After the Wild Rivers Film Festival was a wrap, I explored Brookings, Oregon with sketches. I went back to the Redwood Theater which was the theater with the biggest screen. The theater was built in 1909 and just recently was purchased by new owners.
I liked the Theater’s mission statement, which was a commitment to free speech. “It is the commitment of the Redwood Theater to encourage free expression of ideas. We respect all viewpoints and do our best to be the vehicle for free speech and expression in our community, and to not judge the various views of perspective presented. We believe censorship has no place in free society.” Considering the position of the present administration to control free speech and limit journalists from asking questions to get to the truth. The theater’s stance is brave.
It was early in the morning when I sketched the theater. I put a bunch of colored pencils in my art kit in part because of this sketch. It would have been nice to draw white letters over the dark red sign, rather than painting around each letter. If nothing ese the pencils will offer an excuse for more playful application of color and texture.
I had to cross the main street of Brookings to find this sketching spot. The cross sections have buttons that you can push which actually stop traffic. One car rushing through the town didn’t respect the flashing sign to stop. I am glad I didn’t trust that vehicle to abide by the signage.
One pickup parked near the theater and a guy got out and changed the plastic bags in the public trash can. The biggest distraction while sketching was the huge 16 wheeler’s that roared through the town regularly carrying large tree trunks that were about two feet thick and the length of the flatbed. I remember these menacing trucks from my cross-country bike trip way back in 1982. When biking in the shoulder of the road, the wind gusts from these giants would almost blow me over. Now I just lament all the trees being sacrificed. That feeling is rather hypocritical since I am sketching on paper, which was once a tree as well.