Early Morning Light

Oil on cavas 24" by 20". This is Blithedale Canyon in Mill Valley, Marin County, CA. The trees are all coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens of the cypress family). These are the tallest living trees in the world (up to 379 feet tall) and can live 1200 to 1800 years. Prior to extensive logging that started in the 1850s they covered over 2 million acres along the Pacific Coast of Northern California and Southern Oregon. Over 95% or them are gone, but many of the remaining trees are now protected in public lands.

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Comment by Silvana M Albano on August 4, 2013 at 14:00: Thks Stu! Yes, I actually teach biology...

As far as I am concerned the flags are typical flags found in Tibet. They are Buddhist 'prayer flags', and they are always hung high up. When they wear out, they are changed in the Tibetan new year.

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on August 4, 2013 at 13:41: Thanks Michael and Silvana. Michael, you are right about the bands and I may tweak them when I get it back from the Napa Town and Country Fair. I did not mention it, but after this painting was not accepted by the Marin County Fair, I had some help from Micael Severin in improving it, and I should have seen thos "bands and fixed them then. I have no clue what those flags symbolize; I took the reference photo one morning a couple of years ago, and the colors in the flags caught my eye and seemed to enhance the visual interest of the house and serve as a pointer to it. Silvana, there is another species of redwood trees in California and the biological name used to be Sequoia gigantism, but it has been changed; I can't recall it. These are the ones that have the larger diameter and are not as tall, but they are the largest living trees in the world and they are found in the Sierra Nevada foothills at about 2000 feet (700 meters) elevation. I think that California also has the oldest living trees in the world; they are the bristlecone pines and are found in the next range east of the Sierra Nevadas, the White Mountains; some of them are over 2000 years old and they are found between about 7000 and 10000 feet elevation. You must be a science teacher. Stu

Comment by Silvana M Albano on August 4, 2013 at 12:49: Wonderful Stu! I would love to know the Redwoods. These are the trees which I use for explaining evapotranspiration in plants, and the way water can go all the way up against gravity... with such a drastic example they understand it very well!! Is it true that their diameter is so big that 20 people must stand side by side with their arms stretched to be able to embrace it?

Comment by Michael Chomse on August 4, 2013 at 7:36: Beautiful, Stu. I hope your painting lasts as long! The colors are so gentle and peaceful, and the light really stutters through the trees. I love the dappled roadway, too.

My one concern would be the lines of leaves that match each other across the trunks. It could work better to vary them across the horizontal plane. In that way they wouldn't form bands.

Oh, and purely for interest's sake, what does the multi-colored banner stand for? It's beautiful, whatever it represents. :-)