Southern California Oak Trail

Painting: "Valley Oaks, Hwy 152", oil,  12 x 16

My first trip to see the Southern California oaks was an exploration of  oak environments from the north end of the San Juaquin Vally (Yosemite & foothills east of Fresno), then to Palmdale, and the southern mountain ranges, including Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino National Forest  and the Cleveland National Forest between Anza-Borrego, and San Diego.  Then returning home I followed a more coastal route  through San Luis obispo, Morro Bay, Los Padres National Forest, and the ranch lands along Hwy 152 between Gilroy and Los Banos.

A wonderful book "Oaks Of California" (by co-authors, Bruce Pavlik, Pamela Muick, Sharon Johnson and Marjorie Popper, published by California Oak Foundation, offered me a useful guide as to where I would find oaks, and used that to set much of my trip planning.  I was also going to paint along the way, and packed everything I would need. However, for me to paint on location I would need to land somewhere for at least 2 nights.  But, it didn't turn out that way.

In order to cover so many miles, on  rural and mountainous roads, my trip ended up being mostly single night stays, and  about just getting to know the various oaks and their environs.  Not painting, but just exploring and taking photos, gave me a chance to walk among the trees in the places they grew, see the various acorns they produced, see the birds, wildflowers & grasses, other animals surrounding the trees.  I ended up studying them, with my senses and my camera rather than with my paint brush.

So this journey begins with a process of learning about the oaks of California.  Traveling to experience their visual beauty, learn their history, their value, their gifts to the life around them. It’s a process of finding different oak species and seeing them in their home place.  Then developing approaches/ideas  about how I want to portray them on canvas (and occasionally on paper).