Capturing the Perfect Moment: An Artist Who Touches the Heart
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“I was standing right there!”
The customer was staring at a painting of the Oregon sand dunes by artist Rob Rubottom.
“Right there!”
Moments later, Rob’s dune painting was packaged carefully in bubble wrap and in the arms of yet another happy traveler. Their fond memories of the Oregon coast had been expertly captured.
That exact place, that moment, burnished now in time.
One more Oregon visitor goes home with that moment memorialized forever.
Rob Rubottom, now 76, has a way of finding that moment. I’ve got one of his paintings for much the same reason. Every time I have needed to briefly escape the confines of my office and the demands of my profession, I just swiveled my office chair to travel to the Coast:
During the months I was confined at home due to foot surgery, his painting took me where I couldn’t visit. I could almost feel the breeze and hear the surf when I stared at the painting. It was an emotional boost when I most needed it, as the best art always is.
The best art transports the viewer.
No place like the Oregon Coast
From the first time I watched a sunset paint the storied Central Oregon sand dunes in 2020, I was hooked. I grew up in Florida, where time on the coastline is marked by millions of people, bugs and traffic, all of which have increased over time.
The Pacific Northwest offers the polar opposite. With the exception of certain holidays, you might see one or two people on the entire broad expanse of sand and rocks in winter, and not a whole lot more in warmer months.
It’s moody, often windy, cold and dramatic. The sunsets are to die for. From the moment of my first coastal sunset after moving to the state, I made Wednesdays Oregon Coast Day. I hike the dunes and park along the rocky outcroppings to read while the ocean spits spume through my windows.
I’ve spent weeks staying at various coastal motels watching sunsets explode over the horizon, spreading molten silver and gold across the foaming surf.
After a few hours of watching beauty, you believe in magic again:
The contrails in the painting above speak to people headed to Asia and Hawaii, lives lived far above the sands were we stand. This piece makes my heart ache to know where they are headed and the adventures they’ll be having.
As with everyone else who comes to the coast, I wanted to somehow take that magic home with me.
Those moments haunt, in that way that Nature reminds us not only of its ineffable beauty, but of our painfully brief tenure to appreciate it.
“Sunset paintings are so hackneyed”
Sunset paintings are, by many people’s estimation, overdone. That is, until you’ve watched your fair share in this part of the country. Most especially, that trembling, flawless moment of the sun’s last seconds before disappearing, herded to bed by a great tumble of colorful clouds.
They’re even more emotional if combined with the great crash of the King Tides, a series of annual events featuring the year’s highest waters against some of the country’s hardest rocks.
As I age, that moment is how I feel. My life’s sun is on its way down, throwing out color, light and energy in my last years, even as I see the horizon approach. Or so I hope.
Fine art inspires me to be that kind of light in the world, even as I face my own sunset. That is the great role art has in life.
There is something about that moment, so full of potential and loss, so full of portents and emotions, which speaks to my soul. The below painting is precisely that moment: the sun shimmering just above the ocean, the skies just before the explosion of reds and orange, the cool onshore breeze as day slides towards night.
What did I do with the day I was given? And if lucky enough to have yet another, what will I do with the time that is given me?
That’s what this painting whispers.
My many photos simply didn’t do the feelings justice. Rob’s paintings, as I was to discover, captured that exact feeling.
Finding Rob’s work after falling in love with the Oregon dunes and their magnificent moods is one of my favorite stories.
Finding Rubottom in Oregon
Earthworks Gallery, part of a trio of shops nestled in a line just north of the quaint coastal town of Yachats, was where I first encountered Rob Rubottom’s work.
Earthworks is one of only two galleries in Oregon where Rob is featured. The other is The Gallery, 294 Smith St., Harrisburg, OR 97446. If curious, you can track exhibitions on Rob’s website.
Rubottom is a tall, quiet-mannered man who grew up in California around horses and cattle on his family’s ranch in the rich San Joaquin Valley in central California. He’s a careful observer, a noticer; not just of Nature but of what makes Nature so exquisite.
He thinks carefully before he speaks, in the same way he brings careful consideration to his compositions.
While he received some training in fine arts, much of his skill is self-taught.
