american artist
Johanna Girard
oils
ART
en
“Ripple Effect” Oil on Canvas, 40” x 30”
years, I drove past the massive rock wall of the earthen
dam that forms this man-made lake on my commute
home from work, and never realized what an oasis laid
behind the wall. This man-made lake is a welcome
watering hole for egrets, ducks, and Canada geese
after their long winter migration south. Right in the
heart of industrial Los Angeles!
When Army Corps of Engineers constructed the
dam back in the 1930’s, this area of Los Angeles was
largely undeveloped scrub brush and farmland. The
men who built this dam 85 years ago probably never
realized that their labor would be preserving some of
the last acres of natural watershed land left in the Los
Angeles of the 21st century. Now that’s what I call a
Ripple Effect!
wom
This painting depicts the view of the San Gabriel
Mountains as seen from the Santa Fe Dam Recreation
area, one of my favorite areas to paint in the Los
Angeles area.
As a winter rainstorm has clears, a
lone mallard duck lands in the lake, sending ripples
dancing across the surface, and altering the reflections
of the clouds into an almost abstract whirling design.
Just like this little duck makes big ripples that spread
across the lake, the small actions that we take every
day can make a big impact on our environment and
our world.
Surprisingly, this peaceful scene is literally
surrounded on three sides by busy freeway interchanges
full of cars stuck in rush hour traffic and is smack in the
midst of one of L.A.’s most heavily industrial areas. For
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