Wave Study #34:Neahkahnie High Tide

©2013 R.L. Delight, Wave Study #34: Neahkahnie High Tide, 6"x8", oil on canvas

I have a special treat toward the end of this blog, if I can get it to work! But first, here is Wave Study #34 which I painted this morning. I am now officially a third of the way through my 100 wave study goal! As you can see, still working on those cross waves. They were out in force and spectacular this morning. I was practically dancing around with frustration at not quite having the skills to capture all of the variations fast enough. A camera is not the solution either, trust me on this. There are so many subtle nuances that the camera does not capture and I want to paint powerful and truthful waves.
The weather was a bit rough and squally. One minute sunshine on my easel, the next, hanging on to my umbrella with rain lashing across the canvas and palette. It wasn't too cold though and, whoosh, it was beautiful!
I have a strong suspicion that I will need to do another 100 wave studies or more after this set just to get everything down. I will have to compare next January with this one to see the difference.
So, here is my treat, I managed to get a little video of the morning waves with my phone cam. You can hear the sound of the waves and spot a few of those cross waves. Unfortunately I couldn't zoom in to get the actual size of the view. I got another video of a sneaker wave running up the beach but it is a bit more shaky than this. This is handheld but not too bad.

Hmm, that seemed easy. Let us hope it works!
So good to get out to paint again!

A Sketchy Day

One of the things I determined after evaluating my art working methods following the 30 in 30 challenge, was that I really need to take at least one day a week just to observe and sketch the ocean. The weather today was transitional and therefore it would be sunshine one minute, rain the next, and a constant wind. Not a great day to paint. The weekend is supposed to be nice though so looking forward to getting out to paint then. Sketching in such weather is a lot easier. Not as much gear, just a pack with sketchbook, pencils, and a few things to make oneself comfy such as a towel to sit on, plastic bags for any found treasures, binoculars, water, etc..
The tide was going out this afternoon when I hiked up the beach. I left from my front door on foot today as I felt like a good walk as well. When I got to my usual spot the waves were quite disappointing and fairly far out. The wave surges keep me at a distance. I picked a likely rock to sit on but had to move when one of the sneaker waves came in.
Here is what my office looked like:

Sketch site

As you can see, it was one of those flat gray moments in the day. This is not a black and white picture!

Here is what my sketchbook looked like:

Sketchy day. Elements of waves and rocks study. Water soluble graphite on paper.

I like to use water soluble graphite pencils and a Niji water brush pen. I use HB and 4B pencils. I am thinking of trying a bit of white gouache paint to get a better representation. This is not a composed drawing. It is just several elements put down on paper at random.
I have done this type of sketching of the sea before but, after reading the section in the book on Frederick Waugh, featured in yesterday's post, about his time living on the Isle of Sark, I really got inspired! He spent his time there studying the sea for all he was worth. He would spend hours doing sketches of each element, often putting himself in risky situations. Risky situations are a challenge even for me. It is so easy to lose track of awareness of time and then be caught off guard by the tides. There are areas that are dangerous to be when the tide is coming in. It is one of the reasons I set an alarm on my phone. One of the advantages of modern tech!
Needless to say, I have added the Isle of Sark to my "must see and visit" list. I am also thoroughly enjoying the book. I just have to resist the urge to call a day off and curl up and read all day.
I will think about putting a book report on one of my posts when I am finished with it.
Tomorrow depending on the weather, I will either be painting in the studio or on the beach. I am still trying to catch up in the studio getting it cleaned up and making fixes for some of my gear. I haven't had a chance to get back to my Webinarts classes today either. I can see there is still room for improvement in my organization skills. Well, it is time to get ready to turn in for the day. We shall see what the morrow shall bring...

Another Waugh Book!

