Quality of Light

In my last post, I mentioned the water-laden air here. Light in Cascadia is heavily affected by this. There is often an iridescent or opalescent quality to the light, particularly on sunny days from fall equinox to spring, when the sun is lower on the horizon. Sunlight shines through the moist air, adding a soft quality and depth to the landscape. The moisture that coats the trees, basalt rock, ferns, everything, deepens their colors as well. The result is visually transfixing. The environment seems to glow. Colors are oversaturated. Capturing this phenomenon has long been the obsession of Northwest artists. (The book, “Iridescent Light,” which tracks the evolution of modern Northwest art through its artists, describes this well.)


(Left: Lupin on Mt. Baker)

Bodies of water in the landscape, large and small, affect the light and the environment’s color palette as well. When the sun appears, the glare off the Sound, the ocean, the lakes, and even the puddles can be blinding. Yet, late in the day when the low sun cuts across the landscape under a bank of heavy clouds, the effect is stunning… like a movie set.

Then, on days like this the steely sky is reflected by the water, and both turn grey. Everything is shrouded in muted tones. Color withdrawal sets in….

The Element and Force of Water

Water defines Cascadia. Rain, rivers and lakes sculpt and feed the landscape. Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean are our west wall. Salmon, traveling from mountain streams to the sea and back again has sustained human culture here for eons and remains an icon in NW culture. Cascadia, by one definition, is delineated by the rivers that empty into the Pacific.

We live in a temperate rain forest. The trees and undergrowth of the forests are as lush as many in the tropics, and stay equally green year around.

(Left: A rainy November Sunday afternoon in the Seattle Arboretum.)

Cascadia is renown (or infamous) for its grey skies and puddles. We have almost as many terms to describe rain as the Inuits have for describing snow: spitting rain, mist, sprinkles, showers (and its variations such as stattered and thunder), downpours, soaking rain, blowing rain, etc.

This reputation is well earned eight months out of the year, from November through June. The rain and water not only mold our geography but our style and culture as well. Fishing is a major industry here. Part of the Washington State highway system is a fleet of ferries that carry commuters across Puget Sound. Water sports, from fishing to boating, to skiing and swimming are hugely popular. Opening Day is a big Seattle event. Even the Northwest style of contemporary art is based, in part, on the study and expression of the quality of moisture-laden light in this region.

The soft grey color palate, low clouds, and the sound of the rain insulate winter days. In contrast to the frenzied outdoor culture of summer and early fall, days in winter and early spring are spent in libraries and bookstores, cinemas and theaters, coffee houses , museums and other gathering places... that is if you are not off skiing, boarding, or snowshoeing in the mountains, or out eagle-watching or winter sea kayaking or surfing (crazy loons!).

Like all natural forces, the rain and the tides are humbling as well. Winter storms and high tides wash away salt-water-front homes and heavy rains (like the recent ones) wash away river-side homes and lowland farms.

Water colors and channels life in Cascadia. It is one of the forces that shape the culture. We are fortunate for it, although on gloomy days like today, with weeks of rain in the past and more to come, its easy to forget.