Pathways Through Our Parks

Home , Loch Lomond (California), Redwood Grove, San Lorenzo Valley

Ann Elizabeth Thiermann PAINTINGS OF PARKS IN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

Pathways Through Our Parks

The Last Arch, Low Tide • pastel, Natural Bridges State Beach, March

Pathways Through Our Parks is an expanded companion catalogue for Ann Elizabeth Thiermann’s show at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, October 5, 2018, through January 6, 2019. The pastel and acrylic paintings are grouped into the four park sectors of Santa Cruz County including South, Central, North, and Mountain Sector parks. The text combines artistic insights with historical anecdotes, and distinctive flora and fauna details. Of the extraordinary number of Santa Cruz County State Parks and Beaches, Land Trust properties, and numerous county and city parks, this series includes studies from 29 park locations, chosen for their visual interest. Waterways that provide dynamic pathways between and through our parks include lagoon, creek, river, and ocean locales. Several sites are chosen for their proximity to other parks within the green web of the Santa Cruz County park system.

In every walk with nature one receives far more than one seeks. — John Muir Edge of the Ravine • pastel Moore Creek Preserve, Land Trust, July Ann Elizabeth Thiermann

Our family camping trips in California State and National Parks instilled in me a curiosity about plants and animals and a feeling of peace while “being out there.” As an undergraduate art student at UCSC, I developed an urge to paint landscapes and a deep heart connection with the redwoods, biking daily through them, then sailing out across the meadows and down to Santa Cruz. Even while studying figurative painting at New York’s Art Student League, and then acquiring my MFA in Painting at CSULB, trees remained central to my creative inspiration.

Today, I have a much better understanding of the interconnected green and water-web between lands cared for by our different local park agencies. Preparing Pathways Through Our Parks has provided months of revisiting familiar parks, carrying artistic gear in a variety of weather conditions, and exploring, for me, new park gems throughout our county. The artworks for Pathways were created in much the same way I produce all of my landscape paintings: there is always a thrill and challenge when painting on location, but after long treks, like to Berry Creek Falls in Big Basin, I return to my studio with just sketches and photos. My plein air studies are often used as field notes for larger murals.

As an historical and natural history muralist, I enjoy painting with a narrative, including camouflaged animals, capturing a dramatic lighting moment, and emphasizing the colors of particular seasons. I hope the viewer will share my grand nephew’s one-year-old giggle when he pointed to the painted rabbit in our Pogonip spring grasses, and will be inspired to visit one new park pathway in our county.

Special thanks to the generations of local environmentalists who fought to save our local wild places and to the experts who gave their advice so freely about the flora and fauna of my painted pathways. Thanks to the staff of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for their thoughtful collaboration on and encouragement of this project. A special thanks to my Father, David Ian Thiermann, to whom Pathways Through Our Parks is dedicated. TABLE OF CONTENTS

South Sector Parks

1. Harkins Slough, Tules with Snowy Egret, April 2. Manresa State Beach, Stroll Beside the Northern Monterey Bay, July

3. Manresa State Beach, Windy Ocean View, April 4. La Selva Beach, Ocean View from the Tracks, July 5. Sunset State Beach, Palm Beach, Windswept, April 6. Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Circle P Ranch, California Morning, June

Central Sector Parks

7. Seacliff State Beach, Evening Calm, SS Palo Alto with Birds, May 8. Seacliff State Beach, Morning Fog, June 9. Seacliff State Beach, SS Palo Alto in Storm, January 10. Seacliff State Beach, Sunset after Rain, April 11. New Brighton State Beach, Cathedral Walkway, January 12. New Brighton State Beach, Cliffs with Fog Lifting, May 13. New Brighton State Beach,Tangled Roots on the Volunteer Path, August 14. New Brighton State Beach, Tracks Through the Trees, April 15. The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, Quiet River View, September 16. The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, Aptos Creek Waiting for Rain, August 17. The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, Grove off the Main Trail, June 18. Arana Gulch Open Space Preserve, Christmas Clouds Over Arana Meadow, December Arana Gulch Open Space Preserve, Tango Between Two Old Oaks, May 19. Arana Gulch Open Space Preserve, Tidal Creek at Low Tide, April 20. Rotary/Deasy Bayview Bluff, Capitola, Moonrise Stroll, June Santa Cruz Harbor, Incoming Swell, Walton Lighthouse, February 21 Tyrrell City Park and Seabright Beach, A Whale of a View, Two Parks in One, April 22. Seabright Beach, San Lorenzo Point, Now and Then, July San Lorenzo Point, Sea View, August 23. Neary Lagoon Santa Cruz City Park, Tule Marsh in Fall, October 24. Neary Lagoon Santa Cruz City Park, Summer Sunset Reflections, July 25. Lighthouse Field State Beach, Winter Tide, December 26. Lighthouse Field State Beach, Abbott Lighthouse through Summer Grasses, June 27. Lighthouse Field State Beach, Cypress Sunset Glow, April TABLE OF CONTENTS

