Still on the Beach

C1556

“High Tide and Fog Banks”

(South from Face Rock,

Bandon Beach, Oregon Coast)

Oil Sketch on Centurion Oil Primed Linen Panel

With additional coat of Rublev Lead Primer

5” x 7”

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The breezes still remained clement, and so I went back down to the beach south of the Face Rock Viewpoint, ensconced myself on a rock just above the morning’s high tide mark, and began to paint the view to the south towards the islands in the near the Devil’s Kitchen.  They faded in and out as the fog banks thickened and thinned, never quite overwhelming them nor slackening either.  Above was high cloud and the Sun was present for a good portion of the painting session.  Close to, were several stacks which were surrounded by water at the high tide and this state of the tide is here depicted.  Beyond the Devil’s Kitchen, were hills of the coast range but they were obscured shortly after beginning to work and never reappeared, until towards the end of the session; I decided it was too late to put them in.  Painting on site is always a series of decisions, often on the fly and throughout the session.  These sorts of decisions in one of my studio Watercolours would be worked out in the design and drawing stage, and rarely deviated from, but then this is what sketching is all about; note taking in its purest form. 

I went with the usual Venetian Red imprimatura, although I took awhile to decide to go with it rather than go straight in on the white ground only.  I could have gone either way.  Cerulean Blue was mainly used in the sky and the lighter sea-greens, with Cobalt Blue mixed with Venetian Red formed the basis of the browns and greys; Cobalt Blue and Yellow Ochre was mixed for the deeper sea-greens; Cremnitz White rounded out the palette.