Yaquina Head Lighthouse at Low Tide

"Exploring the Vast Sea Life Below an Oregon Lighthouse" 22 x 30 inch Painting in progess. Watercolor and pastel

There are a gazillion little and some rather large creatures that live near Yaquina head (near Newport, Oregon). My favorite time to be there is first thing in the morning, before anyone else is awake, during low tides.

The tide pools there are great - chalk full of all sorts of strange and interesting sea life. Sea lions vie for a good spot in the sun on the rock islands nearby. Inevitably there is always one sea lion pushing another off the rocks into the ocean. Plus there are three or four different types of birds nesting on the rocks and if one is lucky they will see a whale spouting in the distance.

Reflections of La Conner

"La Conner Evening Looking South"
22" x 30"

I've been working on a series of paintings for the La Conner, Deception Pass area. I've enjoyed the fact that there is a lot water at both locations as water is about my favorite thing to paint. . . well, other than seagulls I mean.

An Oldie: A Porsche, a Barn and a Goose

"Just Another Saturday Afternoon Cruising Around the Countryside" 22" x 30"

I painted this picture quite a while back, probably when I was in Junior High. I have no idea where I came up with the composition idea and why I decided to have a goose standing right in the road. I kinda like this picture though and wish I would have finished it, but by the looks of it I must have gotten stuck trying to figure out how to paint the goose's feet or the shadows or something. Either way this is still my favorite painting depicting a German sports car with wild fowl in a rural setting. =)

The Wind, The Sea and My Little Boat

"Sailing Towards Deception Pass" Watercolor

My experience sailing is quite limited at this point in my life. (I’ve mostly been power boating) So limited in fact that the one time I went “sailing” on the Lady Washington (a square rigger) there was so little wind that we merely floated down the Columbia River for a while until we finally powered back to port.

I suppose I was about 13 or 14 the only other time I’ve been “sailing” where my aunt and uncle dropped me off into Puget Sound on an inflatable sailboat and told me to learn how to sail. After determining that my rudder was the better part of useless and I was pure rubbish at tacking I decided to stick my sail (such as it was) into the wind and see how fast I could go. I had a swell time cruising with the wind out into the middle of the Sound for about the first half hour until I started to consider how I was supposed to get back to where my Aunt and Uncle were anchored. As I recall the return “voyage” was a tad harder and I ended up swimming while dragging my sailboat part of the way (meanwhile the sail was still up and catching lots of wind going the wrong direction). After pondering whether or not the current and wind would truly wash me out to sea I was able to make it back (with a little help from a rope that my uncle tossed out to me to drag me the final leg of the trip). Overall it was great fun!

2006 Christmas Card

Wow, December sure was a busy month! I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years!

This is the watercolor I did for a Christmas Card (and had way too much fun doing). Special Thanks to Jason a photographer and all around classy guy from Seattle who let me use his pug Lucy to model for me in this painting.

You can see Jason's photo's on his Flickr account Here.