Behind the Sphinx

"Behind the Sphinx", 8"x10", oil on canvas panel, plein air

It has been a very busy painting week! The weather has been spectacular. The warm sunshine also brings the winds, which are challenging, but I managed to find shelter from the worst of the winds. There is a reason why I call this blog "Gritty Paint"! The plein air paintings of the sea and beach pretty much all contain sand from the Oregon coast and "Behind the Sphinx" has its share.

The painting above was done on Wednesday of this week at Arcadia State Park. I have painted this rock formation before from a different angle. Here is my painting set up, which sheltered me from the winds, until they shifted.

Painting at Arcadia State Park

Tuesday mornings are community garden days. I love working in this beautiful community garden. It once was a dairy farm but now is part of a large parcel of land that a few generous and forward thinking people purchased and then put it into a land trust. The community garden is worked communally instead of in private individual plots. I am learning so much! On days when the weather cooperates, I bring my painting gear. I have to admit, I haven't been able to paint there as often as I thought I would. This week I decided to paint the beautiful double poppies in the orchard area. It is good for me to change things up once in a while.

"Peace Prayers", 8"x6", oil on canvas panel, plein air

I haven't had a chance to get  a good picture of this in better light. I will get one when I can.

Monday I was at my favorite painting spot, Short Sands beach in Oswald West State Park. I did another study at the north end of the beach. There was a marine layer when I started, making the light beautifully opalescent. Here is the work in progress:

Short Sands Fall, WIP, 10"x8" oil on canvas panel, plein air

This is another painting I need to get a better picture of. I might be just leaving this painting as is in spite of it not being completely finished. It makes a great study and reference painting. I plan to return to Shorty this coming week. 

Thursday I needed to regroup and clean and organize my gear so I worked in the studio on my gear and drawing skills. That will be in a future post.

Friday was a very challenging day. I stepped far outside my comfort zone and painted at the seasonal opening of our local Farmer's Market. it is a somewhat small one but growing larger and every nook and cranny of the small area is filled. I found a corner to squeeze myself into and my set up in and painted, or at least tried to!

Usually, the first hour or two is fairly crowded but then the crowds thin out a bit toward the end. Not this time! I only caught 30 second glimpses of my subject, one of the farmer's booth, before the crowds blocked the view for 15 or more minutes at a time. It took me an hour to get an incomplete Notan sketch for reference! The market goes for 3 hours from 5pm to 8pm. I was finally able to see the whole booth five minutes before closing time, when they were packing up!

Here is what I mostly saw:

The booth I was trying to paint is behind the booth with the blue awning. I was able to get a brief Notan sketch and some color and composition notes on the painting.

This was the first time I have painted in such a venue. It is also a departure from my usual seascapes and landscapes. Quite a challenge! I will be returning next week to a different spot. So far, I have decided to make a few changes in my approach. Because I would like to get a completed painting of my spot from this week, I plan to go back a bit before the market opens with my sketchbook and get in some of the important details that I wasn't able to see due to the crowds. I will also make more efficient use of my time by keeping the sketchbook near by to sketch people, once I have my composition down, while I am waiting for the crowd to thin enough to paint.

We shall see how it goes next Friday. This is a pretty steep learning curve for me and a bit nerve-wracking as a lot of friendly people stop by to see what I am doing. I am hoping I will have some good progress to show by the last market of the season in late September.

That was my week! It feels great to get out and paint. I will be out again next week and will be working on drawing skills in the studio. I am trying hard to get a daily drawing practice going. I also want to get back to painting wave studies. So much to do!

Finally, I will be starting to put paintings up for sale. I need to buy art supplies as I am getting low.

I will try to post more during the week so these posts won't be so long.

-Renee

A Tale of Two Studies

The storms have passed and the weather continues to be beautiful on the northern Oregon coast. Alas, the states to the north and south of us are not so fortunate. I am keeping family and friends in my thoughts.

Yesterday morning I went out to our beach and did another graphite and gouache wave study sketch. The waves were still quite rough from the storm and they piled on top of each other. The water churned with waves crossing and re-crossing. The sun was out and very little wind so it was a good day to be out sketching. Here is a view looking south down the beach from the foot of Neahkahnie mountain.

