Here are a selection of skecthes in pencil and watercolor/goauche painted and drawn while visiting my home state of Oregon. Some will become paintings, and others act as general reference. I try to visit my center of the universe at least once a year.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Above Left and Right: Views of Yaquina Head, southwest edge, 9"X12".
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Above left and right: Views of Yaquina Head, from south base, 9"X12".
Belwo left and right: Views of Yaquina head, from south base, 12"X16".
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Above left: View of "lions Head" Yaquina head, 9"X12". Above right: (Same view second session)12"X16".
Below left: View of sourth base of Yaquina head,12"X16". Below right: View of Yaquina lighthouse, 12'X16".
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Above left and right: Views of tidal zone life on western edge, Fishing Rocks, 12"X9', 12"X16".
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Above and Below left and right: Views of tidal channels from western edge of Fishing Rocks, 9"X12", 12"X16", 12"X16", 24"X16".
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Above left: View of Western tip of Fishing Rocks, 24"X16". right: View from north base of Fishing Rocks, 12"X16".
Below left and right: View from south base of Fishing Rocks, 12"X16", 24"X16".
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Above left, view of Fogarty Beach from the Surfrider, 9" X 12"watercolor on Bristol.
Above right, view of Fogarty Beach from Surfrider, 8.5" X 11" graphite on paper.
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Above left, headland formations north of Fogarty Creek, 12" X 16", watercolor on linen. Painted on a dry day at low tide without splash wash up on the rocks.
Above right, headland formations north of Fogarty Creek, 12" X 16", watercolor on linen. This study was finished the following day after the turn of high tide from a position closer to the water.
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Above left, view south of hwy 101 over Fogarty Creek, graphite on paper, 8" X 10". The drawing was started on site, at Surfrider Restaurant, and finished later from memory and conjecture. Each drawing is an experiment.
Above right, view of base of headlands north of Fogarty Beach, watercolor on linen, 12' X 16". Note the stick figures on the lower right edge to get a sense of scale.
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Above left, Headlands north of Fogarty Beach, 8" X 10", graphite on paper, 2011.
Above right, Headlands north of Fogarty Beach, 12" X 16", watercolor on linen.
Red crossbills were in the woods and feeding at the edge of the brushline on the ridge above me while I worked on these sketches. Unseen in the drawing are scores of harbor seals hauled out on the distant rocks.
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Above left, Fishing Rocks, incoming tide, 12" X 16", watercolor on linen.
Above right, Fishing Rocks, (Oregon State Park), 12' X 16', wtcl/ln.
The left study was completed over an afternoon and morning, the right was finished the second afternoon from a slighlty different angle. I will return and make a pencil sketch to fix the composition and perspective. Also quick color studies and pencil studies of specific formations and wave patterns will be needed before an oil painting is attempted. As I was working flocks of foraging black turnstones, surfbirds, and wandering tattlers were seen throughout the day. I made separate gesture notes on a little sketch pad.
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Above left, View north from Surfrider, watercolor on linen, 12" X 16".
Above right, Color sketch of Fishing Rocks State Park, watercolor on linen, 12" X 16".
I include some of these fast simple sketches for my students to show the process by which field notes come together; a finished painting developes incrementally.
I aforementioned the "rockpipers trio" on Fishing Rocks; in the surf the black and surfscoter ducks were seen as well as pelagic and Brandt's cormorants, western gulls, immature brown pelicans, harbor seals, and grey whales. A wrentit was nesting in the brush near the park entrance.
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Above left, Morning clouds Fogarty Beach, 11" X 14" watercolor on linen.
Above right, Morning seascape Fogarty Beach, 11" X 14" watercolor on linen.
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Above left, Fogarty Creek State Park morning, 9" X 12", watercolor on linen, 2008
Above right, Fogarty Beach from ths Surfrider, 9" X 12", watercolor on linen, 2008
The distant arm of land in the left color sketch is the same as seen in the drawing further above where the scores of harbor seals were hauled out. There are no formal trails to those north Fogarty headland formations.
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Above left, Sunset from Surfrider Motel Fogarty Beach, 9" X 12", watercolor on linen, 2008.
