A Light in the Storm

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C1610

“A Light in the Storm”

(Destruction Island Light … Washington Coast)

Oil on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

12" x 24"

Detail of “A Light in the Storm”

C1615

“End of a Perfect Forest Day”

(Cascade Range)

Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

12” x 9”

C1616

“Quiet Evening on Second Beach”

(La Push, Washington Coast)

Oil on Raymar Canvas Panel

8” x 16”

I know, I know … it’s been over four months since I last posted.  Well … I’ve been busy … so there. 

Picture petulant lower lip stuck out about half a mile.

Actually, I have been busy … as I write I am perched next to a window overlooking the fields above Trevalga, North Cornwall, England.  It is towards midnight and I am in friends’ holiday cottage and the stars are glimmering down over the fields as I look north past Boscastle (where I lived for seven years), and beyond towards the lights of Bude, and on to the radar domes of Morwenstow twenty miles distant; there is even a more distant light twinkling farther up the coast towards Hartland Quay… it may even be Hartland Quay.  It is a special landscape even beneath the silent stars.  I am listening to Sibelius’ Symphonies Numbers 5 & 6, and wondering what this New Year will bring into this more nasty, more prejudiced world many of us thought had been left behind decades ago.

Be that as it may, once I returned to base after the Coos Art Museum Maritime Exhibition in July, I set to work on several paintings for delivery to my Galleries before I headed out from Oregon, on this journey which brought me to this window overlooking these familiar fields from my long ago.  The painting which appeared in my last posting (here) was the first and is now to be found in the Second Street Gallery, Bandon, Oregon.  The three shown above are to be found at the Kirsten Gallery in Seattle (details below).

The research for C1610 - “A Light in the Storm,” and C1616 - “Quiet Evening on Second Beach,” was done in 2009, when I spent several days in the coastal section of the Olympic National Park, Washington State.  Second Beach was about a half hour stroll from the road through beautiful the beautiful temperate rain forest, and once onto the beach, the whole day was easily spent walking along the length of the beach, drawing, and painting and taking reconnaissance photos for future work, and C1616 is one of the results. 

Destruction Island, on the other hand, is further down the Washington Coast and sadly the light was permanently turned off in 2008.  It lies 3½ miles offshore, and once I saw this Island from the shores of Ruby Beach, I knew I had to paint a dramatic seascape.  Although it has taken longer than expected to do so, it has now been completed, and even more dramatic than I first envisioned.   

C1615 - “End of a Perfect Forest Day,” was inspired by just that … the end of a wonderful day at my campsite up in the coast range above Coos Bay, a few days after the opening of the Maritime Show last July; and a productive and most enjoyable day.  I completed the small painting I was working on, prepared and ate my supper, and was sitting watching the changing light in the valley below, and the just-past-quarter Moon in the sky above.  As the Sun sank into the Northwest, and its light on the trunks of the Douglas Firs began to glow an Earth Orange Hue, I watched as the Moon glided between the branches above.  It was a scene worth remembering, and so here it is and I share it with you. 

Next posting will tell a bit about my travels from Oregon to Minnesota and on to a class reunion in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and of places from my long ago, and others new in that northern land.

The Second Street Gallery, 210 Second Street SE, Bandon, OR 97411

Phone:            541-347-4133                                    Email: BandonArtworks@gmail.com

The Kirsten Gallery, 5320 Roosevelt Way NE, Seattle WA 98105

Phone: 206-522-2011                        Email: r2thetop@hotmail.com

For those interested I give the following information.

C1610 - “A Light in the Storm” …

Imprimatura & Drawing/Block-in: Vasari Terra Rosa.

Pigments: Vasari Terra Rosa; Winsor & Newton Cobalt, Cerulean & Ultramarine Deep Blues, Permanent Rose, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Cadmium Orange, and Cremnitz White; M. Graham Hansa Yellow Pale (very little).

C1615 - “End of a Perfect Forest Day” …

Imprimatura: W&N Venetian Red.

Drawing: W&N Venetian Red & Ultramarine Deep.

Pigments: Vasari Terra Rosa; Winsor & Newton Cobalt, Cerulean & Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Venetian Red and Cremnitz White; Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Cyprus Raw Umber Deep, Cyprus Warm Burnt Umber.

 C1616 - “Quiet Evening on Second Beach” …

Imprimatura: None.

Drawing/Block-in: Vasari Terra Rosa and W&N French Ultramarine.

Pigments: Winsor & Newton Cobalt, Cerulean & Ultramarine Deep Blues, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Permanent Rose, Venetian Red, Cremnitz & Titanium Whites; M. Graham Hansa Yellow Pale; Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Ceruse; Vasari Terra Rosa.