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.

"Mountain Waterfalls" (oil on linen; 12" x 10") sold

"Mountain Waterfalls"
sold

"Great Falls Roaring" (oil, 14" x 11")
click here to buy

Waterfalls are magnificent to look at and difficult to paint.  I have seen quite a few waterfalls, both in this country and mine (South Korea).  The biggest was the Niagara Falls, although my favorites are those in Oregon.  I shouldn't have tried to paint them on location until I had gained more experience in oil painting.  Who knew that rocks, trees, and everything else seemingly kept moving when I first set out to paint Great Falls last summer?  The noise, heat, and crowd got to me! 

I went back and "Great Falls Roaring" was the second attempt at this popular tourist attraction, close to the nation's capital.  The painting used to be a little bigger (16 x 12"), but I decided that I didn't really need that much foreground rocks and cropped it to the current size.  It's not the best painting of Great Falls ever painted; it was, however, a great leap forward for me.  So I am keeping it in my private collection.

It appears that the hardest part of painting waterfalls is keeping the balance between the hard and soft edges for the water.  It has to have hard edges here and there to maintain form.  On the other hand, if the water is hard-edged everywhere, the waterfall looks like icicles.  Since waterfalls usually occur in a rocky environment, one also has to paint rocks convincingly as hard, three-dimensional, bulky objects.  Surprisingly, neither tasks--painting water and rocks--are easy.

Does it sound like another mini-series coming up?  Yes!  How does one learn to paint something well unless one keeps at it many times?  So I painted "Mountain Waterfalls" today.  I don't know the name of this fall in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.  But isn't it pretty?  The upper falls looks like lady fingers!  I thought that it would be a little easier to paint waterfalls from a photo.  It wasn't.  After lots of wiping out, I got this far.  What do you think of the result?

"Niagara Falls" (watercolor on paper; 4" x 6") sold

sold

My husband and I visited Niagara Falls many summers ago.  It wasn't a honeymoon, but still a lot of fun.  An awesome place!  I still remember the thunderous sound of the mighty waterfalls.  Soon after I came back, I painted this postcard-sized painting; it took less than 30 minutes.  You cannot get any more "fresh" than that.  The painting was juried into the Art League show in Alexandria, VA in 1999.

My late mother, who had a dry sense of humor, said when she saw the piece: "That's a lot of water for such a tiny painting."  After I had my daughter at the age of 39, I would go on and on about how cute she was.  Her response: "Even porcupines find their babies adorable, I am sure."  Oh, I miss her.