Thanksgiving on the Oregon Coast
*Looks at title*
*Looks at today's date*
*Squints at title*
*Squints at today's date*
Yeah, I know, this is literally... like 4 months late. Listen, I wrote this in December... and then uploading all the photos seemed like Too Much so I procrastinated on that for about 3 months until today. So. Here we are. The first of a series of frantic catch-up blog posts. Stay tuned.
But anyways, yes! To those who didn't know, I did spend my 2018 Thanksgiving in Oregon, and it was amazing! Enjoy this photo I pulled over for!
To anyone wondering "Why Oregon?" my grandparents live in Oregon, and since my previous Thanksgiving plans were a no-go, this was a very obvious plan B. And ngl, afterwards I kind of wish it was my plan A from the beginning.
So I started the trip Monday afternoon. I was driving, so the plus was I could bring as much as I wanted. The con was it would take 16 hours lol. This would be my first big roadtrip (previously have never driven more than 3 hours straight) so going to 8 hours a day would be... interesting.
After dropping off my daughter hamster, I got onto the road and headed north. Honestly, I think I did pretty well. I have a bad habit of getting sleepy while driving during the day, so at night I was wide awake and carried on for the full 8 hours. I spent the night at a rest stop an hour north of Chico where the fires were happening (unbeknownst to me at the time). California law allows you to spend 8 hours at a rest stop, so I folded down my drivers seat, pulled out my sleeping bag, covered up my windows and went to sleep.
I woke 7 hours later to 35 degrees outside and the beginning of the sunrise. After warming up, I set out on the road again. At this rate, if I kept up good pace I'd make it to my grandparents by 3 in the afternoon. Not bad!
I pulled over once for that vista photo, and white-knuckled through all the winding mountain roads. About halfway in the drive I crossed into Oregon and experienced the strange sensation of not being legally allowed to pump my own gas...
I finally made it to the grandparents around the time I had planned, and took a well-deserved relax. Nothing like a home-cooked meal and leftover halloween candy after a long, 2-day drive.
And now the vacation could really begin!
My goal with all places I travel to is to see nature and paint, and I definitely accomplished that here. The first day I didn't do as much painting, mainly walking along the beach and hanging out at the antique mall my grandfather worked at. We all went bowling that night as well with their friends, which was fun. The floors were pretty slippery, which threw off the entire game for me and is definitely the only reason why I played so poorly.
But the days after, on recommendations from my grandparents, especially my grandmother, I explored the coastal area a little more, taking my watercolors with me.
This first painting I did at Salmon River, while it was raining. I decided to do a mix of watercolor and gouache, and I really like the effect! My favorite part of this is definitely the foggy mountains in the background, but I'm a little bummed that I lost some of the trees in the foreground into the mountains behind. Still, overall I think this turned out really nicely, and my grandparents were a big fan.
I actually saw otters while painting this, which was super cool! I also tried to visit the Sitka center, but the road and signs confused me and I ended up making a 26-point u-turn halfway up a narrow hill much to the amusement of a bystanding family who probably thought I was some crazy, no-good Californian who didn't know how to drive.
I also drove up the Three Capes Scenic Drive all the way up through Pacific City. That's a really pretty drive that I wish I could have taken at 25 mph the entire way, but alas those 50 mph speed limits and 2 lane roads... The views are really incredible though, I was shouting in disbelief for much of the drive.
I stopped at Cape Lookout State Park and walked around for a bit, taking in the crazy clouds and coastal cliffs. Took me a bit to find a spot I liked, and I sat down to paint. I wasn't super happy with the sky, since I used too much black for the clouds and they just ended up looking really grey, and the sky behind was too dark, but I liked how the rest of the painting turned out.
On the way back I pulled over at Anderson's view point to paint the coast and the Three Arch Rocks. I really like how this turned out, but I do think my hesitation to add any orange or yellow to the painting had the color scheme turn out a little more cool than I'd like. Usually I like a balance of warm and cool, or a hint of the other, but this turned out predominantly cool. But I still like it, so... moving on!
The last place I stopped was at Pacific City, at Cape Kiwanda. They have a pretty iconic rock that I really wanted to paint, and the sun was setting, but I was definitely rushed while painting this. Not my favorite, but I think the photo does the painting a bit more justice than in person haha.
Overall I think my painting skill is improving. I'm relying less on pencil sketches and outlining, and trusting my vision and hand a bit more, and I'm pretty proud of it. Of course, still many things to work on, but even comparing these to the ones I did in Hawaii or even Joshua Tree, I can see the improvement.
The last place I stopped by, which was on my way back to LA, was the lighthouse in Newport. I took a little side route my grandmother had recommended, but I was feeling a little burnt out from the painting. So I decided to do a quick pencil sketch. I think it turned out quite cute!
And with my turkey leftovers and a car full of antiques, I headed back to LA, with a fun stop along the way that I'll write about next time! The Oregon coast is really beautiful, so if you've been on the fence about visiting, or you didn't know, I hope this was enough to convince you to give it a shot!
And as always, thanks for reading!