Here is the sketch I made:

© 2014, R.L. Delight, Wave Sketch, 8"x10",  graphite and gouache on paper.

As you can tell, I wasn't paying too much attention to composition as I was still trying to get a handle on using the gouache. I am getting used to it but still struggling with it a bit. Overall, I have to say I really like this method of sketching.

Today my mate had a job that was about a 40 minute drive down the coast in Oceanside, Oregon.  I decided to grab my paint pack and go with him. I don't head south to paint very often. The beauty of this coast was out in abundance today making me think that I will have to consider getting south more often. There is so much to paint within a five minute walk or drive of my house that I seldom feel the need or desire to leave the area. Yes, I do consider myself most fortunate and blessed to live here!

There is a nice beach at Oceanside. I didn't get a picture of the village but here is my painting spot for the day:

It was quiet in the morning when I arrived but eventually more people showed up. I usually paint in areas where there are relatively few people but today I had a lot of visitors. I am not used to chatting so much. Here is a shot as I was finishing up:

I will admit that I am out of practice. It doesn't take much to get that way! It feels good to be able to go out again. I took my time deciding what to paint but I did not make a sketch before hand. I didn't know if I would only have one hour or two so I worked as fast as I could. Turns out it was closer to two hours.

Here is the final study:

© R.L. Delight, 2014, Oceanside study, 8"x10", oil on canvas.

This is most definitely a study. I am trying out many of the tips and techniques I was reading about while recovering from a bout with minor illness. The rock color was a bit challenging as it was different from the rock color up the coast. I am not really surprised by that.

Overall, a very satisfying couple of days.

It will be a bit challenging getting out this week as the holidays are ramping up. I am looking forward to a visit from dear friends and music making and celebrating with our bandmates.

Wishing all a joyful winter solstice and holiday season,

-Renee

Rogue Wave!

© 2014 R.L. Delight, Painting at Short Sands

I am very careful choosing a spot when setting up to paint next to the ocean. I never paint with my back to the sea and I am pretty good, that is experienced, at judging the tide line and allowing for sneaker waves. I always check the tide tables, in fact, one of the saving graces of a smart phone is that I have tide charts and surf reports at my fingertips on the spot.
All that said, sometimes the unpredictable happens, even when allowed for! The tide was way out when I arrived at Short Sands Beach yesterday morning. The day was beautiful, and there were only three other people on the vast beach, no surfers in sight. I decided to take the opportunity to paint the waterfall from a closer vantage point. A slightly divergent note here, the beach is never the same from day to day. The sand shifts and new rocks are exposed. I hardly recognized the area on this morning. Here is what it looked like when I set up:

 © 2014 R.L. Delight, Painting at Short Sands

I circled my easel in red to make it easier to see. Scale is always challenging to show in these pictures. The cliffs and rocks are huge. The waterfall is also quite large. I have to stay back a ways to be able to take the whole thing in at one glance. I was set up on the ocean side of the long rock in front of the easel. I usually find a nearby place up high to put my gear but there wasn't one close enough. The rocks were covered with sea life so I didn't want to put my gear on them and squish them. I rested my pack, easel umbrella, shoes, and panel carrier on the sand next to the rock. I carry my good Bogs boots in on the hike in and change into them once I am on the beach. There are creeks to cross on the hike up the beach.
I figured I had about two hours to paint before I had to move due to the incoming tide. I actually figured right but was not able to take into account the erratic waves on this day. I have been watching when seemingly regular small waves suddenly build and become large, violent, and erratic. It can happen from one moment to the next. Incoming storms can affect the waves a couple of days before making landfall.
So there I was, an hour into painting my study. There were two families with small children exploring the waterfall and caves around me when suddenly I sensed a sneaker wave approaching. I was about to grab my gear when I saw a little boy who was closer to the breakers get swept off his feet and pushed against the rocks. I started to run to him but his father also saw him and leaped to his rescue. I just had time to turn back to grab my pack and easel umbrella and toss them up on the rock. My shoes started to float. I grabbed one but the other went around one side of the rock, while my wet panel carrier floated around the other side. The carrier is made of corrugated plastic and I hadn't painted on the panels stored in it yet so no damage was done other than being damp and a bit sandy.
People around me were squealing and shrieking but no one was hurt and my easel held in the 8" or so deep water. I didn't even get wet but my shoes were soaked. Here is part of what makes it tricky to predict:

