Springtime on the McKenzie.

C1694

“Springtime on the McKenzie”

(Oregon)

Oil on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

4” x 6”

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Last year on my first night camped in the clearing, where the aspen fell in the grove, I was about to climb into my sleeping bags in the back of the SUV, when I saw these red eyes reflecting back at me ... I use a red headlamp. It's always disconcerting when this happens, until I switch to the green or white colour on the lamp, and identify the bearer of the eyes. A month ago, after finishing a lengthy phone call with my brother, I stepped out of the truck, only to be confronted with a dozen pairs of eyes looking in my direction ... t'was a herd of deer. And that's what it was this time ... a single doe. It did not run off, and continued grazing about twenty feet from me. Very nonchalant. Only twice has it been anything other than a deer, and that was the coyote in Yellowstone, which I spotted from a distance, and identified as it loped closer, and the other was a rabbit in Colorado midnight snacking, spotted as I turned in. The coyote was curious, but never came closer than 15', since it was blinded by the white beam of my light, and I was telling it to “move along ... nothing to see here.” Eventually, off it ambled, and I risked heating up my soup. I digress.

Last year's doe became a bit of a fixture, in that clearing. She appeared just about every day, sometimes more than once. Often she grazed within a few feet of me, as I painted, occasionally within five feet. She always kept a weather eye on me, but I would make no sudden moves, and talked quietly to her as she grazed. She had two Bambis, I believe, but I only saw two, in the deepening dusk, twice. One of the young, or maybe both of them, but singly, came into the clearing with the doe, three or four times, during the day, but never close, and pretty much kept to the edges. I did get photos of her, but not the little ones.

When I camped in the clearing for a day or two in October, she was not there, but when I moved from there over to Spencer Creek, there was a doe with two fawns that came by every evening. One evening as I sat eating supper in the gloaming, the doe came to within five feet of me, and stared at me for the longest time, before sauntering off. I believe she was the same deer who had been at the other camp, although I cannot prove it. Her attitude towards me, and her with two fawns, and the fact we were only two or three miles from my other camp (the one with the aspens), gives me a certain confidence, that she was one and the same. I will be curious to see if she turns up again, if I camp at either this year.

*****

A couple years ago, at the end of my year long Minnesota to Oregon journey through the Southwest, I passed down the canyons and valleys of the McKenzie River in the Oregon Cascades. On one of the broader stretches of the lower river, there were several deciduous trees, brightly lit and standing in high relief against the shadowed, evergreen slopes of the mountains beyond. They positively glowed. The Sun reflected blindingly off the water. Photos were taken.

When I came to paint this small work, I had some Genuine Ultramarine  (Lapis Lazuli), on my palette, and I began blocking in the shadowed mountains with it. I liked how it was looking so I continued with it, using W&N Ultramarine Deep very sparingly for some darker areas and mixtures. I felt like the painters of old, who had Lapis and Azurite as their only blues. Lapis Lazuli was worth more than gold then.

Pigments used in the painting were:

Imprimatura & Drawing: W&N Venetian Red;

Pigments: W&N Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale, Ultramarine Deep Blue;

Rublev:  Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, French Red Ochre, Lead White #1;

M. Graham: Cobalt Teal;

Michael Harding: Genuine Ultramarine.

Autumn Willows on Spencer Creek.

C1693

“Autumn Willows on Spencer Creek”

(Winter Ridge, Oregon Basin & Range)

Oil on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

6” x 8”

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Trees fall in the forest ... and sometimes without being blown over by the wind, and for no apparent reason.  I have borne witness  to that fact, perhaps three times throughout my life. "Perhaps," because the first time was in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 1993, when my brother Doug, and myself heard a crashing, that sounded like you would think a falling tree would sound, on the other side of shallow ravine from us. There was no further sound, so we ruled out a Moose, or a Bear, or any other such large beast. We decided it was what it sounded like ... a falling tree.

The second time was climbing up the bluffs above China Beach, outside of Brookings, Oregon, about ten years ago. I heard a crashing, similar to what Doug and I had heard in the BWCAW. Startled I turned in time to see a large fir falling across the footpath where I had been walking, just seconds before. “Missed me!”, I exclaimed, “Nice try, though.” It got hung up on other trees so that if you ducked a bit, you could still pass under it on the footpath. This tree fell fom the base so its roots were intact, as though it had been blown over, but there was no wind. The incline was steep, and so I surmise it must have been partially uprooted by wind recently, and finally fell when I was there to witness it.

