Russian Gulch State Park lies just a mile or two north of the town of Mendocino along the North California coast. I was fascinated by the outcropping that becomes a small island at high tide. At its crest are a few leggy examples of Mendocino Shore Pine (Pinus contorta var. boldaneri). The forested slopes that rise from the shore have a mixture of Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and others. The beautiful rainbow bridge is a reinforced concrete open-spandrel deck arch bridge built as a WPA project 1939-40.
This scene could work quite well as a square format, but I thought the rectangular format gives it more sense of scale. When I photographed it in July 2022, the tide was out, but using artistic license, a brought in a flood tide which pushes the beach under the bridge and makes the outcropping an island. 221208. Watercolor, 21" x 14". |
