Early Morning in the Coast Range

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C1596

"Early Morning in the Coast Range"

(Oregon)

Oil on Raymar Portrait Quality Linen Panel

6" x 8"

Click here to make this your Own

And the mists gathered in the valleys and folds of the Oregon Coast Range and rolled over the high ridges as the sun arose in the northeast.  Another beautiful morning and I stayed put and worked on this painting on the 4^th of July, attempting to capture the feel of what I had seen for two consecutive mornings.  There were elk feeding in the valley immediately below, although to see them I had to walk past the stump on the left in this painting and look over the edge; I doubt they remained there during the day … wouldn't know ... I was busy painting. 

The fireworks I had seen on the evening of the 3^rd were observed in the saddle of the far ridge.  I was surprised by another display the evening of the 4^th, when they appeared to the left of the left-hand hill of the far ridge saddle.  I found out later in the week, when I attended the private view of the Coos Art Museum Maritime Show, that one evening the fireworks were at the casino and the other evening on the harbour front at Coos Bay.  Again, being nine or ten miles away, they were perfect through my binoculars, after a fine leisurely meal and interspersed with watching Venus & Jupiter sliding into the west and the Moon rising in the east.

You might think that in this painting I may have used a split palette as mentioned in the previous post of the Evening in the Coast Range, but no … it is my usual palette of earth pigments and the blues; it shows what can be done with coloured muds.  Of course the foxgloves and yellow flowers are dabbed in with the brighter pigments (W& N Cobalt Violet, Rose Madder Genuine, Cadmium Yellow Pale), but since they are incidentals to the main body of the painting, I don’t list them in my pigments information below.  Incidentally, even though I posted the Evening in the Coast Range before this painting, I actually did that one a day later … It took awhile for my signature to dry on this one before I could scan it. 

Imprimatura: Venetian Red, over the whole surface, not only where the ground is as I did in the last posted work.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt, Cerulean & French Ultramarine Blues, Venetian Red, and Cremnitz & Titanium Whites.

Evening in the Coast Range

(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.)

C1597

"Evening in the Coast Range"

(Oregon)

Oil on RayMar Portrait Quality Linen Panel

6" x 8"

Click here to make this your Own

At the beginning of July I downed tools on the two large commissioned Oils I’ve been working on and headed down to the coast to deliver the three paintings that are included in the Coos Art Museum 22^nd Annual Maritime Show (here).  I usually camp on private property outside of Bandon, 25 miles further on than is Coos Bay, but as I approached Coos Bay, I decided there was no point in going further, just to retrace my steps in the morning to make my delivery; thus I headed up into the Coast Range and found a likely spot a few miles in.  After supper I enjoyed the Sunset, and later in the gloaming I watched Venus and Jupiter sinking into the west, while the full Moon rose to my left in the east, and a few bats flitted about enjoying their insectoid suppers.  I had been much taken by the evening colours as the sun fell through the trees and especially after it had set, so I thought I might delay my week of painting on the Bandon Coast, and return up here in the Coast Range to paint after I delivered the paintings to the Coos Art Museum.  Watching the mist rising in the valleys in the morning confirmed my decision.

I drove a roundabout route to the Museum, via Silver & Golden Falls State Park, as I had never been there before, although I had thought about it from time to time; well worth it, even though one has to walk further these days to view the two falls, since one must park much further away nowadays.  Silver & Golden Falls are not easily photographed, but I managed to get enough working shots, for future reference.  The views I would most like to paint are also footpath blocking spaces, so I will have to work from photos for these at some point; there would be several places to paint sections of the base of the falls, and maybe I will sometime.  I had to do some desperate bushwhacking scrambles around Golden Falls to get some of views I photographed, but that is many times de rigueur in my game, both for taking reference photos and for painting.  There will come a time when I will not be able to do this … but not yet.

After dropping off the works, in Coos Bay (the town), I drove back north through North Bend (not Bend across the Cascades in the High Desert 200 miles distant), and across Coos Bay (the water) over the big bridge, turned right onto North Bay Road, and before again turning right and heading back on the forest roads into the mountains, I stopped to take a few photos of North Bay in the late afternoon light; North Bay is an arm of Coos Bay.  I enjoyed another evening similar to the night before, but this time I got to see distant fireworks through a notch in the hills across the valley.  This was quite unexpected as it was only the 3^rd of July, but I enjoyed the display, and they were seen best through my binoculars, and heard a lot of their thunder, even though they were about 9 or 10 miles distant.  Of course I only saw those that were shot into the sky, but I always prefer those to any those that are at ground level anyway.