Then last Summer I camped in a secluded clearing 20 some miles west of Klamath Falls, with an extensive Aspen grove along one side of it. One day while I was painting, I heard that crashing sound and looked over to see the undergrowth still shaking. I went to investigate, and found it was a live Aspen, about 6 inches in diameter, and that it hadn't been uprooted, but had just snapped off about four feet above the ground. There was no apparent reason for it to have done so. It wasn't particularly windy. It didn't appear to be rotten, and all its leaves were green. I still have no theory why this Aspen fell.

The Natural World is so interesting, especially out here in the Wilds, but even in the largest cities it can be interesting, if you take the time to notice. I remember the Springtime before I moved from London down to Cornwall. I had just moved into a new bedsit at the top of the house. When I looked out my windows I was looking through a lattice of tree branches to the street below. When I first moved in they were bare Winter branches, and as the days progressed I watches the leafbuds gradually unfurling and growing into full fledged leaves, and the colours changing with the passage of time and maturity. I concentrated on a particular branch and grouping of buds. Besides the leaves, the occasional bird wandered by as well, but unfortunately I have no nesting stories to tell ... perhaps if I'd stayed in that place for several year ... but Cornwall beckoned, and when that opportunity happened, there was no real contest. Looking back, I had stayed in London, probably five years too long.

*****

Spencer Creek is a few miles from the clearing where the Aspen fell over, and in October when I returned to the area, I camped a hundred yards from this scene. It was not as secluded, but was a lovely spot, and deer came through every day.

Three years ago I laid a final coat of White Lead Priming on a bunch of panels. I have two different lead primers; one by Rublev and the other by Williamsburg.  The Williamsburg is quite stiff, and it occurred to me that if I didn't thin it down with mineral spirits this time, I might be able to get an interesting brush stroke texture in this final layer. And so it was. This is the first of those textured panels that I have used, and I quite like the results. However, I think you have'll to be careful in your choice of subject, when using these panels, but I feel this autumnal leafy stream was a good choice. I hope you do too.

Pigments used in the painting were:

Imprimatura & Drawing: Rublev French Red Ochre;

Pigments: W&N Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale, Ultramarine Deep Blue;

Rublev:  Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, French Red Ochre, Orange Molybdate, Lead White #1;

M. Graham: Cobalt Teal;

Michael Harding: Genuine Ultramarine;

Gamblin: Permanent Magenta;

Schmincke: Caput Mortuum.

Absorbing the Landscape

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

C1585

"On the Hot Springs Road"

(Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Linen Panel

with additional Coat of Rublev Lead Ground

4" x 6"

SOLD

(Take further Note: the images and incidents herein occurred in December 2014.)

After completing the Oil Sketch in the last posting, it was lunchtime. While eating I studied the scene off to my left; somewhere down there was the Antelope Refuge Headquarters; probably behind the hill to the left and down on the flat.  Poker Jim Ridge arose a few miles distant; the road from the Warner Valley comes up between it and the main ridge of Hart Mountain.  Beyond Poker Jim Ridge the hills are lower and stretch away to the north, perhaps thirty miles or more, before losing themselves in the low cloud … not as far as Steens Mountain.  The road goes from the Hot Springs to the Refuge HQ.  For me part of painting or drawing is to impress upon my mind what I see, and to come to terms with the Landscape.  The High Desert and the Mountains of the West are still new to me … even after the years I’ve been in Oregon, and probably will be for a long time to come, but every painting and drawing that I do teaches me more and more about this land. 

And so in the afternoon, I worked on the above Oil Sketch with Poker Jim Ridge on the left and the plateau stretching away to the distant hills in the North … all of what you see is part of the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, save for the far distant hills beyond Poker Jim Ridge.  And I have yet to see an antelope!  I would, but not this day.  I love these kinds of days, where there is a mixture of cloud and sun, thus casting shadows intermittently across the landscape.  In a vast landscape such as this, these shadows help to break up the landscape, and add great interest to what could otherwise be a rather flat and two dimensional view, especially in the middle of the day; the cloud-shadows help to give a sense of distance.  Absolutely blue clear-sky days have their own charm, but I really find them best when I am within a forest and need the light to see to paint, or if I am doing something other than painting, and the temperature is not too hot, being a cool weather chap.  A case in point would a pristine clear day in April, many years ago in Toronto, and the blue sky seemed to go on forever and ever, and the temperature was in the sixties Fahrenheit; I will never forget that morning.  But I digress.