North Sector Parks

28. Natural Bridges State Beach, Gone Fishing up Moore Creek, November

29. Natural Bridges State Beach, The Last Arch, Low Tide, March

30. Moore Creek Preserve, Land Trust, View Towards Natural Bridges State Beach, June

31. Wilder Ranch State Park, Picnic Beside the Old Coast Road, July Barnyard Recess at Wilder, May

32. Wilder Ranch State Park, Fern Grotto at Low Tide, June Wilder Ranch, circa 1900

33. Wilder Ranch State Park, Beach Asters Along the Cliffs, February

34. Wilder Ranch State Park, Coastal View from Engelmann’s Loop Trail, August

35. Land Trust Easement, Davenport Bluffs, Sunset, May

Mountain Sector Parks

36. UCSC Arboretum, South African Protea Bloom UCSC South African Erica Garden, March

37. UCSC Arboretum, Rest Beneath the Narrow-leafed Scribbly Gum, June

38. UCSC Arboretum and Reserve, Bike Path to City on the Hill, May

39. UCSC Arboretum and Reserve, Bike Path to City on the Hill, February

40. UCSC Reserve, Upper Marshall Fields, Flowering Meadow and Inland Forest, April

41. Pogonip City of Santa Cruz Open Space, Spring Run-off, March

42. Henry Cowell Redwood State Park, Light Patterns along the Redwood Grove Loop Trail, July

43. Henry Cowell Redwood State Park, The San Lorenzo Giant, September

44. Henry Cowell Redwood State Park, Fall Creek Unit, Light Through the Redwoods, June

45. Henry Cowell Redwood State Park, Fall Creek Unit, Light Through the Old Lime Kiln, August

46. Highlands County Park, The Old Fishing Weir, August

47. Loch Lomond Recreation Area, City of Santa Cruz, Reservoir in Afternoon Light, August Quail Hollow Ranch County Park, Willow Pond, October

48. Quail Hollow Ranch County Park, Moonrise over Sunset Trail, August

49. Glenwood Open Space Preserve, Land Trust, Redwood Island, April

50. Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Berry Creek Falls, July D. Ian Thiermann (1918-2017)

This show is dedicated to my father, D. Ian Thiermann (1918-2017) who worked for social and environmental justice, loved nature, music and the arts and was my most enthusiastic supporter. He explored the various pathways through our Santa Cruz Parks but reserved his unparalleled enthusiasm for the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park loop which became a daily ritual with his wife Terry for many years. His stamina, spirit, and enthusiasm could be likened to the majesty of a redwood.

Pastel of my Dad, 1975 Ann Elizabeth Thiermann South Sector Parks

Tule Reeds with Snowy Egret • pastel Harkins Slough, April

The town of Watsonville is flanked on most sides by waterways, or sloughs. Harkins Slough is the northernmost, notable for the woodlands that surround it. A birder’s paradise, the tules and cattails shimmer in the late afternoon light, and are often filled with snowy egrets and great blue herons wading in the water. Several raptors, sometimes even a bald eagle, perch in the slough-side trees and on power poles alongside the road.

South Sector Parks 1 Stroll Beside the Northern Monterey Bay • pastel Manresa State Beach, July

I faced south in the middle of the park loop trail closest to the cliffs while composing this painting. Imagine you could walk directly into this fair summer scene: the park trail moves between a stand of wind-sculpted blue gum trees and a hillside with a variety of visual texture in coastal scrub, including coyote bush, poison oak and lots of mustard. During my summer afternoon outdoor painting, or plein air sessions, I noticed multiple humpback whales spouting in the Monterey Bay as they followed their migratory path north.

2 South Sector Parks Windy Ocean View • pastel Manresa State Beach, April

I set up my easel, back from the cliffs behind a windbreak of trees. In mittened hands, I started sketching on a grey-blue paper to capture this windy scene overlooking the ocean, building up with the muted pastel tones of blues and greens. Named after Manresa, Spain, where Ignatius Loyola developed his ideas for the Jesuit Order, Manresa State Beach was originally a retreat for the Jesuit College of Santa Clara from 1894-1925. In 1948, Manresa Beach became a State Park for all to enjoy.

South Sector Parks 3 Ocean View from the Tracks • pastel La Selva Beach, Manresa State Beach, July

I wanted the curved bay view to contrast with the curve of tracks through the coastal scrub along the La Selva bluff. The surf below looks tranquil in the fog, but there is busy marine movement of harbor porpoise, Pacific white-sided dolphins, great white sharks, and harbor seals. Seasonal mixed flocks of Pacific, red-throated and common loons,and both western and Clark’s grebes feed above and below the Monterey Bay surface at this beach. Just beyond the picture, the tracks cross the La Selva Beach railroad bridge, reconstructed in 2015. Freight and passenger service has actually never operated atop this new bridge, which sustained damage in the 2017 winter storms. The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission and other local agencies are working on new carriers for the Santa Cruz Branch line and are developing a bike and pedestrian trail next to the track.

