7. Arana Gulch

I had a wonderful time at the little know spot in Santa Cruz called Arana Gulch. This painting trip was done during the summer. You can find it by taking a right off Soquel Ave on Mentel Ave. Follow Mentel until you come to Agnes Street. Turn left and park along Agnes. There is an opening to the park there. Notice the glorious geraniums inside the park along the fence to the right. This parcel of land includes open meadows, California oak woodland, and the riparian zone of Arana Creek. Kind of hard to find but worth it. 

Arana Gulch is one of our few greenbelt areas left in Santa Cruz. It's the stark contast to paved streets and houses that shocks your sytem into contemplating just the importance of nature in our lives.  This wild and relatively untouched area begs us to bask in the spirit of nature if only for a short time. Forcing yourself to stop and pay attention gives your life a boost. Painting at Arana Gulch allows your perception experience the drouping shape of trees and the glorius exuberance of high grasses and shrubs. 

6. Arboretum Tree

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The Arboretum in Santa Cruz, CA is a wonderful place to paint a variety of exotic species nurtured by the UCSC horicultural students. Actually filmed in August, 2012, I painted an old and wonderous Eucalyptus tree. I had been meaning to paint this tree for a long time and originally started a painting in watercolor but never finished it. Here you can see my process in oil from start to finish.

Trees have been considered sacred, if we go way back in history. In about 800AD, there is a reference to Charlemagne destroying a temple that housed the wood of the famous Irminsul tree thought to be the "pillar of the universe which, supports all things." There are many references to sacred tree pillars in Celtic and German spirituality. Even if we don't think of trees as sacred today, we do feel the strength of the spirit of a very old and developed tree. Part of our fascination stems from our primordial roots where the Gods were thought to dwell in the sky. A tree trunk points our eyes into the heavens and then the branches spread out and appear to try and touch the essence of the sky. The tree that I painted at the Arboretum has beautiful curving branches that remind us how we try in our own lives to reach the heavens from many different angles and perspectives.  

3. Painting at the Arboretum

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Artists, this is a great place to paint in Santa Cruz, California. Follow High Street until it turns into Empire Grade. You will find the Arboretum on your right. This place makes you really think about the abundance of God. Your eyes feast on numerous blooming plants that create a kaliedescope of contrasting and analogous colors and shapes. This place makes my spirit want to sit here and just bask in the beauty. Beauty is one ways that humans experience transcendence. Many Native American sacred spots were chosen because of the awesome beauty you experience while standing there. Have you ever visited Crater Lake in Oregon. That was considered a sacred place for the Indians to come and be cleansed. The beauty of that spot lives on in your memory as will the Arboretum