Its been a while…
Since this is technically my second blog post, I wanted to say a couple things about my latest painting. As many of you know, I grew up in Newport (actually South Beach) and drove across this bridge almost everyday, twice a day. So it’s safe to say I drove over it hundreds, if not thousands of times. Honestly, I took the view for granted and witnessed countless evenings just like this one.
This bridge is the Yaquina Bay bridge and is very special to me. I grew up in this small town and When you grow up in a small town and move away, it lingers with you. I guess that’s what I was trying to re-capture here. I feel really connected to this bridge and the view. This is home for me.
If you’re not familiar with this setting, the bridge connects Newport to South Beach. South Beach, being the land mass we are looking at in the background of the painting. I feel really blessed to have grown up here and love the Art Deco style architecture of the bridge design. These bridges dot Hwy 101, all up and down the Oregon coast and are beautiful examples of engineering and architecture blended together.
When I was growing up, we would drive from my dad’s office in Newport, to our house in South Beach, and like I said earlier, we would drive over this bridge every time. I always loved that part of the drive and have many memories staring out the passenger side window, out into the horizon of the cold pacific. It’s really breathtaking and never leaves your soul. I’m so so thankful for these wonderful memories.
There’s a new Deadliest Catch series coming out next month, called “Dungeon Cove” on the Discovery Channel. It’s based out of Newport and focuses on the crabbing industry and the perilous journey past the north and south jetty. Again, if your not familiar with the setting (sorry for those who are), the North and South jetty run perpendicular to the bridge. They act as a breakwater to the huge winter waves that would otherwise make it impossible for boats to enter and exit the bay. Growing up, my friends and I would go out there when the waves were massive and watch the 20 + foot waves breaking over the mouth of the jetty. Crazy! In fact the photo I referenced for this painting, is a classic from the early 90’s and the boat pictured here, went down crossing the channel. It was called the “Blue Heather” and everyone made it ashore safely. Anyways, sorry about the long winded post and the terrible attention to grammar, but hey it’s a blog post. yippie!