4 South Sector Parks Windswept • pastel Sunset State Beach, Palm Beach, April

These dunes sit along the Watsonville Slough as it joins the Pajaro River and enters Monterey Bay. The Watsonville Wetlands Watch works with the Pajaro Dunes Community to restore this critical habitat for wildlife. I parked at the end of Beach Street, dragged my art cart up the steep sand dunes and placed my easel within a grove of twisted wind-sculpted eucalyptus. My view included patches of coastal grasses, colorful ice plant and a strip of choppy Pacific. Just beyond, the sandy paths lead down to the mile-long pristine beach.

South Sector Parks 5 California Morning • pastel Circle P Ranch, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, June

I am one of the artists invited to paint on the Circle P Ranch. This private working ranch is preserved by a conservation easement through the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. Originally part of the Mexican land grant, Rancho Salsipuedes, this 600-acre portion has been held by the current owner since 1945. Interpretations of its name include the story of an unpopular vaquero, stuck in a mud hole in the area. Calling for help, the neighbor called back “Get out if you can!” I prefer the other interpretation: “who could leave this beautiful place.” Just beyond the corral and picturesque historic farm buildings, an inviting rustic road leads up into the Sierra Azul mountain range, past large old willows and oak-covered, golden brown hills.

6 South Sector Parks Central Sector Parks

Evening Calm, SS Palo Alto with Birds • pastel Seacliff State Beach, May

During a picnic at the Rio Del Mar Promenade, I sought to capture the sunset’s colors as they played off the waves. They sparkled through the broken SS Palo Alto rigging, filled with pelicans, cormorants, and gulls, and turned the coastline to gold. I captured the remnants of this boat in 2016, as it was tilting and lifting, and just before the keel turned completely on its side.

Central Sector Parks 7 Morning Fog • pastel Seacliff State Beach, June

Seated on the beach, I chose a dark paper as a backdrop for the dense summer- morning fog. By almost eliminating the sky, I hope to direct the viewer to the light on the incoming surf and the Aptos Creek flowing out from Nisene Marks State Park past the beach pilings and emptying into the Pacific at Rio Del Mar Beach. Right after winter storms, the creek flows directly out to the Pacific, but sometimes in summer, the river meanders through the sand, creating banks for playful sliding.

8 Central Sector Parks SS Palo Alto in Storm • acrylic Seacliff State Beach, January

I sought to capture the pounding winter swells that have torn the SS Palo Alto apart over the years. Never launched in military action, this concrete boat was tugged and sunk at high tide in January 1930. The Seacliff wharf was then built out to the boat. Enjoyed as an entertainment ship for a couple of years, it eventually became only a fishing extension of the pier. Today, only brown pelicans and a variety of cormorants, from Brandt’s to double-crested and even the occasional pelagic, command the bow. Active marine life flourishes below.

Central Sector Parks 9 Sunset After Rain • acrylic Seacliff State Beach, April

The calm after a storm at Seacliff State Beach is accented with piles of driftwood and beach sculpture, colorful clouds reflecting in the waves and beach pools. The straight wharf points due-south beyond the bow of the SS Palo Alto creating a pedestrian pathway out to sea. The sunken ship has created an artificial reef which attracts a variety of sea life such as anemones, mussels, sea stars, and barnacles, much to the delight of anglers on the wharf above. Photographic reference from Philip Lima, Impact Creative.

10 Central Sector Parks Cathedral Walkway • pastel New Brighton State Beach, January

Eucalyptus arch above a pathway just to the north of New Brighton State Beach. The ravine to the left of the upper campground is also filled with these trees. Although they are non-native trees, blue gum eucalyptus have provided California landscape painters with material for romantic paintings since at least the early 20th century.

Central Sector Parks 11 Cliffs with Fog Lifting • pastel New Brighton State Beach, May

I tried to capture the magical moment when light breaks through the fog and sends shafts of light cascading down through the eucalyptus and oaks at the cliff edge to the fossil-filled cliffs below at New Brighton State Beach. The fossil seashells at New Brighton are three to five million years old and were deposited when an arm of the sea extended all the way to the San Joaquin Valley.

12 Central Sector Parks Tangled Roots on the Volunteer Path • pastel New Brighton State Beach, August

Struck by the nature-made staircase of roots, I wanted to capture the light on this volunteer path. The path allows access from Park Avenue to the New Brighton State Beach parking lot for eager beach-goers. Originally called China Beach for the Chinese fishing village of the 1870s and 1880s built at the base of the cliffs, the name was changed to New Brighton when it became a state beach in 1933. Previously, the name had been used for a nearby resort established by Thomas Fallon in the late 1800s.

Central Sector Parks 13 Tracks Through the Trees • pastel New Brighton State Beach, April

A narrow path descends from the New Brighton nature center, rewarding hikers and artists with an open cathedral-like railroad corridor as it heads through the trees towards the beach. I set my easel right in the middle of the tracks to capture the spirit of adventure as the tracks curve into the light beyond our view. All of the eucalyptus trees along the railroad right-of-way were planted by Southern Pacific, probably in the 1890s and later, to keep the tracks clear of undergrowth.

