Landing Patterns

Searching for sunset is one of my favorite pastimes. In all my travels I am constantly aware of the position of the sun and always seeking the perfect place to witness it’s magical color shift at the end of the day. This sunset was on Orcas Island in the straights of San Juan de Fucca, off the coast of Northern Washington. We spent an amazing day exploring Orcas Island, settling on a jetty at the end of the local airport runway. Every twenty minutes the same biplane would take off with a new passenger for a quick aerial tour of the island. Every time the plane would land, a defiant seagull would leave his perch on the channel marker and race the plane as if in competition for supremacy of the airspace.

Best of Show, 2010 Missouri Watercolor Invitational