help to introduce more people to the stewardship mission and restorative beauty of Baltimore Woods.

Ronna Fujisawa, saltywaterart.com, specializes in landscape and wild bird watercolor classes, and has a Masters of Fine Arts Degree from the Pacific Northwest College of Art.  She teaches summer art classes for Catlin Gable students, and regularly offers watercolor classes for the Oregon Bird Alliance, formally known as the Portland Audubon Society. Our partnership with Ronna has been entirely gratifying and mutually beneficial. We hope she continues to collaborate with FOBW to teach Plein Air Watercolor Classes for Baltimore Woods in the future.