During the heat of the summer, I have a “comfort zone” in which I paint, which biologists call a “micro-climate”, a small oasis in an otherwise hot environment. The comfort zone is in the interior of our great west coast forests. Deep in the heart of one of these groves of ancient monarchs on a sizzling July day it’s always from five to ten degrees cooler. Painting in these wonderfully cool and quiet places is like creating art in a cathedral. In fact, there is a striking similarity between this and entering one of the old churches in the tropics on a hot day. All of a sudden you are in a very different world from the one around it.

I have painted in many of the old growth groves on North Island and love them all but access to them usually requires a considerable amount of travel down dusty logging roads. For visitors and tourists that find this kind of drive a bit too daunting, thank goodness we have “old faithful” to which we can send them. Surprisingly, a lot of locals have never ventured there either. The spot lies at the beginning of the Port Alice highway just across from the Beaver Lake swimming hole and is called, (lo and behold) The Beaver Lake Forest Trail.

The trail, about a kilometer in length, is meant to be educational, containing a variety of trees that are at different periods in their life span, all well documented with good signage. The hikers can, therefore, enjoy the immensity and diversity of our forests in a short time or linger as long as they want. I tend to take my sketchbook and paints and bask in the coolness on a hot summer day. This painting was done from a sketch I did in about an hour. I usually don’t work on one sketch among the trees longer than that because the changing light will drive you crazy if you chase it in your sketch.

Everyone we have sent to this trail has enjoyed it immensely. If you haven’t been there, you must put it on your “to do” list for it will educate and impress you to find a place so close to a highway you’ve been driving on for years!