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Strasburg Studio Archives: Rediscovery in the Stacks
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P I N E D R E A M S
AUGUST SPOTLIGHT: "Forest Bathing"
19.5 x 29.5", oil on birch panel, 2023.
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This installment of Studio Archives is slightly delayed due to an unrelenting summer cold.
Thank you for joining me on this monthly trip through the archives of my studio.
Forest Bathing, 19.5 x 29.5”, oil on birch panel.
Recently reviewing the archive essays, I’m noticing the distinctive running theme of weather. It makes sense to be weather obsessed as a landscape painter.
The changing patterns outside determine the light illuminating my beloved subjects of grass, trees, land and water. The intensity of color on a sunlit backdrop or the moodiness of a storm cloud laden sky are elements that inspire and excite.
This month’s spotlight, Forest Bathing, represents one of my favorite walks in the Los Padres National Forest, near Mount Pinos, where my husband and I once owned a cabin. For years, we would abandon the coastline for higher altitudes to wander along nearby riparian corridors flanked by Jeffrey Pines emanating their intoxicating butterscotch scent in the heat of the summer.
As sun-drenched days settle in for their summer residency, August was a particularly wonder-filled month in the mountains. Often thunderheads would blossom over the distant range, the billowing white clouds would build playing peek-a-boo with the sun and throwing long shadows from towering pines onto the landscape.
In the warmth of this particular day, deep into the undergrowth, a sea of hatchling ladybugs filled the air. Layer upon layer of green pine needles and wild sage backlit with August sunlight made for a perfect image to paint. The meandering, flitting bodies of a million ladybugs added magic to a fairy-tale walk in the pines.
Forest Bathing isn't truly an archived image, having been completed in the last year with myriad other tree-themed paintings. Forest Bathing has never ventured beyond the studio and remains with its posse of forest paintings awaiting the just right moment to be exhibited.
Fond memories of many summers spent in the pines compelled me to highlight my fondness for the mountains which rivals my love for the sea.
Interesting Factoid: At 8847 feet, Mt. Pinos is the tallest peak in the Los Padres National Forest. It is also known to be a dark skies destination for astronomy buffs. It's just 2 hours from Santa Barbara and has some of the best dark sky viewing around. The Perseid meteor shower is one of the best shooting star displays of the year and occurs late-July into mid-August each year. This year the peak will be August 11-12 with the most abundant shower occurring after midnight when the moon sets.
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