Soap Lake museum artist paints Basin landmarks

Free public reception for Harrington Saturday

SOAP LAKE - Ethan Jack Harrington stands on the corner of Broadway Avenue and Dogwood Street, his eyes darting from canvas to subject as traffic whizzes by.

Monday morning, the Seattle artist was capturing the feel of longtime Moses Lake establishment Woody's Drive-In, but residents might get used to seeing him all over the Basin in the weeks ahead.

Harrington is the featured artist for the month at the Soap Lake Art Museum.

An artist's reception meets for him at the museum, located at 410 E. Main St. in Soap Lake, Saturday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

"This is his second annual art exhibit, and he is incredibly popular with the people in this community because of the work he's done in the past," museum Curator and Director Brent Blake explained. "He's sold over 30 paintings in this region, and most of those were of images of this region."

This time, Harrington's plans for paintings in the Columbia Basin include the Moses Lake Japanese Gardens, the Ivy Chapel and the Grant County Courthouse in Ephrata and the view of Moses Lake from a local restaurant, alongside several sites in Quincy.

He plans to divide his time between the Columbia Basin and Seattle in the month ahead, he said, and he is looking for further suggestions.

"I'm an oil painter, and I set up on streets and parks, that sort of thing," Harrington explained. "I paint pretty quickly what I see."

Primarily a cityscape painter, Harrington tends to prefer an architectural element in his work to anchor the paintings. He is following in his father's footsteps as an artist, he said, and met Blake three years ago. Blake invited him to have a show at the museum two years ago, he said, and he fell in love with the area.

"I like to capture the light and the feeling of a place, moreso than a photographic depiction of it," he said. "I hope what I capture is a cheerful impression of what I'm seeing."

Harrington also paints residential homes and portraits.

"Portraits are a little less forgiving, you really do kind of have to get a good interpretation," Harrington allowed. "It's a slightly different discipline, but it's still definitely colorful and painterly."

Harrington considers himself an urban impressionist. An en plein air painter, he always paints in the environment he's depicting.

"I love some of the architecture (of the region), it feels like you're stepping back in time," he said. "You don't see that in Seattle that often. I love the light, it's very strong, the way it sort of bounces the colors off the sidewalk onto the side of the building I think is very cool."

For more information or to suggest a site, call the museum at 509-246-1692.