14 Central Sector Parks Quiet River View • pastel The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, September

I set up my easel at the edge of the Aptos Creek, just below the Mary Easton picnic area. The picnic area is a delightful cathedral-like space, and the first stop along the Porter Family Trail. The deep pools reflect stands of bay laurel and redwood trees along the banks, and rows of cobbled river rocks provide access for pedestrian trail crossing. Scattered among the moss-covered rocks, suggesting the wet and dry seasons, sword and bracken ferns grow out of the surrounding redwood duff, sprinkled with big leaf maple leaves.

Central Sector Parks 15 Aptos Creek Waiting for Rain • acrylic The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, August

Barely flowing, Aptos Creek reflects the dry golden cliff banks of late August after a dry winter. I infused all my colors with yellow to create this warm mood. In 1980, a local resident named Jim Stanton found the fossil tooth of a mastodon sticking out of the gravel alongside Aptos Creek. Today, the full skull of this Mastodon, an ice age relative of the elephant, can be found on display at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History.

16 Central Sector Parks Redwood Grove off the Main Trail • pastel The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, June

Set up just off the main trail, in a fairy ring of redwoods, I chose a rich red pastel paper to maximize the effect of warm afternoon light falling through the redwoods. I think that the long slender lower branches and the lace-like redwood leaves suggest playful movement and textures. Coast redwoods such as these are only found on the Pacific Coast, specifically Big Sur to southern Oregon.

Central Sector Parks 17 Christmas Clouds Over Arana Meadow • pastel Arana Gulch Open Space Preserve, December

In this panorama, I sought to capture the broad vista you can see upon entering Arana Gulch from Park Avenue. Historically named after Arana, the grantee of Rancho Potrero Y Rincon de San Pedro Regalado in 1842, this open space parcel was a cattle ranch for many years. A new bridge and major pathway upgrade, completed in 2014 and known as the Broadway-to-Brommer connector, now allows for bike and pedestrian access between east Santa Cruz and Live Oak.

Tango Between Two Old Oaks • pastel Arana Gulch Open Space Preserve, May

In 2005, the rustic trail meandering around the Arana Meadows closest to Seabright was flanked by these two expressive oaks. Local children remembered the space as “the Jungle,” and used it as their after-school playground. In 2017, I found the remains of the left oak, still suggesting their last tango.

18 Central Sector Parks Tidal Creek at Low Tide • pastel Arana Gulch Open Space Preserve, April

The rustic pedestrian Marsh Trail of Arana Gulch leads through a canopy of gnarled oaks out to a vista of the Arana Creek. While this site features a wide variety of habitats, I focused on a tidal creek flowing out to the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor, once called Woods Lagoon. Arana Creek begins in the Santa Cruz Mountains and flows southwest into Monterey Bay and forms part of the southeastern boundary of the City of Santa Cruz. At high tide, neighbors have sighted seals eating salmon.

Central Sector Parks 19 Moonrise Stroll • acrylic Rotary/Deasy Bayview Bluff, Capitola, June

Deasy Park provides a great view of the Monterey Bay. It is the highest of several parallel paths leading into Capitola. From this contemplative park lined with benches and edged by purple statice, juniper and pampas grass, the railroad tracks curve just below. The next layer is Cliff Dr. with both pedestrian and car traffic. One can also view Capitola Beach and the Capitola Wharf. Dedicated February 23, 2005, as a centennial club project for the Rotary Club of Capitola and Aptos, the renovation was done in cooperation with the Deasy family who had leased it from Southern Pacific Railroad for years. The City of Capitola now maintains it.

Incoming Swells • pastel Santa Cruz Harbor, Walton Lighthouse, February Locals enjoy the delightful walk that starts in Arana Gulch Open Space Preserve, curves through the upper Santa Cruz harbor, and continues out to the Walton Lighthouse pathway behind Aldo’s Harbor Restaurant.

20 Central Sector Parks A Whale of a View, Two Parks in One • pastel Tyrrell City Park and Seabright Beach, April

Two parks and two pathways converge behind the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. Just off the Tyrrell Park walkway, a faintly-worn path meanders up to the whale sculpture where children teach each other how to climb the whale. Walking through Tyrrell City Park, with its variety of trees bordering Pilkington Creek, you can cross East Cliff Drive and end up at Twin Lakes State Beach, also known as Seabright. The Walton Lighthouse at the end of the Santa Cruz small craft harbor beckons and Pilkington Creek meanders out to sea through the sand.

Central Sector Parks 21 San Lorenzo Point, Now and Then • acrylic and pastel Seabright Beach, July

Imagine you could hop off the roller coaster and take the train trestle walkway across the San Lorenzo River, entering the late 19th century. Atop the cliffs, the 1881 bungalow-style McKendry House sits directly in front of the path leading up from the sea. Behind, the windows of Lulu Hall’s “Ocean View” lodging from 1889 look over the San Lorenzo. Along the cliff promenade, historic gable and hipped-roof silhouettes stand against the sky. Flowing under the trestle, the river is a pathway to the ocean for the steelhead trout that spawn in the creeks that feed it. Volunteer paths lined with native flowers and grasses widen and open as they flow down to Seabright Beach. Below, small sand dunes covered in native plants attest to today’s neighborhood efforts to restore the local habitat.