As I finished working for the day, a mini-blizzard blew in from the South, lasting 45 minutes, and reducing visibility to a hundred yards or so, after having a 40 mile view just minutes before!  T’was perfect timing, as I scribed my Monogram to the sketch.  A couple in a car passed me towards the Hot Springs as the mini-blizzard began, and were over by the Springs as I came down the hill towards my campsite.  They did not remain the night; maybe they were from the HQ.  The accumulation was about a half an inch, and abated as I began to prepare supper in the twilight.  And so another day … a good day absorbing the landscape … came to an end.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, Lead White #2 & Flemish Lead White, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & Cerulean Blues and Venetian Red.

Gulls rising over Neskowin

C1572

"Gulls Rising over Neskowin"

(Oregon Coast)

Oil Sketch on Centurion Oil Primed Linen Panel

With additional coat of Williamsburg Lead Primer

8" x 6"

Click here to make this your Own

(Take Note: for those of you who have signed up to be notified by email of new postings to this blog, you have been receiving not just a notification, but an actual copy of the new blog posting as the email.  As this does not show the images of the paintings in the best possible light, you should click on the title of the latest blog posting at the top of the post, and not the title of the painting itself; this will open up the actual blog itself, and you may then enjoy the paintings at their best.)

(Take further note that the photos of the past few paintings have been taken with my tablet and thus may not be up to the standard seen when the originals are scanned ... can't wait to get my laptop back!)

The evening after I sold the Oil Sketch off the easel, as it were, I continued up the coast to the clearing in the forest where I had spent last Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day, but someone had cut 11 trees down and left them clogging up the clearing making it impossible to get my SUV in there.  There were several logs cut to equal lengths, so I am hoping that the tree cutter had a permit to cut for firewood, and that the clearing will be cleared  by the time I am next passing.  I spent the night about a hundred yards back down the forest road, in not as pleasant a spot; 100 yards can make a difference.

Overcast and grey, the next day, with drizzle now and again, as I passed through the long narrow town of Lincoln City, which used to be five separate municipalities.  Usually just north of there, I turn inland and through the Coast Range to McMinnville, but this time I continued up the coast to Neskowin.  This little stretch of Oregon Coast, I think I may have been on once before, but I am not entirely sure about that, as this stretch of about 5 miles is easily bypassed by those coming from  McMinnville and heading for the coast to Lincoln City and points South, or to Pacific City and points North; and bypass it we did on previous trips to the coast.  I had seen a photo of the beach and Proposal Rock at Neskowin, a couple of years ago, and had determined to stop down there at some future date, and failing in that endeavor last November, this time I managed it.  

It is a wide beach here with an island (Proposal Rock, named for the turn of the 19th to 20th century marriage proposal of Charles Gage to Della Page) at high tide where the creek enters the sea.  Strolling on out to the island, between drizzles, I took a few photos and a pencil sketch in my pocket sketchbook.  The seas were still running high, as it had been yesterday, with nice big swells crashing onto the shore in the distance, and flocks of gulls occasionally rising from the water's edge.  I filed this away in my mind and the next day in one of my favorite forest clearings (seen here), I painted the above sketch from my pencil drawing.  This is one of those works that could be deemed a complete work in itself, thus meriting my usual signature instead of my monogram, but where it comes down to intent; as I have said before, sometimes there is a fine degree between those works deemed to be a sketch and those as a painting, and it usually is defined by the intent; just as when Charles proposed to Della, I expect.

On the technical side, I painted eveything except most of the gulls at once, but ended up leaving most of them until the surface was touch dry, to avoid smearing the background as I touched in the smallest of them; the three in the foreground were easily placed later on as well.  Imprimatura: Venetian Red, with the block-in with Ultramarine.  The rest of the pigments were Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre & Italian Burnt Sienna (from Rublev), Ultramarine, Cobalt & Cerulean Blues, Venetian Red and Cremnitz White (all by W&N).

Still Painting at Seal Rock(s)

C1534

“Receding Tide at Seal Rock”

(Oregon Coast)

Oil Sketch on Telati Pintura Linen Panel

5” x 7”

Click here to make this your Own

A week later I was still painting at Seal Rock, weathering a storm on the 1^st of December, when I got another two small sketches completed from the driver’s seat of my SUV.  On this last sketch I again chose a view similar to the previous post, but it’s earlier in the day and the tide is receding, allowing for reflections on the expanse of wet sand; always interesting to paint.  There was an obliging flock of gulls pottering about on the wet sand doing gull things, and just generally reflecting … philosophical reflections, no doubt (sorry) … so I just dabbed them in with my brush.  I enjoyed the previous 5 weeks painting on the coast, especially since I only was going to spend a few days painting down there, after the exhibition opening in Bandon. 

There was no imprimatura this time, and I went straight into drawing with a brush on the white linen panel with the usual suspects: Yellow Ochre, Venetian Red, Cobalt Blue, and Titanium White, all from W&N.