Gratitude

Oil paints 16x20''

This view is one of my favorite spots in Olympia, Washington. It's the interchange between the north/south bound freeway and the east/west one. I used to cross this strip of freeway almost every day without thinking much about it, but it's a truly beautiful spot. When I went to Colorado for a year, I found myself missing all of the things about Washington that I had taken for granted while there. So the title of this piece is gratitude because we need to be grateful for the things that we already have.

I actually had to combine two reference pictures in order to make this painting work since there isn't actually a spot where you can see both the freeway and the Capital building at the same time. It was actually surprisingly difficult to find a good location with which to take the reference pictures as the best views were occupied up by houses and private preperty. A fun fact about the bridge going across the freeway in the upper-right... That's actually the spot I took the reference picture for another one of my paintings, Evergreen. So if this painting looks similar to Evergreen, it's because it's actually of the same location, just from a different view.

You will never see this particular section of freeway this empty of cars and have it still be daylight outside. I didn't add cars just because I honestly didn't want to mess things up. And I was feeling lazy.

I hope you enjoy this picture, and always remember to look for, and be grateful for, the beautiful things you already have.