San Lorenzo Point, Sea View, • acrylic, August

22 Central Sector Parks Tule Marsh in Fall • pastel Neary Lagoon Santa Cruz City Park, October

From the floating walkway, one has fine views of the water fowl pathways through the tule reeds at Neary Lagoon. I wanted the reflection of sky in the rippled water to contrast with the warm earth reflections of the fall tules with their seeded heads. Harvested tules, throughout California lagoons were used by Native Americans for a variety of purposes, including the construction of houses, canoes, baskets, and clothing.

Central Sector Parks 23 Summer Sunset Reflections • pastel Neary Lagoon Santa Cruz City Park, July

Facing the sun, I chose to paint the backlit tule reeds, willows and pines that form the riparian park edges of the lagoon. Standing on a floating walkway that bounced with each passerby, my strokes became looser. While this idyllic view is called a lagoon, Neary is closed off to the sea and is no longer affected by the tides, thus a lagoon only by name.

24 Central Sector Parks Winter Tide • pastel Lighthouse Field State Beach, December

I was drawn to paint the Abbott Lighthouse, symbol of historic stability, with the contrasting undercutting tidal waves that continue to erode the cliffs upon which it stands. The first lighthouse was built out on the cliffs in 1869 and was operated by Adna Hecox, father of Museum founder Laura Hecox. The lighthouse as it stands today owes its existence to Chuck and Esther Abbott who sponsored the building of the modern lighthouse in memory of their surfer son Mark. The lighthouse now serves as Santa Cruz City’s Surfing Museum.

Central Sector Parks 25 Abbott Lighthouse Through Summer Grasses • pastel Lighthouse Field State Beach, June

At the height of summer, Lighthouse Field is filled with knee-high grasses, flowers, and volunteer paths. Between the trees one can glimpse the windy surf and Abbott Lighthouse. I chose to paint this path for the contrasting verticality of the lighthouse framed by diagonal windswept Monterey cypress trees and the flowing grasses and flowers.

26 Central Sector Parks Cypress Sunset Glow • pastel Lighthouse Field State Beach, April

Using broader strokes and more vivid colors, I sought to capture the movement in the sculptural windblown cypresses. Until 1963, Lighthouse Field was a densely populated cypress and eucalyptus forest with its own butterfly colony. In the following decade, this forest was severely cut back for proposed development. Santa Cruz neighbors rallied in the 1970s to save Lighthouse Field and galvanized the public to use their voices to save more wild places throughout the county. A significant colony of Monarch butterflies has subsequently re-established itself in trees along the northern side of Lighthouse Field.

Central Sector Parks 27 North Sector Parks

Gone Fishing Up Moore Creek • pastel Natural Bridges State Beach, November

My artistic challenge for this piece was to get the viewer’s eye to travel the paths of both the beach trail and Moore Creek settling into its fall brackish lagoon. In November, the Moore Creek trail is lined by dry fall grasses interspersed with fresh green salt marsh plants. It passes beneath a shaded canopy of blue gum eucalyptus and cypress trees on its way to the sand dunes covered in beach primrose and sand verbena. Along the crest of the ocean bluff, Monterey cypress and a singular California oak, growing just below the crest with canopy draped in pale green lichen, form silhouettes against the winter sky. The colorful coastal marsh filled with pickle weed, coyote bush, and salt-dried arroyo willows, forms a backdrop for a great white egret fishing along its banks for Pacific chorus frogs and endangered tidewater goby fish. The raucous call of the kingfisher complements the wildness of the place.

28 North Sector Parks The Last Arch, Low Tide • pastel Natural Bridges State Beach, March

My easel hedged by ice plant and a Monterey pine, I painted this scene from the cliff pathway that leads down to Natural Bridges Beach. Today the pelicans, cormorants and gulls are the only spectators along the crest of this last mudstone arch. Before it fell in 1980, I remember as a UCSC student sketching the now phantom inner mudstone arch, then traversed by people. The outer bridge fell sometime around 1906, and today only a small remnant of the original rock crests above the relentless surf.

Natural bridges circa 1900 with 3 arches

North Sector Parks 29 View Towards Natural Bridges State Beach • pastel Moore Creek Preserve, Land Trust, June

I chose a blue pastel paper to communicate the airy mood of the riparian corridor of Moore Creek, with its great vistas of the Pacific. From my view off Western Drive, the afternoon light dances in a pathway across the mixed forest of the Moore Creek ravine, touching the canopies of the thriving coast live oak, bay laurel and California hazelnut trees. Beneath the trees, mammals, birds, reptiles and people make their pathways along the West Branch of Moore Creek. The creek flows eagerly down and under Highway 1 to form Antonelli’s Pond, and then continues to the ocean at Natural Bridges State Beach.

