Bill and I did a trailer travel adventure along the Oregon Coast last week camping at Champoeg Heritage Park, Cape Lookout, Newhalem, and Fort Camby and Fort Worden in Washington. These are some of the watercolor sketches I was able to paint during the rain breaks.
From the window of our trailer, I sketched the pastel grass fields spattered with white daisies at Campoeg Park.
I spotted these dried leaves beneath the large oak trees at Champoeg. Placed them on the table for a still life study.
I tried to capture the ambience of the ocean spray mist from the breakers along the shoreline. This was done at Cape Lookout camp ground a beautiful spot.
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With Tuesday's break from the rain, I did some quick sketching at the Whidbey Island Winery. The tasting room wasn't open so I couldn't enjoy a glass of wine afterward, darn. But, the objects and scenes to paint make great subjects.
These four watercolor sketches of noxious wild weeds are from the fields/woodlands on Whidbey. I placed them in a vase so I could sketch them with graphite on watercolor paper and then paint. I used walnut ink for the text so it harmonized with the colors of the paint. The weeds are sour weed; it gives the red color to the open green and yellow fields; geranium robertianum found in shady gardens and woodlands; western starflower clustered in shady areas under trees; woodland strawberry a ground cover in open areas in the woodlands. This was a fun challenge.
By the way, Whidbey Camano Land Trust is a remarkable nonprofit organization doing an amazing of job protecting our open spaces and working to keep Whidbey Island as beautiful as it is. Right now they are pressing hard against a June 10 deadline to raise $4.2 million to save 600+ contiguous acres of Whidbey woods from development north of Freeland. I hope they make it. Give if you can. I'd love to see Whidbey Island Sketchers do an art project someday in support of the Land Trust. 
