Heading south of Highway 101, thirteen miles south of Coos Bay, we come to Shore Acres State Park. It is one of three state parks along the Cape Arago Highway. A web site for Oregon State Parks describes it this way: “Perched on craggy sandstone cliffs high above the ocean, Shore Acres State Park celebrates two sorts of beauty: ruggedly organic and artfully constructed.” I have not had the opportunity to personally visit Shore Acres. I learned about it from Naomi Ulsted, a friend from Stanwood High School and a very talented writer today. Here are some photos of Naomi in a couple of high school plays.
Here is how that happened. This August my Mac crashed and I lost all my photographs on it, including the ones of Oregon that I had set aside to use as references for my Oregon Coast Collection of paintings. I reached out on Facebook and asked friends to share with me any photographs along the Oregon coast that they might have. Naomi was one of those people who reached out to me and shared some photos, including this dramatic scene from Shore Acres.
I wanted to put on paper the feel of the cold and wild of winter at the Ocean, the grey sky with morning light and the crash of the cold grey waves against the rock outcropping jutting out. I took artistic license and like how this painting got some of that mood!
For more details on this painting or to see all the artwork I’ve released in my Oregon Coast Collection go to my online gallery here: