Steve Mapel Art
Original oil paintings are on stretched canvas and are sold framed unless otherwise noted. Prints, whether on canvas, or on acid-free paper, are all giclee , are personally signed and numbered by the artist, and are sold unframed. The ink used is selected to meet the highest of archival standards.
Original
24x36, oil
$3,800.00
Giclee print on canvas, 24x36, limited edition of 50
$500.00
Giclee print on canvas,
19 1/2 x
29 1/2, limited
edition of 100
$400.00
"GIG HARBOR 1841 - USS VINCENNES" 24X36, oil
In 1838 Lieutenant Charles Wilkes lead an expedition of four naval vessels to survey and explore the Pacific Ocean and the South Seas. In the process he circumnavigated the world. During that voyage, in 1841 he explored the Puget Sound, in what is now the State of Washington. While there, one of the places he explored and named was the beautiful harbor that is now the charming maritime community of Gig Harbor.
Creating this painting of Lt. Wilkes and his flagship, the USS Vincennes at Gig Harbor took significant research. The easy part was the short drive from my house to the harbor entrance. There I took many digital images of the nearby land features and magestic Mt. Rainier in the background. In addition, I consulted my extensive reference photo library of local sky and mountain images. Plus, a local yacht broker whos office is located on the shore at this location provided me with images he had taken from this site. The harder part of the research regarded the USS Vincennes. This was a sturdy sloop of war of 780 tons, and she was the flagship for the voyage of Lt. Wilkes. I was unable to find any photos of the ship, but did locate an image of the vessel that Lt. Wilkes painted the Vincennes while in Antarctica. In addition, I was able to locate images of sister ship sloops of war from the early 1800's. From these various sources, and with some of my own sailing knowledge and artistic vision, I tried to recreate the wonder of this beautiful location as Lt. Wilkes and his crew anchored and first explored the site of present day Gig Harbor.
Note - all images are copyrighted, and all rights reserved.
Steve Mapel, 8116 177 th Ave. CT KPS, Longbranch, Washington, USA
Phone 253-884-5815, E-mail: smapel@centurytel.net