With this painting I used a split palette, painting the evening sky with the more modern and brighter colours and darkened ground vegetation with the earth palette I’ve been using most of this past year.  I also applied my imprimatura only to the lower half of the panel, thus reserving the white of the ground to reflect the brighter pigments used in the evening sky.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used in the sky were: Winsor & Newton Cerulean & Cobalt Blues, Cadmiums Yellow Pale, Orange, & Red, Rose Madder Genuine, Cremnitz and Titanium Whites, and a bit of Venetian Red to mix with Cobalt Blue for the subtle pale purply greys in the clouds.

And for the ground Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & French Ultramarine Blues, Venetian Red, and Cremnitz White were the usual suspects.

Winter Recap

I know … I know it’s been a month since my last post!  I had hoped to have this post prepared and posted shortly after the last one on June 28^th, which presented my last Oil Sketch from my High Desert Winter’s sojourn.  Since then I have sadly been back in “civilization,” working on a commission for two medium large, detailed Oils for Royalty; no, not British Royalty, and I am not at liberty to divulge anything further in print, as it is stipulated in the contract not to do so.  I also desired to have them finished before the heat of the Summer set in, but I expect not to reach completion until September’s end.  This is also why I have been drawing out the posting of my Winter’s story, and as I have said I hoped to have this posted shortly after my last post, as it would have neatly tied up that story, before I took a break by going down to the Central Oregon Coast, and attending the opening of the Coos Art Museum 22^nd Annual Maritime Show.  The postings for that interlude will begin to appear shortly.

Winter in the far “out” High Desert of Oregon was a most interesting and eye opening experience, and it was indeed “far out,” in two senses of the word; far out, as in time and space, and far out, as in “really out there, man!” as in somewhat surreal.  I have discovered that from the point of view of where the bulk of Oregon’s population resides (that is between the Coast Range and the Pacific Ocean), when I mention Winter Camping out in the High Desert, most persons have immediately thought of around the Bend area, which is really just the beginnings of the High Desert.  But when I tell them that no I was further out and east of Lakeview, those that know where Lakeview is (and many in civilized Oregon do not, it seems), say, “Oh … you were really out there!”; by which I take them to mean in time and space, and perhaps for some a surrealist tinge as well.  It was all those things for me. 

From the Portland area, I was roughly three times as far out there as it is to the Bend area (and with still a lot of miles to go before reaching Oregon’s eastern border), and thus farther in time taken to get there, before even considering that you feel you are in a different, more distant time as well … past … future … who can say?  And surreal, too!  I suppose what I really mean by surreal is a feeling of being touched by the inimitable, under these broad skies and vast landscapes; a lecture on surrealism at the Tate Gallery in my early days in London, comes to mind, where the lecturer defined the term as super realism.  I have felt this before in the all the wild places I have experienced; all day alone, drawing on a rugged North Cornwall beach, not another person to be seen; ten miles from the nearest road in the Highlands of Scotland; every time I’ve gone into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northern Minnesota; inimitable … surreal … super real.  Perhaps that this is relative, and for those few souls that reside out there, it is just part of their everyday existence, its specialness not to be noticed.  But I doubt that not to be true for most of those, even if such terms as surreal, inimitable or super real, are not familiar; they will have different words, maybe, but the feelings will be the same, save for such that are totally insensitive.

Besides learning more about the variety of colour mixed from my severe palette, and the way the paint handles on the surfaces of the various panels I used, there were specific lessons assimilated … such as which Winter roads to avoid (see, Mud, and the few posts thereafter) … and if I go down the wrong road, that I don’t panic and thus have a better chance of getting myself out of what I got myself into … that there is more to the High Desert than a boy from the Northwoods of the Great Lakes, ever considered … such as more wild life than expected, even unseen (witness all the tracks in the snow) … the severe beauty of this landscape, which I have only begun to touch.  In short … more time will be spent coming to terms with this inimitable landscape; with painting, and observing, and taking the time to let it all wash over me.

