"Sunset Harbor" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

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A small working harbor at Newport, OR is one of the most charming harbors I have ever seen.  At sunset, it is even more beautiful.  I have painted the subject four times in different mediums and styles.  What can I say?  I am enchanted by Newport, OR!

"Red Sails" (watercolor on Yupo, 20" x 26"; sold)

"At Ease" (acrylic, 18" x 24"; sold)

"Red Sails" (oil, 18" x 18"; sold)

"Moonlit Lighthouse" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

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The full moon peeks through the clouds over the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, Oregon.  I feel serene as I look at my new painting.

Oregon Trip Sketchbook Pages (watercolor and pen; 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" each)

"Multnomah Falls on the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway"
Hard to look up (620 feet) and draw!

Twelve summers ago, when my daughter was three and I could still pass as a "young lady," my family took a two-week vacation in Oregon.  I loved the place so much that I suggested we should retire there.  My husband, being pragmatic as always, scoffed at the idea: "Two months of sun, ten months of dreary weather. No, thanks."

Another reason why Oregon will always remain one of my favorite places on earth is because of my intense sketching activities during the trip.  I sketched while my husband and daughter took a hike or a nap.  I sketched in the car. I sketched at a busy market.  I sketched at a zoo and at tidal pools.  I sketched while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.  I was unstoppable.  Alas, I no longer have that kind of energy level.

Here are some of the sketchbook pages. Please enjoy.  If you have any questions about my procedure, don't hesitate to ask!

"John Martin and His Band at the Saturday Market, Portland, OR"
Great music and dance, a fantastic weather!

"At the Thai E-San Cuisine in Portland"
Excellent food; I ate stir-fried Thai eggplant with shrimp.

"Sunrise Point (6,100 ft), Mt. Rainier National Park, WA"
Snow-capped in July, I felt like I landed in Switzerland.

"Alpine Wildflowers at Sunrise Point"
I sketched them in the car.

"Chanticleer Point, Columbia River Gorge"
We picked wild raspberries--intense, sweet taste. Hot!

"Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area"
Elk were too far, we couldn't see them very well.

"West Coast Game Park in Bandon"
We went to this zoo because our daughter slept through the entire Oregon Zoo in Portland and was sad about missing the animals. Honestly, I sketched these animals on location!

"Sunset Bay"
We went back at sunset. There were a lot of people to enjoy the view.

"Myself Sketching at North Jetty Beach with My Daughter"
She was a very patient child!

"View from the Whale Cove Inn Restaurant, Depoe Bay"
My daughter was tired from the hike down to Sea Lion Caves, so she again slept through the entire lunch. The  restaurant people kindly made her a PJ sandwich to go.

"Yaquina Head Lighthouse"
The first cloudy day during the trip! Windy and cold.

"Tidal Pools at Quarry Cove"
At low tide, Yaquina Head

"Depoe Bay; the World's Smallest Harbor"
We all sat in the car; I sketched, while my family waited patiently.

"Surfers at Cape Kiwanda"
We leave the coast now. Bye!

"At the Chateau Benoit Winery"
The journey has come to an end. The exhausted, but happy, artist with her daughter.

"At the Portland Airport"
Waiting for boarding. Bye, Oregon!

"Oregon Trip Sketchbook Covers"; I had them bound at Staples.

"Red Sails" (oil on stretched canvas; 18" x 18")

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Also titled "Red Sails" (watercolor on Yupo, 20" x 26")
sold

Hello, June!  With one foot into the summer, I thought it would be a terrific idea to do a series of boat/ship paintings this month.  The June Challenge is "Sail Away"!  To kick off the series, I revisited an old painting of Newport, OR.  The fishing boat with red sails had become a floating museum of seafaring in this picturesque working harbor, where my family spent a lovely day during a vacation in 2001.

I painted the first "Red Sails" in watercolor on an unpredictable support, Yupo.  It turned out well to my relief; it went on to be juried into the Art League Landscape Show in 2002 and was sold in my first solo show in 2006.

It was my husband who suggested that I should do a painting of "Red Sails" in oil.  Why not?  I cropped the scene into a square format and came up with a new color scheme of red and green with blue gray and grayed yellow orange as the neutral backdrop.  It was a perfect project to test out Gregory Packard's method of a neutral, mid-tone beginning.  The busiest, brightest, lightest, and darkest elements of the painting are all packed into the central area.  

I loved the watercolor version and was a little sad when it got sold.  Now I have a new "Red Sails" to look at.  So please tell me which version you like better?

"Kids" (watercolor on Strathmore Aquarius paper; 14" x 20") sold

sold

Can you feel the bright sun and warmth of the day, when I saw the scene at a petting zoo in Oregon?  I will tell you how I created the glow.  You first treat the Strathmore Aquarius paper with gloss medium, which makes it slick and nonabsorbent. (Aquarius is the part-synthetic paper which, although light-weight, doesn't buckle when wet.)  Paints puddle and float; so let them mix on their own and dry naturally.

The beauty of the technique is that paints can be easily lifted to reveal the glowing, pure white of the paper.  But painting on such a treated surface is also tricky, because you can inadvertently lift the previous layer while glazing--use a light touch!

I like to use granular paints like French Ultramarine and Holbein's Mineral Violet; you can see the effect of granulation clearly in the background.  After it dried completely overnight, I lifted the sun-struck areas and painted the boy who is feeding a pony and three goats.

"Kids" was published in How Did You Paint That?: 100 Ways to Paint People and Figures in 2003.  It also won an honorable mention in The Art League show in 2003 and an honorable mention in the Potomac Valley Watercolorists Invitational Show in 2004.