Wild Rivers Film Festival: Driftwood

Posted on by Thor

I went to the Brookings, Oregon beach to see driftwood. Kimberly, who I met at the Wild Rivers Film Festival talked about using driftwood in some of her art pieces, so I wanted to see the driftwood covered beach for myself.

I was surprised to see that some locals had arranged some of the driftwood into teepees and a make shift wall.I should think that when the tide comes in, that all these makeshift structures must wash away, needing to be rebuilt. In some ways the scene reminded me of Omaha Beach on D-Day. All that was missing was the machine gun nest.

I set up my art stool and leaned back against a large driftwood log. The “beach” was covered with smooth grey stones.

The fog had not burned off yet so the distant horizon was barely visible. There were only two colors visible. The yellow ocher driftwood and the cool grey stones.

You had to walk down a metal ramp to get to the beach level from a cement walkway. A young couple ventured out to the water’s edge to stick their toes in, and then walked back up the beach to sit on a log and stare out over the surf. A dog snuffled around sticking his nose into every crevice.

A woman scoured the beach, I believe because she was searching for the perfect smooth stone. It was a perfect day to be on a quest for the perfect stone or the perfect sketch.

Wild Rivers Film Festival: Redwood Theater

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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.

Wild Rivers Film Festival: Chetco Theater

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After the Wild Rivers Film Festival had wound down, I decided to go back and sketch the theater where COVID Dystopia had screened. Chetco Playhouse is a small community live theater. The last production had been Thumbalina according to the theater poster street side.

I had some very pleasant conversations with the Film Festival staff who had volunteered to work at this theater. When they found out I had animated COVID Dystopia, I was told that the film had sparked quite a bit of conversation. The daughter of one of the volunteers was working the projector and she loves to draw characters. I therefor shared my sketchbook to help encourage her to draw from life more often.

I entered this theater once while a feature film was being shown. The theater was so dark that I could not see enough to make my way down the aisle. I paused at the back f the theater waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dark. When a lighter scene was being projected, I made my was careful half way towards the front and felt for the seat backs to find an empty seat.

The film being shown was Ethan Bloom. An awkward teen boy was pushed into a pool by a spunky teen girl. I wasn’t in the mood for a teen romance, but this film found its way into my heart. Ethan Bloom had lost his mom when he was 10 years old which is how old I was when I lost my mom. Ethan was Jewish but he imagined that his mother looked like the Virgin Mary. Therefor he wanted to study Catholicism since he felt it might bring him closer to his mom. This premise ripped my heart wide open. Ethan would need his fathers permission to be baptized into the Catholic faith, so he decided he had to forge his fathers signature. Such a lie would not stand and his father found out. Ethan’s coming of age story featured forgiveness and people coming together regardless of their faith. It is a story very much needed in these divisive times.

Flight to Denver the Medford Oregon

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Getting to The Wild Rivers f Festival in Brookings Oregon was an adventure. I left around noon to drop my car off at the long term parking lot. My flight left about 3pm. I was hoping to bring the backpack on the trip but United Airlines has a policy of only allowing one carry on item per passenger. Although the backpack could easily fit in the overhead bins, I would have to check it. Since I don’t trust the airline to not loose my baggage, I decided to only take by shoulder art bad one change of clothes shoved in around my art supplies. I am on the last day of the trip now and I decided that was the right choice for this trip. I also decided I will never again fly United since this luggage policy was not made obvious before I purchased the tickets.

It was 102 degrees in Denver which could be felt the second we walked off the plane onto the gang plank. The lay over in Denver was short enough that I decided I didn’t need to do another airport sketch. I grabbed a quick bite of a cordon bleu sandwich which was delicious and held me over for the rest of the day.

The second flight was to Medford Oregon which is about a 3 hour drive from the coast. I had booked a hotel in Medford because I decided I didn’t want to make that 3 hour drive in the dark and I knew I would be exhausted. It was a good call. The drive to the coast was absolutely gorgeous driving up through the mountains and down winding roads that were cut into cliffs and meandered along snaking rivers. I passed into California and had to pull off into a produce inspection station. I was asked if I had any fruit in the car, and I let him know that I had 1 apple. the officer said, “Apples are fine” and I was on my way.

I drove through the redwood forest with giant thick redwoods trees right along the roadside. That anyone would ever want to cut one of these glorious giants down, is mind glowing. I read the user’s manual to figure out how to use the cruise control for the highway driving. But for the downhill slaloms, I let my foot off the gas’s and let the car tell me how fast to go through all the curves. It was a fun drive with very little traffic. I hope to stop at a few spots on the way back to sketch.

When I got to the Wild Rivers Film Festival, I was several hours early and could not check into the hotel, so I drove to the theater where COVID Dystopia would screen. The theater was closed. It was raining. I drove next door to a Dollar General and got a cheap poncho for myself thinking I would sketch the theater. I tried to sketch but the page got so wet that I knew a watercolor would be impossible to complete.  I drove back to dollar general and got myself an umbrella as well. The rain had turned into a fine mist. The umbrella would stop and heavy rain, but the mist still coated the page making a sketch impossible. I wanted to start my creative Film Festival experience but didn’t know how to start.

Morning Laps

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My friend Stella Arbeláez Tascón and I subscribed for morning lap swims three times a week for the summer, at the H.O. Dabney Pool (312 Pine Street Leesburg Florida). I might have to miss a couple of lap swims while I am traveling to The Wild Rivers Film Festival, in Oregon, but the lap swims are a great way to start the day.

In the first session, we must have swum for well over an hour. I should have felt exhausted, after coming out of the water, but instead I felt euphoric. A sense of peace sweeps over me after a swim, and I feel ready to tackle the tasks for the day.

There are showers in the men’s and women’s rooms to rinse away the chlorine. The chlorine was making Stella’s long hair start too turn blonde. My stark white hair, what remains of it, refused to turn blonde. It might have been nice to have a hint of blonde since I am planning a long trip to Germany, and I would blend in better with my Nordic ancestors.

I tried swimming freestyle, but I really don’t like having my face in the water. I need to blow bobbles out of my nose, so I feel that I get winded too fast. I also seem to always breath on the upward stroke of my right arm. I am sure that with a few lessons I would get much better at this fast swimming style. I prefer to swim with a modified butterfly style. It is modified in that I don’t submerge my face with each stroke. My version of the swimming style looks more like a frog swimming, although a frog is probably is more graceful.

I also like to swim on my back, spreading my arms like Christ to check that I am not steering off course into the floating ropes. There are blue and white flags over the pool at each end,. When doing the back stroke, I use those flags to let me know to raise my arms to be prepared to touch the wall thus saving me from crashing my head into the cement.

As we were leaving the lap pool, the water was turned on with the water slide and it gushed out a top speed. Kids and parents, who have been waiting at the front gate rushed inside as we walked out the front gates to the parked Prius, and the place started buzzing with chaotic activity.