Winter Dawn amongst the Ponderosas

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C1593

"Winter Dawn amongst the Ponderosas"

(near Hole-in-the-Ground, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel

with additional coat of Rublev Lead Oil Ground

4" x 6"

Click here to make this your Own

The stars were out most of the night, and I watched the Dawn-light on the Ponderosas while having breakfast, and imprinting the light conditions in my mind.  I then painted the scene while that lighting was fresh in my mind.  The radio weather reported Winter storm warning until Noon the next day for the North Cascades … just what do they mean by the North Cascades?  I’m assuming that means at least as far south as the Willamette Pass.  The high point of the Willamette Pass is not much higher than my present altitude, so I reckon I will go that way back to the Valley.  It is interesting to realize that the Santiam Pass over the Cascade Range, north of Bend, Oregon, is also about the same altitude as I am now, but that I would be descending about 1500’ or more before I got there and have to regain that altitude to climb over the Pass, whereas going via the Willamette Pass there is no real change in altitude from here to there.  But that was yet to come.  Snow flurries now and again throughout the day, but not amounting to much, although flurries fell while preparing supper, but that seems to be de rigueur on this journey.  

I awoke the next morning to an inch of beautiful powdery snow on the SUV, and light snow falling throughout breakfast.  As I drove west towards La Pine the snow fell more heavily, continuing to fall as I visited an old friend where lives my other old friend, Tweetie, the finest, friendliest Lovebird in the whole wide world.  It’s been two years since I last had seen Tweetie, and by the way he kept looking at me, I knew enough time had passed that he wasn’t quite sure who I was anymore, even though he had been my bosom buddy for seven years … well, he is a bird, and his brain isn’t that large … either that or he was just being standoff-ish (I know … I don’t write, I don’t phone, and years pass between visits!). 

Upon leaving La Pine I drove south on Hwy 97 to Crescent, Oregon, where I cut over to Hwy 58 via 15 miles or so on Forest Road 1351, the snow increasing all the way; but it was beautiful; pine and fir limbs drooping towards the ground with the weight of the snow.  Once over the Willamette Pass and on the downward slope, I kept a football field’s length between me and the next vehicle and kept a weather eye on the big semi-trailer behind me, who seemed to be keeping a decent distance between us as well; I always worry about the guy behind me on snowy or icy roads.  A couple miles on the descent the traffic ahead came to an halt, and it did take me much of the distance I had left to safely and slowly come to a halt behind the car in front, and then I watched the truck behind slowly do the same …phew!  We were all halted for about 40 minutes or so, and I never did find out what caused the delay.  I turned the engine off and just sat back, ate lunch, and enjoyed the soft snowfall.  We were at the Salt Creek Falls turnoff, and I should have gone over there and parked, and seen the falls in Winter, and had I known we were to be halted for that long I would have done, but I knew I had to back to town with plenty of time to unload a lot of gear into my storage unit, before it closed.  It had taken roughly twice as long to come thus far through the snowfall than it would have under normal conditions, and … would there be snow in the valley?  That question was soon answered to the negative, for by 2000’ in altitude the snow had turned to drizzly rain, and by 1000’ it had all but disappeared from the ground.  Another 30 miles or so brought me out of the mountains and onto dry roads and bright late afternoon sunshine, with no clue that 50 miles east was a different snow covered world … until you looked that direction; miles away and high on the forested slopes you could discern the Winter Wonderland up there bathed in the brilliant sunshine and with the tops lost in the snowy cloud.  I enjoyed that view as I drove up the center of the wide Willamette Valley until it widened further and the Cascades receded further away.  And so I the Winter’s sojourn in the wild was over and the New Year soon to begin.  I have a lengthy double commission on which to continue painting.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

The Pigments used were:  Rublev Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, Italian Burnt Sienna, with Winsor & Newton Cobalt & French Ultramarine Blues, Venetian Red, and Cremnitz White.

On to Summer Lake and Hole in the Ground

(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.)

