Pacific City and the Dorymen...

 Minus Tide (8x10)

We've been having a really nice summer here in the Pacific Northwest this year (doesn't always happen)...so we headed back to the beach and found some great weather there too (which is also "iffy" when it's warm inland). I spent several sessions painting at Pacific City's Cape Kiwanda where the famed Dorymen launch their boats...

 Dory Rocks (8x10)

For more than a hundred years in all kinds of conditions, dory boats have gone to sea from the shelter of Cape Kiwanda. There is no other harbor, port, or fishing fleet anywhere in the world exactly like this. 

The dory's origins come from the turn of the 20th century surf dories and Nestucca River gill net boats that sold their fish to the salmon cannery established in 1887 near the mouth of the river.

After 1927,  commercial fishing was only allowed in the open ocean. Since the Nestucca had a shallow, dangerous bar accessible only at flood tide, a new larger surf boat was needed to be launched in the lee of Cape Kiwanda.

 

Cape Kiwanda Morning (8x10)

 When ocean conditions allow, Pacific City dories fish the waters off of Cape Kiwanda, launching from, and sliding back up on the beach in the lee of the Cape.

The dory fleet is renowned for its incredible safety record. Dorymen are often the first responders to distress calls and other marine emergencies. In 100+ years only 6 known dorymen have lost their lives at sea, making the Pacific City dory and the men and women who sail them some of the safest mariners in the marine environment.

North Side Cape Kiwanda (8x10)

 In 1996, the Dorymen's Association was founded; a non-profit organization with the primary mission to preserve and protect the historic traditions given to us by the pioneers of this fleet. The Association supports Oregon's public beach laws and regulations and works with local, state, and federal agencies.

Secret Spot

Flat Rocks, Oregon Coast (12x16) o/c

This is a favorite spot on the coast near Pacific City, just north of Neskowin, Oregon. I got there at minus tide which reveals a whole maze of rock channels that are usually partly submerged even at regular low tide. The high sandstone wall of Cape Kiwanda (local popular surf spot) is just to the right, out of view -- in the distance is Cascade Head at the north end of Lincoln City...

I know a lot of plein air painters from other parts of the country who would love to paint the central Oregon Coast (if they knew such a place existed). 

 

For now though, we'll just keep it a secret between the two of us...

Going Coastal

Netarts (8x10)

Here are a few sketches from a recent beach trip -- all during a 4 day period including several weather changes...as long as I could get under cover before it rained, I didn't mind -- over cast skies at the beach make for interesting grays.  This one above however was before the clouds rolled in -- a town called "Netarts" (don't ask, I have no idea).

Tide Pool Reflections (9x12)

 This one is my favorite because of the colour and reflection of the pools on the rocks....

  Cape Wall (9x12)

 This is the wall of sand stone at Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City, north of Neskowin...

Gorilla Rock (9x12)

A local surfer told me they call this Gorilla Rock because of the monolithic rock about a quarter mile out that looks like an apes head at certain angles...

Beach Path (9x12)

This one was a quickie of a beach path near Devil's Punch Bowl that led to a rising tide -- an artist friend, James (who had shorts on) braved the water up to his knees to get a sketch of the bluff from the beach -- I played it safe.  Still, as with all failures and successes, it contributes to the "mileage pile" on the way to better paintings...