The Beauty of this Place

The beauty of this place can be subtle one moment, and then completely bowl you over the next. It leaves an imprint on one's soul.

I am so fortunate and grateful to live here.

To get back into the flow of creating after the past few weeks of absence due to health issues, I am taking a Craftsy class by Edward Minoff. I have admired his work for a while now. The class is called "Oil Painting, Sand, Sea, and Sky."

The first assignment is to create a sketch with graphite and gouache. I have never used gouache before. I do like the effect so I was eager to give it a try.

Yesterday I went out and did this plein air sketch:

The gouache felt a bit clumsy. I can see that it will take a bit of practice. The weather is a bit too unstable to take my painting gear out at the moment so sketching is perfect. I can sketch in just about any weather short of the hurricane force winds and pounding rain. It is easier to use an umbrella when sketching than when painting.

I went out again today:

I love painting at the foot of Neahkahnie Mountain. Often there are cross-waves that crash into the oncoming waves which make for very interesting angles and effects. I am always trying to successfully capture those waves on canvas. I am getting better but haven't been truly satisfied yet.

I have been trying the papers I have on hand. The first sketch I used Fabriano Murano in Storm gray. The second one is Strathmore Toned Gray. I wasn't really happy with either of them. The Murano is too rough for my tastes and the Strathmore has flecks of other colors which I found distracting. I will have to do a bit of research.

As I was leaving the beach this afternoon I spotted an osprey on the beach. A few moments later, two resident bald eagles swooped in and chased off the osprey. The only camera I bring with me is on my phone so the picture isn't always the best. I will finish this post with a final picture:

-Renee