30 North Sector Parks Picnic along the Old Coast Road • pastel Wilder Ranch State Park, July

I was drawn to this colorful summer picnic scene beneath the row of walnut trees that once edged the side of the Old Coast Road, the original highway from San Francisco to Monterey until 1952. A row of shade trees including one ginkgo, three non-native walnuts, and an enormous cedar form the edge of this historic lawn with Victorian houses. At the turn of the century, the coast route was the fastest way for the highly sought-after Wilder Ranch butter to reach San Francisco, sold there at $1 per pound.

Barnyard Recess at Wilder • acrylic and pastel, May

Based on my photo of the Wilder Ranch barns at sunset, I added a playful note, by including the Wilder menagerie released from their pens.

North Sector Parks 31 Fern Grotto at Low Tide • pastel Wilder Ranch State Park, June

Carrying my easel and pastels along the windy Ohlone Bluff Trail, I was delighted to settle into the quiet and protected Fern Grotto. Even in summer, there is the constant drip of water from a spring above the beach that keeps moist ferns curtaining the front of the grotto. Using a dark green paper, I tried to capture the intimate interior cool green cave and the contrasting warmly lit beach. The beach is flanked by mudstone cliffs that stretch out into Wilder Ranch a strong ocean current. A picturesque arch once Arch above Fern Grotto Beach, circa 1900 connected these two stone walls, but has since washed away due to erosion.

32 North Sector Parks Beach Asters Along the Cliffs • pastel Wilder Ranch State Park, February

As the fog lifts from this Wilder Cliff scene, I sought to capture the undulating patterns of tide pools on the rocks, the surf sculpting the sea terraces, and the gulls soaring and dipping in the up current of air. This Wilder sea terrace is the only place in Santa Cruz County where one can usually find a group of harbor seals. The cliff- edge field of seaside fleabane (beach aster) ripples in echoing wind patterns.

North Sector Parks 33 Coastal View from Engelmann’s Loop Trail • pastel Wilder Ranch State Park, August

On a warm summer day, I hiked to the top of the Wilder Engelmann’s Loop and enjoyed the vista down across the great meadow through Wilder Ranch and out to the Pacific. While bicyclists pedaled past, and an occasional rabbit emerged, I painted this color-banded panorama with yellow summer grass, green coastal farmlands, misty blue-violet ocean, and violet fog. Above, the cycling/hiking Engelmann’s Loop Trail links up with trails continuing to UCSC Marshall Fields. Below, the hills of Wilder Ranch Dairy were once covered with grazing dairy cows. For the past 100 years or so, these coastal lands were dedicated to farming artichokes and brussels sprouts.

34 North Sector Parks Davenport Bluffs, Sunset • acrylic Land Trust Easement, May

Known as the “slow coast,” I wanted to suggest the air of history which shrouds the town of Davenport and its bluffs. Directly opposite the town, I chose a view from the cliff trail, looking down upon the old concrete pier pylons casting their long-afternoon shadows into a small cove below. As famous icons of the California coast, many of our piers traditionally used for fishing, whaling and entertainment have fallen into disrepair, but remain great fragmented structures for photographers and artists. I sought to contrast the solidity of the old pylons and the complex textures of the foreground plants with the atmospheric effect of receding bluffs, cliffs and waves.

North Sector Parks 35 Mountain Sector Parks

South African Protean Bloom • pastel UCSC Arboretum, May

Finding a shady spot to set up on this South African pathway, I strove to capture and balance the variety of warm and cool colors blossoming. Most of the plants depicted are in the Protea family, named after Proteus, the Greek sea god who could change his shape at will. Animals such as rabbits, jays, hummingbirds and hawks make their home among these plants. The Arboretum is located on 135 acres of marine terrace, a perfect place for a UCSC South African Erica Garden • pastel, great diversity of plants with its mild marine climate, March diverse soil, and undulating south-facing slopes.

36 Mountain Sector Parks Rest Beneath the Narrow-Leafed Scribbly Gum • pastel UCSC Arboretum, June

As I followed the Australian Ethnobotany Trail I came across this beautiful Eucalyptus racemosa out in the “Banksia Field.” Light flooding across a tranquil bench nestled beneath the luminous cathedral-like branches of this gum drew my artistic eye. The tree was grown from seed in 1980 and its nectar-rich flowers attract birds, bees and other pollinators. In Australia, the leaves are enjoyed by koalas and insects leave large burrows in the bark, creating convoluted scribbly marks. With the absence of those insects here in California, we can enjoy the undamaged white, sculptural bark.

Mountain Sector Parks 37 Bike Path to City on the Hill • acrylic and pastel UCSC Arboretum and Reserve, May

I was twice drawn to paint this hilly scene crested by redwoods, oaks and other conifers because I biked it many times as an undergraduate, heading into town from the University. In February, lupine covers the hills and by May, the green grass grows golden. There’s a contrast between the notes of color singing visually on a grey day, and the whole scene aflame with the setting May sun. The air currents off this meadow provide great uplift for the frequent raptors, including red-tailed hawks, as they glide over the meadows searching for voles and gophers. There are also frequent sightings of bobcats, mountain lions and deer in this meadow.

38 Mountain Sector Parks Bike Path to City on the Hill • pastel UCSC Arboretum and Reserve, February

The same view, in winter.