Coldest night thus far; down to around 0º F; toastie in my sleeping bags, however.  Because I was going to be driving soon, I wore my Sorel boots, but because I remained sedentary during my breakfast, my toes felt the cold; Sorels are best when active, and soon warmed up when I walked around taking photographs.  I retraced my path back down the Chewaukan River to Paisley, stopping to take photographs, inspecting tracks in the snow, and observing the odd bit of wildlife now and again; 2 deer, a startled coyote who dashed off up the slope with his very bushy tale waving behind, and several hawks.  I took care on the road as it was covered in old snow compacted to ice, and I made it down past the snow line without incident. 

Slush-Ice on the Chewaukan

On the Chewaukan

Chewaukan Pewter

I slowly drove around Paisley, before heading north on Hwy 31 to Summer Lake, with Winter Ridge looming 3000’ above along its entire western side.  Winter Ridge or Rim is another one of these fault escarpments that are to be found in this part of the Oregon High Desert.  These to features were named by the Fremont Expedition in the 1840’s.  The exploration party was struggling through along the heights of Winter Rim, when they came to the edge and saw the lake below, snow free.  I expect the names came readily to mind.  I drove about a mile up a forest road to an overlook at the south end of the lake and had lunch, and studied the vista, from Winter Rim to my left around the basin of Summer Lake and to the hills east of the lake, which included Diablo Peak, which I now saw from a different direction than seen during my lunch stop on the previous day.

Chewaukan Landscape

Valley of the Chewaukan

After this I slowly drove up the western side of Summer Lake and stopped at the Nature Reserve for a few minutes.  The circular drive was closed, but you were allowed to drive into the reserve on a day pass, and it probably would have been OK to spend the night in one of the campgrounds there.  Mostly it was duck hunters going into the reserve at this time of the year.  I filed away this information for future reference, and proceeded on my way.

Winter Rim and Summer Lake

Winter Rim and Summer Lake #2

I climbed out of the Summer Lake basin, passing Silver Lake (dry lake bed at present), and eventually passed the road to Fort Rock and Christmas Valley.  I checked out the entrance to several forest roads, but they were all closed from December 1^st – March 31^st to give the area’s wildlife a bit of a respite.  Eventually I found that the road to Hole-in-the-Ground (yes an actual place-name) was open, although snow covered, and I proceeded up about half a mile to spend the night in a clearing found there.  Hole in the Ground is a volcanic maar, about a mile across.  I camped there back in 2010 on Easter weekend.  Coyote deer and elk tracks in abundance in the clearing.  Tomorrow I shall see if I can squeeze out one last painting before heading back to civilization, just before the New Year.

Campsite on the Road to Hole-in-the-Ground

On to Paisley & the Chewaukan River

(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.)

The day after Christmas; Boxing Day in England; and overcast, as it had been all night, and I headed out as I thought I needed to be back in civilization by the 30^th; wrongly as it turned out, and most unfortunate as I could have squeezed out a few more days in the wild to include the New Year.  Be that as it may I left the CCC Hut Campground, home for the past few days and part of the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, and slowly crossed Warner Valley on a county road, between the dry lakes, stopping to take photographs now and then, and to study the map and identify distant features, eventually meeting the Hogback Road at a T-junction.

Floor of the Warner Valley

(Looking South with Hart Mountain on the left)

Hart Mountain from the West across the Warner Valley

(the CCC Hut Campground is at the base of the Mountain

below the dark diagonal slash at the center of the face of the mountainside)

Here one may turn south for Plush or north for Hwy 395, twenty miles away.  I turned for Hwy 395, and proceeded up between the Coyote Hills, to the south and on my left, and the Rabbit Hills north and on my right, seeing them close to, after having studied them from afar all week.  Seen from this road there are rocky buttes that rear up from the northern aspect of the Coyote Hills that look like they should be called the Coyote’s Teeth; whether they are or not, I do not know, but they should be.  A couple of miles before the junction with Hwy 395, there is a good view of Juniper Mountain and the northern extension of the Abert Rim; this latter is a fault escarpment, with its rim facing west and the plateau sloping east towards the now distant Coyote & Rabbit Hills, and the Warner Valley beyond.

