Claude Monet

Why? Why did I start with that name? He isn’t a local; he’s not a BAAA member. He isn’t even alive.

All correct.

Monet gave all artists a wonderful gift. The gift of repetition.

Monet painted the same scene over and over.

How did he do it? Didn’t it get boring? Didn’t it get stale? No, Monet made subtle changes with season and light to give each canvas a new and original look.

S. L. Donaldson’s project, 30 Parks by 30 Artists needs a large dose of Monet. Paint the same, but different. Bring all the tools in your pallet. ‘Cause there are others doing the same thing and if you want to keep up you’ll have to bring your best GAME.

Photographers know all about this. They don’t have the pallet to work with. It takes a change in the season or light or maybe even both to change a scene.

I may have mentioned, I come from Texas, now for those of you who don’t know, Texas is a big place. It has every kind of landscape you could want. Unfortunately these beautiful landscapes are separated by hundreds of miles. You want trees, Texas has’em. They’re in the piney woods of East Texas, two hundred miles from Dallas. You want seascapes, Texas has’em, about three hundred and fifty miles from Dallas. You want vast, arid landscapes which conjure Georgia O’Keefe or Ansel Adams, Texas has’em. They’re out in Big Bend country about four hundred miles from Dallas. What does Dallas have? Banks. You find a way to make banks look interesting, much less artistic, you let me know.

So what? I mention this because in Coos Bay we are lucky; we have the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other. You want boats? Throw a rock, you’ll hit one. You want forests? Take a hike. No, I mean take a hike, really. You like people there’s a festival every three weeks and now we have the county fair coming up and there’s Bandon Dunes and the Lighthouse run if you like motorcycles. You like it and we got it.

So what? So this, doing something a second time is the last thing on anyone’s mind around here. There is so much diversity why would you ever paint the same thing twice?

Because it teaches you soooooooooooo much. You want to develop your EYE? Try taking a second look at Sunset Bay. There is plenty to see and the delight of it is that it changes every day. Look wide and you see the sun and the surf pounding away or warming the seals and sea birds on the sand. Look close and you see the rocks giving up their hold on the cliffs to grass and trees. It’s all there. Can you see it?

Claude Monet painted the same scene over and over finding something new and exciting each time. Now are you as creative as Claude?