“Tree Spirits”

The Blue Oak Savanna Revisited

The group of paintings in this exhibition feature landscapes of the Blue Oak Savanna; the low, rolling, oak dotted belt of land that rings California's Central Valley and serves as a transition to the foothills that rise up to the Coast and Sierra ranges on either side of the valley.

I have made painting pilgrimages to the savanna for more than a dozen years and have always found the area a chief source of inspiration. Yolo, Amador, Sacramento and El Dorado Counties are represented in this body of work; though many of the paintings are of scenes just east of Sacramento, off Scott Road south of Folsom and around Latrobe.

The savanna is a silent, dry landscape that possesses an austere beauty and the oaks there seem to be spiritual embodiments of the land. Blue oaks in the grasslands assume characteristic canopies and gestural forms that lend themselves well to artistic interpretation. In this particular group of paintings I have focused on these tree forms, wishing to portray the spirit they possess.

I paint late in the day in summer and fall when the colors and light effects are both at their most dramatic and subtle. The color and tone of the clear dry skies are backdrops to the mood and character of the oaks in the painting.

The Blue Oak Savanna of California remains one of my favorite places to paint and this exhibition was a great chance to revisit and recompose scenes from over a decade of landscape painting in this unique environment.

I hope that the savanna remains part of our natural heritage and that I have done it some justice in paint.

Christopher Newhard
April, 2005