The Coyote Hills from the Hogback Road

(a couple of the buttes I have called the Coyote's Teeth can be seen)

The Rabbit Hills

(Hart Mountain is beyond and across the Warner Valley from this view)

Juniper Mountain and the Northern Extension of the Abert Rim

(from the Hogback Road a couple miles before the Hwy 395 Junction)

From here I drove north for four miles to check out a rest area for future reference.  It had water pumps there, similar to the one at the CCC Hut Campground, but whether they were turned off for the Winter or just frozen, I do not know.  I retraced my path past the Hogback Road and dropped down towards Lake Abert, but before arriving I turned right onto another county road that would eventually take me to Paisley on Hwy 31.  If the road became to iffy, I could always come back to Hwy 395, but as a county road, I thought it would be OK; I wouldn’t take chances after my experience of the Mudfest of several weeks before; it was not as good a road as the Hogback Road, but was no real problem, partly because it was frozen for the first two-thirds of the drive, when I stopped to have lunch at a view north past the east edge of Wildcat Mountain, and Diablo Peak just poking its head up beyond, and with St. Patricks and Sheepshead Mountains a bit to their right.   It was turning out to be a photo-recon day; these days are too short to drive very far, stopping to take photos, and expect to get a painting in as well.

Lake Abert & the Abert Rim

(the latter on the left)

Abert Lake Homestead with the Abert Rim beyond

Wildcat Mountain

(with Diablo Peak just poking up beyond

and with St. Patrick's and Sheepshead Mountains a bit to their right;

here I had lunch)

Paisley, named after the town in Scotland, looks to be a pleasant village (hot in Summer, I expect), about the size of Lake Nebagamon, in northern Wisconsin, where I spent my first three years of grade school.  I topped up with petrol, and decided to check out the Chewaukan River, which flows through town.  I meandered up the river valley (county road 33), taking photos, and eventually decided to turn around about 10 miles up, the now icy and snowy road.  A few hundred yards back down the road I decided to spend the night at the Jones Crossing Campground, which although officially closed, was only closed as far as amenities were concerned.  Many tracks in the 3” of snow covering the ground … deer, coyotes, and what may have been cougar tracks; these latter were along the road where I had turned around.  I kept my bear spray canister close to hand while strolling around and preparing supper.  Studying the map I see that I’m now about 30, maybe 40, miles from the site of the now infamous Mudfest, but over some desperate and snowy roads, over the escarpment and mountains.

On the Chewaukan River #1

On the Chewaukan River #2

Christmas Day Snow Showers in the High Desert

(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.)

C1592

"Christmas Day Snow on the Rabbit Hills"

(Warner Valley, Oregon High Desert)

Oil Sketch on Centurian Oil Primed Linen Panel

4" x 6"

Click here to make this your Own

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

An hour after I fell asleep last night I awoke and found the stars had clouded over; so it remained the rest of the night, but I arose to a thick dusting of snow that had fallen sometime during the night when I wasn’t looking.  Coyotes had come by after the snow had fallen to inspect my campsite; they probably do it every night.  The morning was stupendous, with sun breaking through wonderful cloud formations all across the landscape, and with occasional snow showers passing by, sometimes on me; such an interesting day of cloud watching.  I painted the same view as yesterday, but with the new snowfall.    

Having been here a few days now, I keep wondering what it would be like to see those dry lake beds down on the valley floor, filled with water and tons of wildfowl.  Will I ever see it or has global warming tipped the scales as far as the Warner Valley is concerned.  Mankind has much to answer for.

Coyotes yipping to the West while I prepared my Christmas dinner, on my one burner stove, of smoked Salmon, mushrooms, carrots corn, onions, peppers, olives broccoli, and cous-cous in a pesto sauce, with corn tortillas, since Lakeview had no pita at the Safeway.  It takes about 20 minutes to get all the ingredients ready and only 7 or 8 minutes to cook.  Most of my camp meals are similar in timing.  Could have used a drop of wine to wash it down with, but didn’t even think about it when I was preparing for this sojourn in the wilds.  Got a better look at Venus tonight while nursing my after dinner hot chocolate, and Mercury is over there somewhere, not far away, but I haven’t spotted it yet (I did a few days later), and I watched the Moon again until it set at 21:03.  I hadn’t expected to see any traffic on the road today, but three cars and a pickup truck passed earlier in the day, and as I prepared my dinner, an camper pickup  steamed into the campground and set up for the night a few sites away … and so to bed after a beautiful day of interesting weather.

Imprimatura: Venetian Red.

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