30 Days 30 Paintings Challenge With Leslie Saeta

I am going to participate in the 30 day 30 paintings challenge with Leslie Saeta starting tomorrow.
Here the link http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/ .

My Great Fishing Adventure

 I love to fish and I love the ocean.  When I combine the two, though,  I get very seasick. A fellow plein air painter recommended an over the counter medicine which I am happy to say worked perfectly.
I tested it first on land for side effects and then at sea.  To determine if it would truly work, I needed to eat the same thing I did for breakfast the last time I went out and was violently ill.   I enjoyed a raisin cinnamon english muffin and watermelon that morning. By the way, it was delicious.

Marius and I heading out at 7:00 AM.

One hour before fishing, I ate  breakfast, took one pill and then  headed out onto the ocean with my dear friend, Marius.  I was fine  until we  stopped the boat a few miles off Bird Island at 130 feet deep. We were fishing for salmon.   The wave action seemed to pick up so the small boat swirled in circles.  I started to taste the raisin cinnamon english muffin I had for breakfast.  By the way, it was still delicious.

Me before the second seasick pill at 8:00 AM. 

I took a second pill - which is the full recommended dose and felt pretty good. No chumming,  dry heaves or  wanting to die . It just made me sleepy which was no concern because I had no plans of operating any heavy machinery that day.

Not a care in the world at 8:30 AM.  I had four layers of clothes and very comfortable. 

The real problem came when the ocean started to get rough. The wind  kicked up a notch and our fishing gear got tangled up together. We had drifted several miles north to Cape Ferrelo when the GPS lost communications.   I guess we were kind of lost and in a fog bank. 
I had no idea where land was but was feeling so good I didn't care. I was fishing in a boat on the ocean and my breakfast was still where it should be... in my digestive tract.   I wasn't panicking about getting back to shore because  I trust Marius' ocean and boating experience.
Once the GPS re-established a connection to the satellite, we were able to slowly make our way back to the port.  

Marius and I  returning without a fish at 9:00 AM. Notice the fog bank in the back.

After the boat was trailer-ed, we had to see what the successful fishermen and women were cleaning at the fish cleaning station. There was a halibut, some tuna and this Mako shark caught off of Newport.  It was found in about 54 degree water which is amazing.
Marius and I headed out for more breakfast and talked about the great  fishing adventure we just had.

Mako shark at the fish cleaning station and one reason why my husband won't go into the ocean.

Experimenting With New Clay Tools

I created this plate using my new slab roller, a mold and a fellow artists' figure drawing.  The clay is speckled buff with the new Amaco velvet glazes - black, turquoise blue and baby blue. I covered them with a bright clear glaze and fired it to cone 5.
I am happy with the piece enough to keep it.  The colored glazes were transparent enough to see the speckled clay under them.
This piece is about 12 inches across.

Such A Busy Bee - SOLD

I have been such a busy bee working with clay, gardening, fishing and painting. Here is today's plein air work. This is Pine Street in Brookings, OR.  One of my favorite places to paint.

"Pine Street Parking" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas - 6"x8" SOLD

What A Bunch Of Happy Painters

Kathy Huxley, Verna Pooler and I painted together at Whaleshead Beach north of Brookings, Oregon. The fogged rolled in and out the whole time. It didn't seem to dampen our spirits.

Happy painters.

I love to paint the rocks.

Still Painting At Whaleshead

I think I am spending the week painting at Whaleshead.  I am intrigued by the seascape and meeting all the wonderful people.  Thank you Glenn and June for dropping by. I will see you soon.
Now about my paintings. I painted a 6"x6" oil on gallery wrap and re-worked the 5"x7" painting from yesterday.

My setup.

"Whaleshead Rock" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas - 6"x6" Oil with Brush on Gallery Wrap Canvas

I changed yesterday's painting. Yes - it is the same painting. Quite the change, isn't it?

Returning to Whaleshead

It was a windy day but I had to return to Whaleshead north of Brookings, OR.  I wanted to try a smaller format and different composition.  I hung on to my easel and painting while I worked on this piece. I think I moved those trees a little too close to the rock.  I should make the Whaleshead rock smaller. I will try it again tomorrow from a different viewing area.

"Whaleshead II" 5"x7" Oil On Gallery Wrap

Whaleshead Beach

I met up with plein air painters, Verna Pooler and Kathy Huxley, to paint the beautiful Whaleshead Beach located a few miles north of Brookings, OR.  The fog would roll in and out making it a challenge to paint.  I took the easiest approach by painting when the fog lifted.
I ended up painting two pieces that morning. Here is one of the studies. It is an 8"x8" on gray primed, gallery wrap canvas.

"Whaleshead Beach" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas - 8"x8" study

I Fish For The Halibut

I love fishing.  When I was four years old,  I would go out in a small boat with my  seven year old brother and we would fish all morning.  As I got older,  I would  play hookey from school to fish. On my honeymoon night, I was ice fishing.   I truly love fishing. There is just one little problem. I get very sea sick on the ocean.  I have tried everything yet I keep going out testing new things. Nothing works.   I have to  accept that I am going to get very sick, it isn't going to be pretty and it will be annoying to my fishing partners. 
So today I captained the boat about 5 miles off shore in the Pacific Ocean.  Me and my gracious fishing partner were fishing for halibut.  The waves were a few feet high so I laid down to fight off sea sickness when both our fishing lines started to go out. It meant we both had a fish. It turns out we had caught the same fish. A 42 pound halibut. We each reeled in about 275 feet of line until we brought it into the boat.  Then I  daintily chummed my morning breakfast into the sea. This meant we would head back in and as always, I vowed I will never go out again... right. 
Here is the fish and it was delicious. Oh and thank you, Marius, for bringing me back to shore, cleaning the fish and sharing it with me.

Brookings/Harbor Port - SOLD

Oops, I was so busy with my new Amaco glazes that I forgot to post. Here is yesterday's painting of the Brookings/Harbor Port in Oregon. It is a 5"x7" oil painting.  It was a foggy day so I pushed the color. Not too much I hope.  Everything was gray. So I had to really squint and mix warm  and cool greys while watching those values. It was hard!

"Waiting For The Sun" By Eva Marie Tanner-Klaas - 5"x7" Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas with Brush - SOLD

Yesterday's Study

I attended class yesterday and painted this study. I painted this on a canvas sheet,  focused on my brush strokes, color and composition. I overworked the shell  but I am understanding less is more with these type of objects.  Oh and I had to remember to breath... 

Color Study

Recreating My Plein Air Study With Two Different Brush and Color Techniques

These are two different 5x7 paintings of the same plein air study that I did on Friday.  They are the American River under the Watt Avenue bridge in Sacramento, CA.  I started them with the same approach by blocking  in the values but varied the compositions slightly.  Then I used different brush and color techniques. 
I like the water and sky in the American River II. I like the softer brush strokes in American River III.
Interesting results.

American River II- 5"x7" Oil on Board

American River III- 5"x7" Oil on Canvas

American River Class Study

This is my American River study from Terry Miura's landscape class today.  We all met at the park under the Watt Avenue bridge. 
I blocked in my study but had not really solved all my issues.  I wanted to rush into painting before the light changed.  So what happens?  I needed help.  If I just took time to resolve my issues, I would not have spent all that time trying to fix them.  Seems pretty logical but still... I need to remember my tendencies.


Great class as always.

American River Study At Watt Avenue, Sacramento, CA

Dark Reflection

Go Figure

Here are my Thursday figure studies.