PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend artist Jesse Joshua Watson has created the 2018 Wooden Boat Festival poster using colors and imagery that celebrate the city’s working waterfront and the Point Hudson Marina.

The art illustrates a scene described in Watson’s artist statement: “The Wooden Boat Festival is a rich, historic festival with many different facets, but for me, there is one that I wanted to bring to this year’s poster image in particular. As someone who has been lucky enough to play music on the Bar Harbor stage a number of times, I hoped to capture the exuberance of this part of the festival.

“This is a working marina. A diverse collection of boat makers, maritime industry and tourism. Making sails with hands and sweat and years of experience. Wood whisperers transforming teak and oak into vessels that navigate the globe.

“Then comes Saturday evening at the festival and we all come together. The orange glow of the crowd dancing together contrasting with the ultramarine blues of a late summer evening in Port Townsend. That crowd is truly something special; the coming together of ages and backgrounds to dance together in the warmth of each other and in celebration of our heritage on the water.”

Posters will be available at the festival, at the Wooden Boat Chandlery and online at shop.woodenboatchandlery.org.

Watson is also exhibiting several other paintings during the festival, including “Evening Sketch,” “Morning Sketch,” “Salt Creek Chaos/Calm,” “Two Regattas — One by Water, One by Air,” “Moonlit North Beach Mystic” and “Dawn’s Reluctant Arrival.”

His art exhibit can be found at the Tretter Gallery, 2nd floor of the Weissblum Building — the main administrative center — at the Northwest Maritime Center.

Watson and his father, Richard Jesse Watson, are also the featured artists this month at Northwind Arts Center in a show titled: Women of Port Townsend-Men from Whatever.

The 42nd Wooden Boat Festival, North America’s largest celebration of wooden boats, runs Thursday through Sunday.

Organizers said that more than 300 boats will be on site including tall ships, vintage and modern wooden boats, racing schooners, paddleboards, kayaks, tugboats and everything in between.

Cruises on historic schooners, sailings on a longboat and other on-the-water activities will be offered.

Carol Hasse and Port Townsend Sails will celebrate 40 years of sailmaking during the event.

There will be 120 demonstrations and presentations about wooden boat knowledge from around the world. In addition, dozens of exhibitors, interactive exhibits for kids, music, dancing and food vendors will be offered.

The festival begins Thursday with workshops and presentations from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with music until midnight, and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, visit www.woodenboat.org.

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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Jeannie McMacken can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jmcmacken@peninsuladailynews.com.

Artist Jesse Joshua Watson hangs one of his paintings in the lobby of the Northwest Maritime Center. As the poster artist for this year’s Wooden Boat Festival, Watson also is displaying several pieces with a water theme. (Jeannie McMacken/Peninsula Daily News)