Mountain Sector Parks 39 Flowering Meadow and Inland Forest • pastel UCSC Upper Marshall Fields, April

In early May, the UCSC Upper Marshall Fields just off Empire Grade are still blooming with colorful yellow hairy cat ears and pink-purple owl’s clover. This flowering meadow borders a mixed conifer forest including madrone, coast live and Shreve oaks, Douglas firs, and redwoods. Through my eyes, it provides an artistic palette of warm spring colors and textures. The ancestors of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band likely used a variety of cultural resources in this area, encouraging the growth of edible and medicinal plants and managing the land through the use of fire.

40 Mountain Sector Parks Spring Run-off • pastel Pogonip City of Santa Cruz Open Space, March

Refreshed by spring rain, fields beside the Pogonip Spring Trail fill with wild radish and poppies amidst fresh spring grass. I was drawn to paint the rain puddles with sky reflections and suggest the variety of birds and mammals that appear among the grasses. A few peaks of the Santa Lucia Mountains can be seen through the California oaks.

Mountain Sector Parks 41 Light Patterns Along the Redwood Grove Loop Trail • pastel Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, July

This piece is dedicated to my father, Ian Thiermann, who loved to walk this Cowell loop on a daily basis into his late 90s. From the bench at interpretive stop #11, he enjoyed the ever-changing light and the burnt-out redwood covered in bumpy burls near its roots. His spirit was like the dormant buds on this gnarled coast redwood, always evoking regeneration and renewal. During on-location sessions, and then in my studio, I worked to capture the dappled light flowing across this bend on the interpretive trail. Here, camouflaged deer graze among the redwood sorrel, and California bay laurels and tan oaks grow in the understory of these semperviren giants. 1902 photo of Teddy Roosevelt in front of the San Lorenzo Giant redwood.

42 Mountain Sector Parks The San Lorenzo Giant • acrylic and pastel Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, September

At the center of the Henry Cowell Redwood Grove Loop stands the 280-foot tall San Lorenzo Giant. Currently surrounded by smaller second growth redwoods, its size is indicative of its desirable growing location with lots of sun, rather than its age. In 1902, Teddy Roosevelt posed for his famous picture in front of the San Lorenzo Giant. The same year, the park was commercialized with a hotel, a dance floor, concessions, and even a “card tree” covered in business cards. It wasn’t until 1958, four years after it became a State Park, that Henry Cowell was cleared of all commercial buildings and returned to forest with the tallest organisms on the earth, the majestic redwoods.

Mountain Sector Parks 43 Light Through the Redwoods • pastel Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Fall Creek Unit, June

Fall Creek, a unit of Henry Cowell State Park, is tucked into a steep arroyo, or water channel, with dense tree cover. Thirty minutes up the South Fork Trail, one comes to this cathedral-like vista. My artistic challenge was to capture the light effect flooding down the arroyo across volunteer paths surrounded by sword ferns, redwood sorrel, and winterberry and on down to the stream. At the same time, I wanted to keep the viewer’s eye moving up the trail through the trees. Just a little over a century ago, the steamy smoke from the kilns and loud noises from the woodcutters, stoneworkers, barrel-makers, and oxen cargo wagons ceased with the end of the lime industry at Fall Creek. Today, the creek flows freely along the new growth redwood forest.

44 Mountain Sector Parks Light Through the Old Lime Kiln • pastel Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Fall Creek Unit, August

At the upper end of South Fork Trail, hikers come upon the ruins of three lime kilns. Heavy stone walls emerge from the surrounding forest understory, and cords of split redwood, blanketed in leaves, hearken to the late 19th century lime industry. Here, the I.X.L. Lime Company (1874-1894) and Henry Cowell (1901-1919) blasted quarry rock, fired it (70 cords per firing), and sent lime down Fall Creek to San Francisco via tram, wagon, train, and ship. Today, the heavy industrial noise is eerily absent and replaced by birds. The clear-cut forest has healed, and the new forest is filled with shafts of light. While I sat sketching, a sudden burst of sunlight shot through the first kiln, illumining old quarry limestones like a flash-back to the burning kilns of yesterday.

Mountain Sector Parks 45 The Old Fishing Weir • pastel Highlands County Park, August

In search of a unique spot to paint the San Lorenzo River, friends directed me to the Highlands Park Nature Trail behind the Senior Center to find the park’s hidden treasure. The path leads down through willows to a sandy beach with a view of a four-foot natural waterfall that crosses the San Lorenzo. From my sandy beach spot, I painted while all ages played in the pools and young children emerged from their hiding places behind these four-foot falls. Centuries earlier, Native American children helped catch salmon as they jumped up the river at this natural fishing weir.

