After the rush of films that I saw at the Wild Rivers Film Festival, I took a day off and explored Brookings, Oregon’s harbor and beach with my sketchbook. festival. I relaxed in my new camping chair while doing this sketch and it worked out really great. I end up sitting much closer to the ground which is actually an advantage because I can lay my pencil case next to me on the ground as well at a small pill bottle of water and both are easy to reach.
There is a homeless population in Brookings, Oregon. There are campsites just outside of town and one fellow was lying out on the sidewalk right behind the restroom that was near where I was sketching. He didn’t have a tent but instead just had his bicycle lying on the sidewalk next to him. On the bus ride back to the long term parking lot in Orlando there was a motorcyclist who had just slid and fallen on an off ramp. He had knocked over one of the plastic stanchions. The bus driver stopped to be sure the biker was alright and he stood up and waved. With no blood and no broken bones, it seemed all that was injured was his pride.
The interesting thing about sketching in Brooking is that there is almost always a fog rolling in. On some days it burned away but it often persisted all day long. In this harbor scene the far trees slipped in and out of fog as I sketched.
The ground here was a thin crust. I discovered this when one of the legs on my sketch toll poked through the surface. I stuck my finger in the hole and there was a deep hollow. I thought maybe a gophers was building tunnels but I didn’t solve the mystery.
I watched as boat owner after boat owner went down to work on their docked boats. One married couple were working on the engine and he shouted out to his wife that she needed to turn over the engine like she had done the day before. One boat was named Thor, which I appreciated. This was the third or fourth sketch that I had done this day, and I was starting to relax into the flow of putting each sketch on the page with just enough detail.