Surrounded by everyday beauty of the San Juaquin, the cowboy culture and animals of his youth, Rubottom was always drawn to artistic expression and the emotional content of the moments that Nature lays at our feet every day.
As a young college student in love with his future wife Michelle, a diminutive and energetic blonde, Rubottom found himself too shy of cash to even buy a belt. From necessity, a new business: he located a strip of leather and put his artistic skills to work tooling a brand-new belt.
That belt caught the attention of another student. You can guess the rest: a cottage industry was born with Michelle’s help. Belts grew into purses, then into saddle work, which Rubottoms’ ranch background served well. He learned how to work with silver, a key element in show and parade saddles.
In fact, Tandy Leather owes him a bronze statue at their headquarters for all the business he gave them in his early days.
From woodworking to stained glass, digital graphics design, portraiture and photography, Rubottom expanded his skill sets which further informed his understanding of color, depth, tones and techniques. All this he used to explore finding that particular emotional moment which evokes the greatest feelings in the viewer.
After working for forty years for Foster Farms, a poultry business based in California, Rob and his wife moved to Oregon. Today they maintain homes and small artist studios in Eugene, a college town cradled in the Southern Willamette Valley, and the pretty coastal town of Waldport.
Rob’s Waldport home is bare minutes’ walk from his beloved dunes. From the upper floor of his Waldport home, he has a commanding view of the ocean, the weather and the many moods he loves to capture.
He and Michelle walk the sands regularly, cameras ready to capture memorable moments at various points of the day and the seasons.
Every so often Michelle’s sharp eye will capture a scene that Rob later makes into a composition, like a gull on the sand in front of incoming surf.
A walk through the Rubottom’s Waldport home reveals other stunning pieces which reveal not only the breadth of his subjects but also his skill with color and light:
Portraits of Rubottom’s grandkids and the below treatment of a beautiful Polynesian woman also offer glimpses into what catches both his eye and his interest, which vary from landscapes to the cowboy life which shaped his youth.
Points of light and interest
Each of his paintings features a particular point of interest. For me, it’s the Aussie Cattle dog helping herd in Pushing On Up. I’ve owned two of those animals, and he perfectly captured their joyful work ethic.
Having been a scuba diver, I appreciate Rubottom’s delicate treatment of the dappled sunlight on the orcas’ head and body in Shallow Waters.
Below, it’s how he captured the play of light on loose hair around his subject Amy’s face and head, giving her portrait movement in the sunshine. You can almost feel the breeze caressing her face.
Each of us sees something different. For my part, it’s a particular play of light which draws the viewer to a special detail which animates his work in a unique way.
By highlighting the seed heads of the coastal grasses and the silvery finish of the leaves as they move in the breezes, Rubottom’s dune paintings put us squarely on the dunes ourselves, witness to yet another perfect day facing the endless ocean.
As I age into my mid-seventies, I am increasingly aware not only of the limited time I have left, but of the limited moments still available for me to appreciate this incredible world.
Rob Rubottom’s paintings of dune sunsets speak to the deepest part of my soul which is so grateful for having been able to experience the Coast in the first place, and for what their beauty says to me. And, what that precious moment invites me still to do before the waters take me home.
For others, they are a reminder of days of play on the Coast, a visit to a rare and beautiful place. They can return any time simply by gazing at the painting. Some Earthworks customers have bought five paintings at at time to decorate an entire wall.
As Rob ages into his late seventies, he is taking his skill as an artist to gift us with Nature’s emotional moments. Ultimately we may not be able to take them with us, but while we are here, they grace our lives.
If you’re on the Central Oregon Coast or traveling between Eugene and Portland along I-5, be sure to take enough time to see Rob’s work in his galleries, or contact him directly.
Chances are very good that something in his collection will pull at your heartstrings, act as contemplative inspiration, or remind you of a very special time, as fine art is wont to do.
That’s a gift that keeps on giving.
All artwork featured above by Rob Rubottom is copyrighted and used with permission for this article.
Absolutely gorgeous work-- I want to meet Rob now! I feel about the Arizona desert the way you feel about the Pacific Northwest coast. But I've lived all over the country and while there is one place that is my heart home, I also appreciate the deep and lasting beauty of the heart homes of others.
Thanks for sharing those images with us. Art is the best thing humans do, IM(never H)O -- that, and take care of animals.