I was thrilled to find that my interlibrary loan request for the book, Frederick J. Waugh, American Marine Painter, by George Havens, had arrived today. I had gone to the library because I hadn't heard so much as a peep that my request had been received let alone processed. This book is out of print and there isn't a lot of them floating around. The asking price online is a lot more than I can justify. I just want the information! The book was published in 1969. I was seven years old then.
Here is the book:

Almost all of it is text with some black and white plates in the back and some very beautiful color plates. The color plates look like they were lithographed rather than being like the color reproductions in the book I showed yesterday.
The plates are challenging to photograph without hurting the book but here are two beauties that I somewhat managed to get. Glare is a problem too:

Open Sea, by Frederick J. Waugh, 36"x48", 1930? *

Tropic Seas, by Frederick J. Waugh, 48"x72", 1934 *

I am posting in haste this afternoon as tomorrow is a work day and I am trying to get as much done as possible. Tonight is band rehearsal too.
I will be adding snippets of interesting quotes and tidbits as I read through the book to my blog posts. I cannot renew the book so I will be dropping all my reading and focusing on getting this one read and studied.
Back to painting tomorrow!

* - Plates from Frederick J. Waugh, American Marine Painter, George R. Havens, University of Maine Press, 1969.

Updated Website and eBay Score

I have been busy getting my art marketing organized and updated. My website has been spiffed up and it is a lot easier to buy the small paintings I have for sale. The blog is next! If you would like to take a look at my website click here or on the link on the blog.

In the precious few moments between during the challenge and working on my website, I also did a bit of art studies. I had mentioned Frederick Judd Waugh on a recent post and posted one of his beautiful seascapes. I have been digging deeper to find more information about this artist. I came across a mention of a Walter Foster book published in 1969. I went on a search and found a copy on eBay for $4.95! No buy now button so I patiently waited out the week and put a bid on it the last hour or so and now the book is mine. The book contains 60 full color reproductions of his work from the Ulrich collection, which I believe, has since been dismantled and sold here and there. Knowing that color printing processes in 1969 were no where near to what they are today, I didn't have tremendous expectations but, they aren't too bad. Not all of these paintings are online. I thought I would show some of the paintings I like now and then so here are a couple, starting with the front of the book.

Front cover of book

I don't intend to share all 60 of the paintings. They appear to be from the entire span of his career as some look like they were painted earlier in his career. I like his later paintings. They have stunning detail and color and they inspire me tremendously. Here are two paintings from the book that I liked.

Evening, by Frederick J. Waugh, 25"x30"

Great Sea to Headland, by Frederick J. Waugh, 31"x31"

You have to remember that these are photos of printed color reproductions from 1969. I know that much of the subtle color in these paintings are lost. One day I will have to go on a pilgrimage and visit every Frederick Waugh seascape available for viewing.
It would be nice if some current art historian could pull together a proper book on his works.
For some reason they decided to print the photos of these paintings showing their frames. It isn't an effect I like.
I was thrilled when this arrived in yesterday's mail. It will be a wonderful resource and source of inspiration.

I am hoping that tomorrow I will be starting in on revamping my blog. I want to make it so that a person can purchase a painting from here too if they find something they love.

Please do check out my website. I am adding a painting for sale every day this week. If you wish to leave any feedback, feel free to leave a comment on this post.

Wave Study #33: Arcadia Beach

@ 2013 R.L. Delight, Wave Study #33: Arcadia Beach, 6"x8", oil on canvas

The day was so beautiful today, sunny and warmish. I headed up the coast about 15 minutes to Arcadia Beach. It is the beach on the north side of the old roadbed carved in the rock at Hug Point. I also decided it is time to start learning to paint the rocks interacting with the waves. There are a lot of rocks around here. I spent a lot of my time painting the rocks in this painting so the waves are not as carefully done. I also concentrated on refining the color.
One of the interesting aspects of seeing all my paintings from the month of January together in the poster I posted yesterday was seeing the colors choices and style of painting I have developed so far. While I am pleased with my progress, I am not where I want to be yet in painting skill. I really would like my seascapes to look more realistic than they do. Color and value are the main technical areas I need to work on.
I think the values in this scene were much more dramatic, had more contrast, in real life. The colors of the rock are pretty close but not quite there. The ocean colors are very close but, as I sort of ran out of time, I didn't quite refine them as much as I would have liked to.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed painting this today! The tide was coming in and even though I was pretty far up the beach, I wasn't quite far enough. I had to grab my tripod easel and lift it high while a wave washed around my feet.
I use a timer on my phone to let me know when an hour has past and reset it for another hour until I am ready to leave. That way I don't have to keep pulling out my phone to check the time. Yeah I know, get a watch, but I don't like to wear bracelets, necklaces or rings (other than my wedding ring) very often. A watch is like a bracelet. Clip on watches I might consider but most of the time I have bulky layers and rain jackets on which would make it hard to read.The phone fits in a handy pocket and is easy to get to and I only have to pull it out to reset or turn the timer off.

