On April 22, Earth Day 2021, I began a new series of drawings and paintings at Pepperwood Preserve, just North of Santa Rosa. Selected as an artist in residence I have been visiting the preserve throughout the seasons and responding to the magnificence of 3200 acres, working in pencil, pastels, and oils.

Pepperwood Preserve, launched by the California Academy of Sciences, is dedicated to tracking ecosystem health over time by systematically monitoring things like weather, soil moisture, stream flow, and the diversity and vitality of local plant and animal populations. And the landscape setting is extraordinary!

An exhibition of the artwork ran for April 20 - August 20, 2023 (extended to September 17, 2023), at Pepperwood's  Dwight Center Gallery. I have posted some of the paintings below as a sort of 'sneak preview' of the exhibit. These images are not a direct visual transcription of the preserve or its environs, but rather my emotional response, with the landscape providing a stimulus to design. In fact, some of the paintings portray multiple views or composite arrangements of the area. Some paintings may evoke a succession of images jumbled together -- much as our personal memories and dreams include fragments of loosely connected experiences.

If you click on the ZOOM button, you can get 'right up close' and see the brushstrokes like you might do at a gallery. In the ROOM feature, you can see the artwork in a variety of virtual room environments.
Also: click to see the Drawings and Studies