Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Day 11: Afternoon Light on Neahkahnie

Afternoon Light on Neahkahnie, 6"x8", plein air, oil on canvas panel, © 2017 R.L. Delight

We awoke this morning to...more snow! We aren't getting anything near the snow totals the rest of Oregon is but our roads on the coast can be hazardous on a good day, let alone adding snow and ice, in addition to the king tides washing over the highways. I had resigned myself to painting another still life when the sun came out and the snow quickly melted. I had a strong urge to get out of the studio and go paint. It is still cold though, and the wind off the ocean brings a lot of moisture. Combine the two and you have a recipe for hypothermia. I decided to paint from the car and drove down to my home beach. The sky and clouds were stunning and Neahkahnie Mountain would glow for a few seconds when the sun came out.

I rarely work from the car, in fact, it has been a few years and we have a new car. I brought towels to cover everything up and I decided to use a solvent free gel instead of terps. I have used the gel before. I struggled with being in the car. I felt cramped and I kept getting paint on the areas I couldn't cover. The gel seemed to melt everything together so I know I was probably using too much. The canvas seemed particularly hard to get paint to stick and the paint felt stiff and unresponsive. In spite of all of that, and after a few swear words were uttered, I managed to get this painting. Not my best or favorite but I have enough information to make a proper painting of it if I choose to. It felt good to get out of the studio and paint plein air again.

We shall see what tomorrow's weather will bring...

-Renee

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