beach birthday

Willapa Bay for my birthday!

Follow the Columbia River west to the Pacific Ocean, along the pathway of the Lewis and Clark trail. Take the Astoria Bridge across the river to the Long Beach peninsula. Drive north and then cross the three miles of its width to Willapa Bay and the small town of Oysterville. 

These directions will take you to one of my favorite spots on earth. Is it any wonder I wanted to spend my birthday there? Some of the locals helped me celebrate! Good thing I brought my own friends!

party animals

Bobby McFerrin "My Favorite Things."

path of welcome warmth

18 x 13, pastel on Uart

Sunlight reflections pull and stretch toward me. A path of welcome warmth and light.

Storms over cranberry bogs

12 x 16, pastel on BFK

12 x 16, pastel on BFK

Not many places are just right for cranberry growing, but the Long Beach peninsula is one such place. Have you ever seen a cranberry bog? Of course, the berries are red, but so are the plants. Big fields of burgundy red growth that seem to wait patiently under stormy skies.

Calming the water with yellow ink

24 x 24

And so it seemed that the sun reached over the clouds 

to spill pale yellow ink onto the waters to calm them.

Gentle departure

12 x 12

All is quiet, just the sibilant "slup, slup, slup" of the water against the boat as we hang on the anchor. Nearby, the wet exhale of a seal and I turn to see his head slip below the surface. The air thickens with the incoming fog and I feel the cool moisture softening the edges around me.

We will have no grand sunset tonight. Just the gentle departure of the sun behind the cloud blanket.

Nina Simone "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?"

Pacific

Pacific
18 x 24
pastel on recycled Wallis paper

"... these are the times of dreamy quietude, when beholding the tranquil beauty and brilliancy of the ocean's skin, one forgets the tiger heart that pants beneath it; and would not willingly remember, that this velvet paw but conceals a remorseless fang."

Herman Melville

3 Stages of a Painting

final

mid point

beginning underpainting

Here you see three stages of a painting today. The bottom photo shows my initial ideas and the set up of value and color harmony with the underpainting. I was interested in the warm yellow/gold/orange colors with the green/blue/violets. These complements really create a buzz for me.

The middle photo shows the first applications of pastel. In this stage I try to get the flow of the painting to go right. I correct what feels clumsy or harsh and start to set up what will be the areas of most interest.

The top photo shows what I think is the final version. I am careful not to go too far, and it's possible that I will add more later after it rests. My first look tomorrow will be the most telling.

Lewis River
18 x 24
pastel on Wallis Museum

Day One of Kitty Wallis Workshop

You've heard the expression "Color gets the credit but value does all of the work"? It's true! You can see how value carries this painting along and gives the shapes their meaning and place, despite their color. This painting was rendered from a black and white photo using a playful limited value palette.

We are rapt whenever Kitty paints demos. She starts with a pigment dispersions to create with wet media under painting that becomes her value map. Once it's dry, she adds pastel marks to the top. Her first question when she start with the pastel is: "Now, what do I need correct?" That's where she starts with pastel.

This is my second painting today, done from my own photo reference. I made big mistakes with the under painting and then muddled my way through the rest of the painting. Sigh. Still so much to learn!

Kitty Wallis. Extraordinary artist, teacher, and human being.

Light on Foothills

9 x 12

Subject to Interpretations

9 x 12

For our Winter Project this year, the Portland Plein Air and Studio Painters will paint from a common photo reference and post the results on a new blog (created for this project) "Subject to Interpretations." The blog will be updated as entries arrive. I will post a new photo reference around the first and fifteenth of the winter months.

You can see it by clicking here or by scrolling down my blog roll on the right until you get to it, then click.

I am excited about this project and I hope that we have lots of participants. It's interesting to me to see how different people view the same subject in different ways.

This is my interpretation for the first subject. I can see that I've painted the grasses more golden than the photo reference indicates. Maybe that tells you a little about me -- how I long for the warmth of the California sunshine!

Trees against an evening sky

12 x 14

Watercolor paper support

12 x 16
watercolor paper support

Sucia Island Evening

Sucia Island, San Juans
9 x 12

Orcas Island Fog

Orcas Island Fog
18 x 24

Under painting

Practice, practice, practice.

You can see how the under painting provides a structure for the pastels on top.

I might re-title this to "Cat Feet" but only those who read Carl Sandburg will understand the reference. What do you think?

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

--- Carl Sandburg, "Fog" 1916

Echo Bay

"Echo Bay"
18 x 24

Stuart Island

Stuart Island
18 x 24

A long hike in the warm sun. Always uphill from the dinghy dock. Across the island from Reid Harbor to the Turn Point Light Station. And a stop along the way, to look over Suicide Bluff at Canada.

If you enjoy music with your art, as I do, listen in here.

Plein air Orcas Island

Olga, Orcas Island

Saddlebag Island Plein Air

Saddlebag Island final

morning set up on the bow

afternoon set up in the stern cockpit

It was good to set up my easel today and paint! Our boat is hanging on the anchor near Saddlebag Island State Park on a beautiful day! This morning I set up on the bow and in the afternoon in the stern cockpit (a little more crowded back there).

My new pastels are great but they are unfamiliar. It will take some time before I feel comfortable with this new collection of colors. Today I felt like I was wearing someone else's clothes. I'm not sure they fit yet.

Any day spent painting is a good day.

I spoke too soon -- plein air in Gig Harbor!

Gig Harbor Sunset
18 x 24, pastel

Just as I pushed the "post" button earlier, the sun broke through the clouds and I raced to set up on the bow of the boat. I don't think I've ever painted so quickly. Thirty minutes from sunbreak to sprinkling rain.

Any day painting is a good day, indeed.

Columbia River Gorge

Columbia River Gorge View
12 x 16, pastel