Freezing Time at Snoqualmie Falls: A Moment in Mist and Paint
There’s something sacred about water — the way it moves, flows, and carves through earth and memory. Nowhere is that more true than at Snoqualmie Falls, a 268-foot waterfall nestled in the heart of Washington State. To the Snoqualmie people, this place — Sdəxʷhə́b in Lushootseed — is not just beautiful, but deeply spiritual. The Falls are considered the birthplace of life, where prayers rise on the mist to meet the Creator.
Last weekend, I had the honor of painting live at this powerful site while my friend Dan Redwine filmed nearby for a project with Salish Lodge, the stunning retreat that sits just above the Falls. The lodge itself is a perfect reflection of the landscape — cozy yet expansive, peaceful yet powerful. It feels like a place you go not just to rest, but to reconnect.
While I painted, surrounded by the roar of the water and the steady rhythm of people passing by, one man paused behind me for a long time. He didn’t say much then — just smiled and nodded — but a few days later, he DM’d me on Instagram. His message said:
“There’s something so powerful about someone turning a real moment into something timeless.”
That hit me. Because whether it’s Snoqualmie Falls or the silhouette of a ridgeline, I’ve always felt that art gives us the rare chance to hold still what nature never can. To make a single moment — a feeling, a sound, a sky — live on in a way that goes deeper than memory. It's what I strive for in all my work: not to replicate a place exactly, but to translate the awe of standing there.
Snoqualmie Falls isn’t just a spectacular view — it’s alive with movement, energy, and meaning. Painting it live, with the mist on my face and the deep thunder of water in my ears, felt like being inside a sacred pause.
Here are 10 quotes about waterfalls that echoed in my mind while I painted and after:
"The river is everywhere."
– Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha"In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks."
– John Muir"Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."
– Mark Twain (a gentle nudge toward living with wild joy and awe)"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."
– Ralph Waldo Emerson"Keep close to Nature’s heart...and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
– John Muir"I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding."
– John O’Donohue"A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable."
– William Wordsworth"The poetry of the earth is never dead."
– John Keats"Sit quietly and listen for a voice that is not the sound of words."
– Rachel Naomi Remen (a meditation that mirrors the voice of falling water)"To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower…Hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour."
– William Blake
This painting — born in the mist and movement of Snoqualmie Falls — is available as both an original (sign up to me notified when it goes live!) and in print form at erinoostra.com. You’ll also be able to view the original soon at Nuwave Gallery in Ellensburg… unless someone scoops it up first.
