I began my series of Oregon Coast lighthouse paintings with the Coquille River Lighthouse in Bandon. My plan is to paint all of the Oregon Coast lighthouses including the nine current lighthouses and the five that were torn down. When I was a kid my parents used to take me and my grandparents camping in Bandon and it was fun to explore the lighthouse while playing at the beach. I chose to paint this lighthouse in its abandoned condition in the 1950s because I wanted to capture the fun of exploring an abandoned lighthouse and because paintings of historic lighthouse scenes are rare. Most of the paintings I’ve seen of lighthouses show a contemporary view, and I’ve found very few photographs of the Coquille Lighthouse that show its abandoned condition.
In order to paint an historic view of the lighthouse I began by comparing historic photos of the lighthouse with contemporary photos I took while visiting Bandon. One of the most significant changes that became an obstacle for the painting is that the original handrail had been replaced. The above illustration compares the original handrail in a photo from the 1960s to a contemporary view. In order to get the handrail right in the painting I had to build a scale model of the steps and handrail as a reference.
I like to use plastic figures with miniature versions of historic costumes to plan out the people in my paintings. Using this cardboard model of the steps ensures that small details of lighting and perspective are accurate in order to ensure the realism of the painting. I want to make sure that the figures, handrail, and historic graffiti match in lighting and perspective with photos of the real lighthouse. Details such as the way the graffiti wraps around the curve of the tower and the shadow of the handrail on the figures legs are important details that are difficult to make up and get right without using the model for reference.
Hand sewn swimsuit for 1959
My plan for my next lighthouse painting is to paint a picture of the Point Adams Lighthouse. The original lighthouse was torn down over a hundred years ago, but I spent seven months in 2021 building a perfectly detailed model of the Point Adams Lighthouse to use as a reference for the painting. The model shows the lighthouse the way it looked back in the 1890s.
