It turns out no one walks on… water

Posted on September 17, 2016 by Tara Choate

After a week that I feel could be definitive proof that all people are crazy all the time, I decided to take the time after escaping the office Friday to take Key to do a long exploration of Minto-Brown Park (one of the treasures of Salem.)

We saw a good variety of birds.

: Cedar Waxwing

: Chickadee

: Hairy woodpecker

: Great blue heron

: Red breasted sapsucker

: White crowned sparrow

And Key had a grand ol’ time sniffing along and getting excited every time a squirrel or rabbit came out.

The problem arose when we came to a muddy little pond. As we went by a frog jumped. And Key jumped after him.

Umm… dude, you’re disgusting.

Oh, that’s a problem? I’ll just rub it off here in this delicious, stinky dead grass.

Ocean Adventures

Posted on September 11, 2016 by Tara Choate

A few months ago, the Salem Audubon Society put a notice in their newsletter that they were going on a “Pelagic Tour” on September 11 through Whale Research EcoExcursions (Carrie Newell.) I called up my mom and asked if she wanted to come, and with her resounding yes ringing in my ears I called to make our reservation. The September 11 trip was already booked up, but they promised they could get us in on a September 10 trip that they had booked for the overflow. So we took our 8am time and marked out calendar.

Mom and I had taken a whale watching tour from Carrie (and notably, her dog Kita) on June 29, 2013.

Kita on our 2013 trip.

It was a really great trip, but they advised coming back in September when the whale watching was REALLY good.

Today our trip got moved up about a half an hour due to weather conditions (while it was a sunny day, there was a bit of wind which made the waves pretty high.) So we showed up prepared to be wowed again.

Whales

First fluke

2nd fluke (waves are high!)

3rd fluke, probably the best picture

2nd picture of the same whale dive

4th fluke

5th fluke, my timing was off (those whales are tricky!)

also 5th fluke, you can see a little whale lice right on the end of the fluke

This was “SF”. No cropping on this photo; SO close!

I don’t know who this was, but even closer than the other one!

Birds

While I was a little disappointed in the “birding” part of the tour (the whales made up for it, obviously,) we did get in quite a few. I was hoping for a little bit more time close to shore really looking at some of the species.

Common Murres

Marbled Murrelets

Cormorant (Pelagic & Brandt) (these black birds were everywhere, flying every which way, and utterly defied my photography skills)

Oystercatcher
Black Turnstones & Shorebirds

Tufted Puffins (it was only looking through my camera at home that I realized the identity of these birds)

Great Blue Heron (actually two, both flying away)

Brown Pelican (at the same time as the first whale, you can guess what happened)

Kingfisher

Western Gull

Stellar Sea Lions

The final “highlight” was traveling out to the “whistle buoy” to observe a trio of Stellar Sea Lions (two females and a young male, according to our guide.) They were very photogenic.

Student Issues

Posted on August 28, 2016 by Tara Choate

One of the perks of being an adult (there really aren’t too many when you think about it) is the right to go off track when you take a class without anyone scolding you.

This is, obviously, is a mixed blessing. While it can be fun to run off on a tangent, if you are earnestly trying to learn something and a shiny object distracts you, well, your choice is to take the class again or put on your grown-up blinders.

Last week (week 5 of Messy Palette Club), for various reasons, I wasn’t inspired by the topic. At the very least I just didn’t want to. So I got to thinking about how to make my horse paintings more simple (the topic of the Messy Palette Club Summer Session is simplicity) and I started going through photos.

Next thing I know, this photo caught my attention.

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The pencil came out… then a peach wash… and tonight I’m contemplating the finishing touches on this.

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The jockey’s face needs some more work. And I may add some more highlights to the tack.

But this was so much fun, I started another one tonight. Here’s my reference photo.

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And here’s my start.

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I’d say something about how I should go off track more often, but really… I don’t think I need more encouragement to do that.

Class: Writing & Illustrating Children’s Books (Week 4-5)

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Tara Choate

I don’t know where the last few weeks has gone, but Thursday my Writing and illustrating Children’s Books class ended with the remaining students (5 out of more than a dozen) presenting their “mini” books.

I present here my book. I have revised a few things and I still have a few paintings to finish. But I think you’ll get the idea. It’s really amazing how much work can go into crafting twelve sentences.

