Beginning the Oak Trail

Painting:  "Summer In The Hills" 24x36, oil

As a native Californian  I’m focused on the oaks of my home state. I learned through my first trip of discovery (April1 - April 19) however, that this is rather a more complex project than I initially envisioned.  I titled this blog "California Oak Trails, a Painter’s Journey". However, this first trip was more "…Oak Trails", rather  than a painting experience.    

China Creek Valley Oaks  (Centerville)

Over the years, oak trees have often appeared in my paintings.  They present a beautiful natural structure in the landscape - great reflectors of light and shadow, and wonderful compositional elements for designing a painting.

To begin this project I wanted  to learn the names of the trees I would be painting, and the number of species of oaks there were in California. Then the more I learned about oaks, it became clear that the native people of California, (for several hundreds even thousands of years) used land stewardship practices that nurtured and maintained healthy oaks,  as they provided so much life sustaining support for these original people.  And it's thanks to them that we have the long lived and rich variety of oaks we have here in California.  Thus, my journey will include making a point of learning what native people lived where - who took care of the oaks in the region I’m photographing and  painting. Another layer of complexity.

Photographing Engleman oaks in Spring, Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve