2014 Journey to Alaska - Astoria, Oregon and Art Journal

Spent a bit of time at Seaside and Astoria, Oregon.  Oregon is so beautiful. It was such a tease to only be able to spend one day there.  We WILL return soon and take our time to savor the beauty of the rocky coast and cool sweet breeze.








The trek from Astoria to Sitka was magical.  As the rough seas of the Pacific turned into smooth gentle rollers of the Outside Passage, we spent a lot of time sitting on our balcony of the ship without words, watching the whales spouting and the rough, snow covered mountains passing.  

 That first "sight" of Alaska, was every bit as overwhelming to me as my first glimpse of the grand canyon.

Emotional.

Sitting on the balcony of our suite on the ship and sketching whatever was out there - whatever we were cruising by -  became my morning ritual.

I Quickly - very quickly, laid  down water on paper trying to at least capture a moment, a second in time.  The color of the water, the sky and the mountains.  The shapes.


Many days - the view was the same, but it looked so different because of the atmospheric conditions.

 

Artistically, I learned a lot about light during this trip.  Painting light. Photographing light - observing atmosphere and how it "morphs"
companions.

I did manage to get a few good subpaintings.
The speed at which we were traveling did not permit me to add much detail

I did photograph each morning's vision,  so I  will be able to  refer back to add a bit more detail to each journal page.

This activity every morning was a valuable learning exercise.  I think I will continue to pursue it.