“Siletz Bay, October Morning” 9.5″ x 12.5″, Schmincke soft pastels on Sennelier 170lb pastel card, 2026
This piece was inspired by the changing landscape of Siletz Bay on an October morning of plein air painting on the fourth floor balcony of my hotel room. I delight at the sight of faint clouds of pastel dust floating away on the breeze. It was moody and misty as the day began. The lighting shifted quickly towards sunshine, sparkling off the surface of the water. I did my best to keep up.
The pastel card is wonderful as a pastel surface, but the coarser grit (compared to Ampersand Pastelbord) really tears through the pastels themselves.
“Siletz Bay Low Tide” soft pastel on Pastelmat, 7″ x 9.5″, 2026
I took a couple days on the coast to paint. I am fascinated by the tide coming and going from Siletz Bay. The most challenging detail is tearing myself away from the view long enough to paint at all.
This piece was done using Blue Earth and Sennelier soft pastels, on Claire Fontaine Pastelmat.
On a December trip to the coast last year, I saw an amazing sun rise. The sky was infused with hues of bold pink. I managed to get a shot or two, but mostly just watched it quickly evolve. It developed quickly, and quickly faded away.
So very pink.
On my most recent trip to the same favorite location, I found myself trying to capture that moment and the bold pink sun rise in pastels, using a combination of the reference photo I had set aside for the purpose, and also the view from my balcony (for scale and proportion and things of that sort). I found myself faced with what could politely be called “mixed success”. lol
“Siletz Bay Pink Sunrise I” 5″ x 7″, pastel on Pastelbord, 2024
Yeah… no. There are things I like about it. Things I don’t. The “mistakes” shout at me – so I tried again.
“Siletz Bay Pink Sunrise II” 5″ x 7″, pastel on Pastelbord, 2024
Another attempt. Another piece about which I have mixed feelings, and a great deal of criticism. lol I set the idea aside for another attempt on some other day.
There are things about both pieces I greatly enjoy. The colors being one of those, and I admittedly simply enjoy a sunrise, and these both find room in my heart on that basis alone. I’ll try this again, though. There is so much to learn from these attempts, and the image that inspires them. I learn a lot from “failure”, if these can really even be called that. They have beauty of their own.
