Celebrating Earth Day with a New Landscape Painting

Group Photo with my Canadian Cousins at Lake Louise (I'm on the right, a younger version of me.)

Pinetop at Lake Louise

Landscape Painting of Western Canada by Cindy Morawski

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Happy Earth Day! Looking out my studio and office's second story open window this afternoon, I can see and feel the cool mist of April's falling rain and almost imagine being in Western Canada again. Paul and I traveled there about 10 years ago to hike, sightsee, and most importantly to visit with my Canadian cousins, the Bakers, in Alberta. We stayed in an old lodge near Lake Louise and Banff National Park and hiked twice with my Cousin Dawn and her three children. The first thing I noticed while hiking was that the steep elevation was doing a number on me. I'm not a mountain goat, but I thought I was in pretty good hiking shape when I was there; yet, I found myself huffing and puffing like the big, bad wolf in The Three Little Pigs as I climbed higher and higher on the trail. Gasping for air when I reached the thin, cool air of the summit, I looked out between the pine trees. I gasped again. This time it wasn't because of oxygen deprivation; I was shaken by the startling beauty of the scene before me. Lake Louise winked up at me with her lit reflections of tantalizing turquoise. The rugged mountain range in the background still sparkled with the past winter's freshness of snowcaps on those immovable giants. I peered out again, this time startling a crow from a thick branch overhead. Hotel Lake Louise seemed like a tiny replica from a toy train display of an alpine village. Even though I have had the good fortune to travel in the past to the German Alps, this New World scene gave me a heady certainty that I was a witness to something close to pristine and magical. Many goosebumps later, I finally recovered enough to fumble around for my camera in my forest green backpack and snap several photos. Gently laughing, my Cousin Dawn teased me that I'd been living in a big city for way too long! I guess, my visceral reaction to this majestic vista was rather apparent to my hardy cousins who had hiked and skied this area all year round. I stood rooted like the tall pine trees beside me. I needed to drink it all in. Like a thirsty runner after a marathon, I could not get enough. Suddenly, I could just picture me in a Master Card commercial. Buying all the necessary hiking and camping equipment, lounging by the massive fireplace in our lodge, and then conquering the mountain trail's summit. Priceless! Camera pans with a 180 degrees swivel to show that outdoor wonderland. And, of course, me standing there grinning from ear to ear like an idiot. Cut! It's a wrap . . .

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Last month I was clicking through my computer's picture files for composition ideas and inspiration, but I kept going back to the Banff and Lake Louise files. I had been wanting to paint something from that trip for awhile. Then, it happened. I sat riveted on my office max chair. The Lake Louise photo from above the pinetops on the vista trail held me like a junkyard magnet. Squirming, I broke loose. Memories came at me like a spinning roladex. The hike to the top looking out at Lake Louise was the one I was going to paint.

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This landscape painting entitled Pinetop at Lake Louise measures 18 by 23 double matted and framed. I used quality Colourfix rich beige Art Spectrum paper and mostly Terry Ludwig soft pastels. It will be available for sale through an upcoming exhibit of the Texas Pastel Society's All Member Show at San Antonio's downtown Carver Theatre, May 4 through the 30th. You're invited to our reception too. The art reception will take place on Thursday, May 6th, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Carver. If you have any questions, please email me at cski02@sbcglobal.net. I'll also be showing two other landscape paintings as well, Stopping by Reichert's Woods and Homestead and Heritage.

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Hope you have a green Earth Day! Don't forget to recycle, compost, and carpool when you can. It's the only planet we have for now!

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Love you, Mother Earth!!!

~~Cindy