Looking Towards Road's End- Road Trip 12 (private collection)

Looking Towards Road's End, oil on canvas, 7" X 5", 2008

(private collection)

I rolled into Lincoln City on Memorial Day, with no lodging accounted for. I lucked out with the place I got: cheap(ish), and with a deck that overlooked the beach that I could access from the sliding patio doors of my room.

It was raining and misty, so being that close to the room was no small comfort. That and the table that I could sit on while I painted.

I didn't get a picture of the easel set up for this or tomorrow's painting, so a map will have to suffice...

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Siletz Bay- Road Trip 11 (sold)

Siletz Bay, oil on canvas, 10" X 8", 2008

$225 USD

(sold)

It was Memorial Day, grey and rainy. Water on the palette, and on the canvas.

And still there were picnickers out on the spit. If you look closely at the area of the painting where the darker trees meet the brown of he sand, you'll see a sort of smoke colored area.

That's smoke. From the fires of people roasting hotdogs. In the rain. At the beach for Memorial Day.




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Boiler Bay #2- Road Trip 10 (sold)

Boiler Bay #2, oil on clayboard, 7" X 5", 2008

sold

After a very long journey, I'm back where the first post in this series started: Boiler Bay.
I'm actually situated on a bluff overlooking the bay-- I am where I was looking towards in that first piece.

This is one of my favorite pieces from the entire trip.




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Orange Roof- Road Trip 09 (sold)

Orange Roof, oil on clayboard, 7" X 5", 2008

(sold)

Back on the road after a few lovely days in San Francisco. On the way down I hugged the coast on highway 1, I decided to stick to the more interior 101 on the way back up.

More gorgeous country.

I broke out the new panels I bought in San Francisco only to discover that they weren't gessoed masonite as I was expecting, but actually clayboard. The new surface totally changed my paint application technique, and was a welcome (if not sort of surprising) change. I stopped here because I really wanted to sketch some cows, and there were some right next to me... until I got set up, at which point they decided they needed to head off to the barn to get milked or something. I managed a couple of quick dabs, then switched to the barn.




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Sutro Tower- Road Trip 08 (sold)

Sutro Tower, oil on canvas, 5" X 7", 2008

sold

This was perhaps my most challenging painting experience of the trip (more so than the oven that was Palm Springs). It was windy as all get out-- enough so that I spent most of the time holding onto the easel with one hand while I painted with the other. The small format was an additional challenge when trying to convey the houses that crawl up the side of Mount Sutro. The sun was directly on my easel, and no umbrella to diffuse the light (too bright).

The view though... what a great view! I spent five or so days in SF with a dear friend. This was the only painting I did there. The rest of my time was spent relaxing, dining and touristing.


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Twin Palms- Road Trip 07 (sold)

Twin Palms, oil on canvas, 4" X 6", 2008
sold

The MacGuffin for my trip was an art opening at the gallery in Palm Springs that represents my work. I had never met the owners (or been in Palm Springs), and I've been with the gallery for a couple years now, so it seemed like it would be a good idea.


The opening was great; Marian, Downs, and Kim are very nice, and I got to meet some great folk while I was there.

Painting this little piece was an exercise in endurance-- it was 106 degrees (41 Celsius), and very little shade! I swear I dropped 2 pounds of water weight in the hour or so I was in the furnace...


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Looking Back South- Road Trip 06

Looking Back South, oil on canvas, 5" X 7", 2008

$100 USD

e-mail me for purchase information

I feel like I need to do a little adjustment on the color in the guard rail, but I'll stop there as far as repainting goes.

At this point I had such a connection to the road, and in particular this very narrow two lane ribbon precariously carved out of what seemed a sheer cliff face, I had to get it down on canvas. Not one of my favorites, but it may be a good color study for a larger recreation (I shot some photo reference too)



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Bluffs- Road Trip 05

Bluffs, oil on canvas, 10" X 8", 2008
$225 USD

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I'm a little confused as to exactly where this scene is (you'll note that the map is zoomed out more than others), it was definitely part of a continuum of jaw dropping scenery. The heat wave is still on, and I'm still wrapped up tight to protect my sunburn.



The road along highway 1 is pretty, but kinda treacherous driving.


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Humboldt Coast- Road Trip 04

Humboldt Coast, oil on masonite, 7" X 5", 2008

$100 USD

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I had planned on taking 101 as far as I could, but I realized that I wasn't going to be seeing much coast that way for a long time. So I legged it over on to highway 1, through twisty narrow mountain roads, until finally I broke out of the tree cover to dramatic steep cliffs diving into the surf.
Hot and sunny, and I'm lathered up with SPF 55 suncream for babies. Also hot is the car, because I apparently had the emergency brake on for and hour and a half...

At this point in the trip I feel like I'm getting comfortable enough to start recognizing some of the skills I'd like to build. As I've mentioned before, plein air painting is fairly new for me, and as such I really haven't developed an 'eye' yet, (I won't be Clyde Aspevig anytime soon) but I see how I could make some good landscapes down the road.


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Humboldt Trees- Road Trip 03

Humboldt Trees, oil on canvas, 10" X 8", 2008

$225 USD

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Still in the midst of a spring heat wave and sunburned. Hot, hot, hot. I am wearing a button up long sleeve shirt, and I feel every degree.
This stop is a few hundred miles south of yesterday's post (this being my third full day on the road), and my first California painting. I absolutely love the Oregon coast, California's is seducing me too.
The whole journey down was a riot of color from all the different wildflowers at roadside. You can see a small sample at the bottom of the easel image below.




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Yaquina Head- Road Trip 02

Yaquina Head, oil on canvas, 10" X 8", 2008

$225 USD

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This painting is from the same day as yesterday's post, a little farther south. The weather, while still misty (it is the ocean side, after all) has definitely warmed up. Very sunny...
There is a perfectly nice lighthouse at this park, but I wasn't quite up to tackling it, so I worked on this bluff instead.


As you may notice, there's no umbrella attached to the easel here (as in yesterday's post). It was far too windy, so I did without.

I also did without sunscreen, and developed quite a nasty burn on my neck and arms.


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Boiler Bay- Road Trip 01 (sold)

Boiler Bay, oil on masonite, 7" X 5", 2008

sold

I'm back! I had a really intense (and fun!) road trip the last couple of weeks. I drove from Seattle to Palm Springs and back. I covered 3,000 miles of some amazing scenery.

Over the next two weeks, you'll see the results of the plein air painting I did along the way.

I certainly learned a lot, and am excited to do more.

Boiler Bay is the first picture I've painted outdoors in years, and while I'm rusty, I was prepared (you can see my mobile art studio basket in the picture below). The weather was hazy, but warm-- it was the first day of a week long heat wave on the West Coast! (more on that later)


The locale is south of Lincoln City, Oregon-- a place connected to me through my family over many years.


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