The 30-Day Challenge is On

6/1/22 Cannon Beach

I was away last week, mostly in Cannon Beach, Oregon, and I have plenty of sketches to share. To start off, though, I’m posting the daily composition studies I did since June 1 for Ian Roberts’ 30-Day Challenge. The first three days are all compositions of Haystack Rock and its surrounding Needles. I have sketched those rocks many times during the multiple visits we have made to Cannon Beach, but I typically sketch the entire rock formation – the “postcard” view. The composition challenge pushed me to look at that same view in different ways to get away from the postcard, crop more tightly, and think more about the “design” of the composition. I enjoyed being nudged in this way, and I liked one study enough to make a larger sketch in color (you’ll see it later this week). I might even make others later based on my own studies and photos. (Imagine that – me using studies and photos to make “finished” pieces the way painters do! What is the world coming to!)

6/2/22 Cannon Beach

On Day 4 before heading home, I sketched through a window at the McMenamins Olympic Club Hotel, where we had spent the night in Centralia. I had hoped to sketch more in the town (which I had last visited in 2018 on a fun sketch excursion), but it rained most of the time. At least I could see power lines through the window!

6/3/22 Cannon Beach

6/4/22 Centralia