My timer had just gone off and I happened to have my phone in hand when I saw the water massing up, getting ready to run up the beach in the form of a sneaker wave. I calmly took this picture and then grabbed the tripod as the water came rushing up.

Incoming tide water, time to run!

I finished up soon after taking this and headed for home.
Tomorrow and the next day are my weekend and I will not be painting (sketching yes, I always have a sketchbook handy). I have something fun and art related to share on the blog tomorrow and I will have something to share on Monday too before heading back to my studio or the beach.
I am nodding off already so I will sign off on this post and get to bed!
Oh, one last thing, the Tinker Toy fix on my umbrella worked just fine!

Photo Collage

Bonus post! Leslie Saeta showed us how to make a collage of our challenge paintings. What a neat tool. Here is mine:

© 2013 R.L. Delight, 30 in 30 Challenge Paintings

It is really neat to see them all together. I even kept the not so good ones in. The site she told us is called PicMonkey and it is free! Check it out.

Tinker Toys to the Rescue!

I have mentioned a week or so ago that the umbrella I use for plein air painting had broken. It is a good umbrella, it clamps to my tripod and it keeps rain and sun off but it just wasn't meant to be used in a situation where a sudden gust of wind, salt air, and sand are common elements.
I have tried a couple of low tech fixes to no avail and have patrolled the aisles of two hardware stores looking for ideas to fix it. Today I noticed this big can of Tinker Toys I have sitting in the corner of my studio. I will get to why they are there in a moment. As I looked at the can and the wooden parts I began to wonder if one of the elements would fit inside the tubes that connect the umbrella to the clamp. I tried one that looked likely and, "Yes!" it fit nice and snug. I got out my tools and cut off the screw end that had snapped off and tapped them together.
Here it is! All that remains is the final test. I will say it feels even sturdier than before.

Tinker Toy fix!

The only draw back is now the poles and umbrella do not break down to fit into the handy carrier. I can live with that, for now.
So, why is there a can of Tinker Toys in my studio? One might think I have them handy for any visiting young ones. I suppose they could be used for that but the truth is, they are for me to play with!
I might as well out myself here and now as it is part of what goes into my art. I am about to turn 51 years old and I have never stopped playing. I love to build things, fix things, and take things apart. I love to fly kites, swing on swings, build sand castles and forts. I still have a lot of curiosity about the world. It keeps me young at heart and apparently keeps people from guessing my true age, which I don't mind owning up to. Sometimes it does cause people to underestimate me but, I enjoy that too. So, there you have it, one of my secrets to my creativity. Playing helps the mind in creative problem solving, which is really what art is all about in my opinion.
Today, as my reward for finishing the challenge, I had promised myself that I would get to spend time on the beach just watching the waves. I did just that this beautiful sunny afternoon. Just in case I couldn't resist, I put my sketching pack (I also have a painting pack) in my bike trailer and rode my bike down the beach. I went south instead of my usual north. The beach is about 7 miles long, which is why I rode my bike. I wanted to get to the more unpopulated area. I forgot it is Friday though so there were people hiking up and down the beach. We get an influx of visitors every weekend, even this time of the year. Here is a picture of my mobile studio at my office today:

Mobile art studio

I found the bike trailer at the local thrift store for a good price. I have been quite pleased with the score. Going north with the bike and trailer is more challenging so I rarely take it north. The north end isn't too far up the beach, about a mile, unlike the south end.
Well, if this weather holds I will be out painting another wave study tomorrow. I made a slight dent in the studio clean up but will have to move forward. Further cleanup will have to wait until my weekend (Sunday/Monday). If the weather turns on me, I still plan to get out, unless we are talking gale force winds. I am tired from my lovely ride on the beach so I am off to rest up. Back to work tomorrow!