46 Mountain Sector Parks Reservoir in Afternoon Light • pastel Loch Lomond Recreation Area, City of Santa Cruz, August

This picture-perfect reservoir vista is enclosed by steep slopes of marine sedimentary rock covered in 2nd generation coast redwood forest. Within the forest, madrone, tan oaks, and a variety of ferns and animals take shelter. Originally home to Zayante Ohlone Indians, the canyon was logged heavily in the 1800’s-to-early 1900’s. Fed by Newell Creek, the Loch Lomond Reservoir, developed by the City of Santa Cruz in the late 50’s, today provides water storage for Santa Cruz residents. I painted from the central boat launch but next time I’ll rent a boat, fill with art supplies, and row to one of the small islands for the afternoon.

Willow Pond in Fall • pastel Quail Hollow Ranch County Park, October

I was drawn to the golden fall colors of willows and tules, contrasting with dark backlit conifers surrounding this Quail Hollow pond. Located at the beginning of the Discovery Trail, the pond, inhabited by endangered Western pond turtles has some of the largest willows in the San Lorenzo Valley.

Mountain Sector Parks 47 Early Moonrise Over Sunset Trail • pastel Quail Hollow Ranch County Park, August

Even at 6 p.m., the sandy Sunset Trail is warm, located in the hottest part of the county just east of Ben Lomond. I was fascinated with the patterns and shadows falling across this sandy walkway, contrasting with the dark Douglas firs against the horizon and the coyote bush and manzanita lining the trail. It crosses through the rare Santa Cruz sandhill habitat, filled with endemic species such as the Mount Hermon June beetle, Zayante band-winged grasshopper, and Santa Cruz kangaroo rat. This 2.5-mile trail climbs steadily through wildly varied terrain, including a shadier area of dwarf redwood forest, offering several picturesque overlooks into the San Lorenzo Valley.

48 Mountain Sector Parks Redwood Island • pastel Glenwood Open Space Preserve, Land Trust, April

Glenwood is the largest open space in Scotts Valley. Owned by the city, the space is managed by the Land Trust and includes 170 acres of the original Rancho San Augustin. For thousands of years, this rolling grassland has functioned as a “biological island” in a sea of forest and today it is the main hunting ground for golden eagles in Santa Cruz County. My view is the northern border, from Canham Road just off Glenwood Drive where there was once was a stagecoach stop. Within this quiet pastoral scene, I articulated the contrasts between redwoods and willows, scrub brush and grasses. Local grazing horses help provide habitat for rare plants and insects and reduce fire hazards.

Mountain Sector Parks 49 Berry Creek Falls • acrylic and pastel Big Basin Redwoods State Park, July

After a wet winter, the 65 foot Berry Creek Falls, set deep in the heart of Big Basin, are magnificent and well-worth the strenuous 11 mile hike. This jewel of Big Basin appears suddenly through the redwoods, as one descends along the Berry Creek Falls Trail with views of year-round pools and a flowing stream. Back in my studio with sketches and photographs, my challenge was to capture the flowing force of the water as it arcs and falls into a quiet pool filled with fallen trees, the delicacy of the riparian ferns hanging from the wet rocky walls, and the redwoods and evergreens stretching towards the sky.

50 Mountain Sector Parks THANK YOU

Roland & Pat Rebele for their generous sponsorship of this show and book. Staff of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History including: Heather Moffat McCoy • Liz Broughton • Ami Davis • Felicia Van Stolk

Thank you to the following experts who shared their knowledge to help edit natural history details within my labels and inspire me to discover new local parks.

• Jim Christmann • Andrew DeVogelaere, PHD • Laurie Egan • Steven A. Ellmore • Lesley Franz • Ross Gibson • Mark Hylkema • Alex Jones • Melinda Krajl • Philip Lima • Todd Newberry, PHD • Martha Nitzberg • Lynn Overtree • Frank Perry • David Reese • Richard Van Stolk • Derek Whaley, PHD

Thanks to all my friends for their encouragement, and to neighbors who contributed their anecdotal Santa Cruz park stories. .

Book Design: Claire Kleffel Photography: David Reese Eric Knight: Cartographer Paul Schraub: Portrait of Ann Pathways Through Our Parks

Ann Elizabeth Thiermann, MFA is inspired by living, hiking, and painting in beautiful Santa Cruz County. Her creativity is fueled by her artistic family, Sylvie, the studio cat, her folk dancing friends, teaching and leading art trips abroad. In addition to painting landscapes and murals, daily joy comes from swimming, camping, and visiting the farmer’s market and working in her garden. Movement in her art is reinforced by her time playing organ, piano and harpsichord as a church musician. www. annthiermann.com

Ann has captured both the familiar beauty of our local parks and their dynamic nature. Her paintings pull the viewer onto the path, inviting us to explore and rediscover the wonders we share in our own backyard. — Heather Moffat McCoy, Executive Director, Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History

I’ve hiked to these spots but Ann’s paintings have a unique perspective and give a fresh look into our local parks. — David Reese photographer

Our parks are jewels. Each community honors its natural environment by establishing and investing in public park spaces. Ann Thiermann has a wonderful gift of translating our parks into paintings that do far more than capture nature’s beauty. Ann’s work also captures the love we have for those places. Thank you, Ann Thiermann. — Fred Keeley, former Speaker pro Tem, California Assembly, Author of the nation’s two largest park and environmental protection bonds.