The daughter of one of Seattle’s founding families, Emily Inez Denny (1853 – 1918) was both a painter and writer. Greatly influenced by seeing the drawings of Sarah Willoughby as a student at the Washington Territorial University, she took on painting as a life-long pursuit. A woman who thrived on the creation of art, Emily constantly traveled with a notebook so she could quickly capture her impressions in sketches and paintings. Her works display a unique vibrancy that conveys her joy in painting and drawing. In this work, a girl stands in the door of a log cabin. Bright sunbeams, a new garden, a boy tending a calf, a man clearing land and the forest pushed back to the edges of the picture—everything about this drawing suggests domestication, cheerful progress, and a comfortable but controlling relationship with nature.