Above right, View north from Depot Bay, 9" x 12", graphite on bristol, 2005
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Above left, View north from Yaquina head, 9" X 12", graphite on Bristol, 2001. Some of the west coast headlands are grafted onto the continent during episodes of uplift or as seamount fragments stuck on during tectonic drift and subduction. This headland is a lava flow from the columbia basin. We're talking many millions of years here people.
Above right, View south from Depot Bay, 9' X 12", gpht/Bstl, 2005. The eagle seen at the top was overhead and out of the scene. I took the opportunity to make a gesture drawing, in no scale to the scene, as it circled over.
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Above left, View of vacant paper mill from Grand Hotel, 8" X 10", graphite on paper. My drawings developed to this level are finished over several sessions and often off site and stray from close accuracy.
Above right, View from Grand Hotel towards the Willamette, 8" X 10", gpht/ppr.
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Above left, Willamette river slough , foggy morning Salem, 8" X 10" graphite on paper.
Above right, Willamette river from pedestrian bridge, 8" X 10", gpht/ppr. This bridge is a converted railroad bridge crossing the river adjacent to the Marion Street Bridge. Nice job Salem.
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Above left: Sketches from Valsets area Ortegon coast range, 9" X 12", graphite on Bristol, 2001. The Roosevlet elk is larger than the Rock Mountain elk---take that Wyoming! Above right: view of North Falls, Silver Creek State Park, 9" X 12" gpht on Bstl, 2005. The eroded banks look like the breccia at Yaquina head on the coast. Is this area a part of the 14,000,000 yr. old Ginko Basalt flow from the Columbia basin?
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Above left, View near Whale Cove, water color/gouache on Bristol, 11" X 14" 2006. This view is from Hwy 101 and seen by bikes or pedestrians; cars have no pull-over space. As I was sketching an adult bald eagle flew about calling close over head. There are several breeding pairs on the coast. Notice the harbor seals hauled out left of the cave. Above right, View from a closed logging road above 101 south of Depot Bay. wtcl/gche on Bstl, 11" X 14" 2006. They always leave a curtain of standing trees along the highway. Buzz buzz, cut cut.
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Above left: view of regrowth from closed logging road south of Depot Bay, 11" X 14" watercolor and gouache on Bristol, 2006.
Foreign invasive vetch and dandelion grew all along the reach of the old roadbed; I may have been transporting seeds as well.
Above right: birds along the old road, 9" X 12" graphite on Bristol. Note the raven in the center. My faves on this walk were Hutton's vireo, western bluebird, and wrentit.
I took several walks up this road, walking to the access point from Depot Bay sarting early morning. I would see roadkilled ground squirrels along the highway. Later, from up on the trail, I would see raven swooping back and forth, calling and cruising in line with 101. On my return walk the carcasses were gone. Delicious!
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Above left, gesture drawings: logging road, 9" X 12", graphite on Bristol.
These sketch pages serve as a record of bird sightings and nature notes pad. Fom the ridge you could see ravens bothering bald eagles, crows would harrass ravens, and in town brewer's blackbirds would mob crows. The real reason I included this sketch page is for the note of a pretty little grey and red moth I had never noticed before, left edge of page. Web research reveals its an introduced species; the cinnabar moth, brought in to combat the invasive tansy ragwort plant, which it is doing well. But, they are now seen taking out native wildflowers. Global warming will increase the habitat this little moth can inhabit.
above right, gesture drawings, view of Pacific from ridge top-old logging road 9' X 12" gpht/Bstl.
The band-tailed pidgeons look very much like the wood pidgeons in Europe; a native species that inhabits cities like Paris and Amsterdam. The band-tailed prefers the country. This drawing was included to show the " ocean going island". Seen as two blips on the horizon, the binocular view revealed a tug larger than the Staten island ferry pulling a barge equipped with an enormous crane and logs piled higher than the crane. Goodbye Alaska old growth!
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Above left, Yaquina Head, 10.5" X 15.5", graphite on linen.
Above right, Yaquina Head, 10.5" X 15.5", watercolor on Bristol.
Studies for a painting. Visit this place in April-May to see thousands of breeding common murres, ( the dahses on the drawing atop the rocks), pelagic and Brandts cormorants, pidgeon guillimots, western gulls, and a few tufted puffins. Black oystercatchers breed all along the coast and song birds in the brush. Hear the sweet lonesome song of the Swainson's thrush and sit and stare at foaming waves for hours on end and get a terrible sunburn. Wear a hat!
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