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Class: Messy Palette Club (week 4)

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Tara Choate

The heat drove me from Salem down to the beach to see my mom. I took my paints with me so I would have an excuse other than heat for this migration (not that I really needed one.)

I drove out a side road next to the Siletz Bay Wildlife Refuge to see if I could find an out of the way place to paint. I found a bridge located on a bridge and set up my shop for a couple of hours.

I did a very poor job with my reference photos, but the assignment was to create a value sketch before painting.

Then I went into my “full” painting.

siletzwest

I would have liked to get the marsh grass a richer, deeper yellow.

Then I turned and look east. I didn’t get any reference photos, but I did two paintings.

siletz east

And this one, which took a leap off the bridge when a car went back and into the weeds below. No rescue was possible (if I wished to live.)

painting in the weeds

Class: Messy Palette Club (week 3)

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Tara Choate

It’s catch up time again!

This week the focus was simplifying the major landscape elements. We were challenged to do a painting, selecting five key parts and to work out how to simplify them.

I went out to the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge and set up on Eagle Marsh for a couple hours of painting.

: Reference photo (start)

It was so much fun, I decided to do another version.

: Evening is beginning to hit the marsh.

: No geese in this version.

In both versions I struggled to get the water to “lie flat.”

Class: Messy Palette Club (week 2)

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Tara Choate

This week, specifically by Thursday, I have to finish a “mini-book” for my writing and illustrating class. So, in an attempt to clear my schedule, I did this week’s homework for the Messy Palette Club (Vinita Pappas) because that had to be done by Tuesday and then I could procrastinate.

The overarching theme of this class is “simplicity.” Vinita had us do a simple (and very fun) exercise where we picked six items and tried to match their color.

She asked us to sketch out the items very simply in pen. Then to paint “very flat.” We weren’t going for realistic items so much as color matching.

The sweet peas weren’t the correct color, but other than that, I like this a lot.

For “bonus points” we were encouraged to take the exercise “outside” and five or six colors “from life” to use in a painting.

I liked this exercise too. It definitely gets you thinking about what you are really thinking.

Unfortunately my next “extra credit” was to attempt a 15-minute plein air painting. That didn’t turn out so well. I got distracted and forgot to simplify…

Can’t win them all!

P.S. I turned in two paintings for the Fall WSO show yesterday. Fingers crossed. It would be great to get into “my own show.”

And I wonder why I’m exhausted

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Tara Choate

Today (Sunday, day of rest) I have done the following:

Got up
Walked the dogs
Got my haircut
Picked up an item at the store
Went to pet store (twice, actually) because the kids think they need to be fed every day
Bought groceries
Finished my week 2 painting class homework
Gone to library
Went to dog training class
Done laundry (4 loads)
Done food prep for week
Make 3 batches of pesto for freezing
Checked email and facebook
Wrote this blog and one more

Class: Messy Palette Club (week 1)

Posted on July 26, 2016 by Tara Choate

Yes, folks, I have gone all in to try to get my creativity back. In addition to the “Writing and Illustrating Children’s Books” class (Mom got a HUGE kick out of this post), I signed up to take an online watercolor class (Summer Session Watercolor Painting Class a.k.a. Messy Palette Club) with a local instructor I have been wanting to take a class from for quite a while.

I have mainly been familiar with Vinita Pappas’ simply breathtaking plein air landscapes, though she does studio abstract and representational paintings as well. Several times a year she posts online classes, and this time I decided to go for it. The price is similar to an “in person” class through the local community college. Also, if you need to, you can take your time and catch up with the lessons.

Also appealing was the proposed “focus” of the summer session: Simplicity.

Week 1 officially started last Tuesday. While Monday is my painting night (don’t laugh too much), I did some work on Wednesday to see how things worked.

Lesson 1 was about “loosing edges.” Vinita demonstrated on an apple. I had an onion.

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It’s harder than it looks! The idea is to keep the key parts of the shape (the lightest light, the darkest dark) and see how much of the rest you can “suggest.” I think I got a little over detailed.

Then we did a wet-into-wet exercise. And Key ate it (rotten dog).

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I salvaged a little and did the homework.

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I’ll try to add a little bit of ink for a barn or something after it dries.

Then I decided to experiment. I thought the lost edges experiment would be fun with horse legs. I took sepia (eventually adding white gouache because I lost too many lights) and went to town.

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I think there is some potential here! I might try again.