© 2014 R.L. Delight, Painting at Short Sands

The rock on the upper left of the picture is where I was painting a few moments before I took this picture. This area of the beach is particularly tricky for surfers due to the rocks and the way the waves bounce off the cliffs and funnels onto the beach. The channels increase the speed and force of the water.
Needless to say, I broke off my painting, grabbed my gear, and moved up to higher ground to dry off and pack up. Unfortunately I had to go. I wished I had packed a lunch and rearranged my afternoon plans as it would have been the perfect day to stay all day and paint!
Here is the study, an hour into it. I was just about to put in the foreground rocks then start adjusting the values of the surrounding rock and greenery.

© 2014 R.L. Delight, Short Sands waterfall study, one hour, 6"x8", oil on canvas.

I will be painting several more studies of this area of the beach. As I have said before, I could spend a lifetime painting here. I haven't even scratched the surface of areas to paint on this one beach. I would need several posts to show in pictures the whole beach too.
On a final note, April is my birthday month and I bought myself a present which arrived yesterday. More adventures in painting to come!

Alla Prima II by Richard Schmid. Can't wait to get my teeth into this one!

Hope everyone stays safe and warm!

-Renee

Golden December Days

Short Sands Beach. Oswald West State Park

Did you hear that whooshing sound? That was the sound of the winter holidays speeding by! Our weather went from frigid winter to late fall warmth in the blink of an eye too. The sun is shining and the temps are up to the low 50º F which, for this time of the year, feels lovely.
The urge to get out to paint becomes a roar on days like these. I haven't painted as much as I would like to due to the seasonal celebrations. My mate and I spent the afternoons of Christmas Eve and Christmas day on Short Sands Beach. It is a 5 minute drive up the road and about a 1/4 mile hike to the beach through a beautiful old forest. The trail to the beach runs along Short Sands Creek which empties into the sea.
Christmas afternoon we took Twill's ashes to their final resting place. We still had them as I had a purpose for a tiny bit of them to remember her by. That will be included in a future post. She is now resting in a perfect spot where there are many dogs to visit her and a beautiful beach to enjoy.
Before Christmas, I took a field trip to the Columbia River Maritime Museum.

Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria Oregon

It is one of the best Maritime Museums in the state. The Columbia River meets the open ocean close to Astoria. The river is still quite mighty when it hits the sea and makes the Columbia River bar crossing one of the most dangerous in the world, even to this day. They had awesome footage of a huge cargo ship being tossed around in the waves. Even on a good day the crossing is tricky. I could go on for a whole post on the museum. I have been there before but needed to do a bit of research for a painting I have in mind.
Today, at last, I got out and painted. I went back to Short Sands Beach to paint and commune a bit with my Twill. As I mentioned last post, I am changing things up a bit. I didn't paint the waves even though they were quite spectacular. I was there at low tide so the surf was quite a ways out. High tide is after dark at the moment. Here is a two hour coastal landscape study:

© 2013 R.L. Delight, Short Sands oil sketch, 6"x8", oil on canvas

I decided to paint a sketch as I am just starting to paint the rocks and trees. A bit of a change and I felt anxious the whole time I was painting. The light changed so fast. I need to take a different approach than the one I use for painting the waves.
The rock formations in this area are beautifully layered sandstone with jumbles of basalt scattered out to sea. The wind and water carve the sandstone into fantastic shapes and caves. Where we live, the forest meets the sea and creeks, streams, and waterfalls cross the sands into the waves. The Oregon Coast is a beautiful place. I could have painted several different paintings without even moving my easel.
The clouds will be returning over the next few days. I will be spending time getting ready for the January challenge and refining my goals for the new year. I am also happy to report that two of my paintings have sold!
Welcome winter.
Stay warm everyone.