Signed: Yes! Front and back

Time of Creation: 2010

Fresh of my easel. Will be dry in about a [...]]]>

Roseate Spoonbill Impressionist Oil Painting by Ginette Callaway

Description

Roseate Spoonbill
Impressionist Oil Painting
Size: 20 x 24 x 0.75 inches (Sides do not have staples and are painted dark, the painting will be ready to hang)
Artist: Ginette Callaway

Signed: Yes! Front and back

Time of Creation: 2010

Fresh of my easel. Will be dry in about a month. Can be shipped around July 30th 2010.

International Buyers (Outside US Mainland) please contact me if you are interested in purchasing my art. Shipping details, cost etc. are depending on where you want it shipped.

Okefenokee Sunset Oil Painting Part 5 from Ginette Callaway on Vimeo.

Original available for sale on ETSY

Prints available on Imagekind

We are often told that the world is going from bad to worse, sacrificing everything to mammon. But this righteous uprising in defense of God’s trees in the midst of exciting politics and wars [...]]]> Oil Painting by Ginette Callaway

Original available for sale on ETSY

Prints available on Imagekind

Save the Redwoods

by John Muir

We are often told that the world is going from bad to worse, sacrificing everything to mammon. But this righteous uprising in defense of God’s trees in the midst of exciting politics and wars is telling a different story, and every Sequoia, I fancy, has heard the good news and is waving its branches for joy. The wrongs done to trees, wrongs of every sort, are done in the darkness of ignorance and unbelief, for when light comes the heart of the people is always right. Forty-seven years ago one of these Calaveras King Sequoias was laboriously cut down, that the stump might be had for a dancing-floor. Another, one of the finest in the grove, more than three hundred feet high, was skinned alive to a height of one hundred and sixteen feet from the ground and the bark sent to London to show how fine and big that Calaveras tree was—as sensible a scheme as skinning our great men would be to prove their greatness. This grand tree is of course dead, a ghastly disfigured ruin, but it still stands erect and holds forth its majestic arms as if alive and saying, “Forgive them; they know not what they do.” Now some millmen want to cut all the Calaveras trees into lumber and money. But we have found a better use for them. No doubt these trees would make good lumber after passing through a sawmill, as George Washington after passing through the hands of a French cook would have made good food. But both for Washington and the tree that bears his name higher uses have been found.

Could one of these Sequoia Kings come to town in all its godlike majesty so as to be strikingly seen and allowed to plead its own cause, there would never again be any lack of defenders. And the same may be said of all the other Sequoia groves and forests of the Sierra with their companions and the noble Sequoia sempervirens, or redwood, of the coast mountains.

In a general view we find that the Sequoia gigantea, or Big Tree, is distributed in a widely interrupted belt along the west flank of the Sierra, from a small grove on the middle fork of the American River to the head of Deer Creek, a distance of about two hundred and sixty miles, at an elevation of about five thousand to a little over eight thousand feet above the sea. From the American River grove to the forest on Kings River the species occurs only in comparatively small isolated patches or groves so sparsely distributed along the belt that three of the gaps in it are from forty to sixty miles wide. From Kings River southward the Sequoia is not restricted to mere groves, but extends across the broad rugged basins of the Kaweah and Tule rivers in majestic forests a distance of nearly seventy miles, the continuity of this portion of the belt being but slightly broken save by the deep cañons.

In these noble groves and forests to the southward of the Calaveras Grove the axe and saw have long been busy, and thousands of the finest Sequoias have been felled, blasted into manageable dimensions, and sawed into lumber by methods destructive almost beyond belief, while fires have spread still wider and more lamentable ruin. In the course of my explorations twenty-five years ago, I found five sawmills located on or near the lower margin of the Sequoia belt, all of which were cutting more or less Big Tree lumber, which looks like the redwood of the coast, and was sold as redwood. One of the smallest of these mills in the season of 1874 sawed two million feet of Sequoia lumber. Since that time other mills have been built among the Sequoias, notably the large ones on Kings River and the head of the Fresno. The destruction of these grand trees is still going on.

On the other hand, the Calaveras Grove for forty years has been faithfully protected by Mr. Sperry, and with the exception of the two trees mentioned above is still in primeval beauty. The Tuolumne and Merced groves near Yosemite, the Dinky Creek grove, those of the General Grant National Park and the Sequoia National Park, with several outstanding groves that are nameless on the Kings, Kaweah, and Tule river basins, and included in the Sierra forest reservation, have of late years been partially protected by the Federal Government; while the well-known Mariposa Grove has long been guarded by the State.

For the thousands of acres of Sequoia forest outside of the reservation and national parks, and in the hands of lumbermen, no help is in sight. Probably more than three times as many Sequoias as are contained in the whole Calaveras Grove have been cut into lumber every year for the last twenty-six years without let or hindrance, and with scarce a word of protest on the part of the public, while at the first whisper of the bonding of the Calaveras Grove to lumbermen most everybody rose in alarm. This righteous and lively indignation on the part of Californians after the long period of deathlike apathy, in which they have witnessed the destruction of other groves unmoved, seems strange until the rapid growth that right public opinion has made during the last few years is considered and the peculiar interest that attaches to the Calaveras giants. They were the first discovered and are best known. Thousands of travelers from every country have come to pay them tribute of admiration and praise, their reputation is world-wide, and the names of great men have long been associated with them—Washington, Humboldt, Torrey and Gray, Sir Joseph Hooker, and others. These kings of the forest, the noblest of a noble race, rightly belong to the world, but as they are in California we cannot escape responsibility as their guardians. Fortunately the American people are equal to this trust, or any other that may arise, as soon as they see it and understand it.

Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot defend themselves or run away. And few destroyers of trees ever plant any; nor can planting avail much toward restoring our grand aboriginal giants. It took more than three thousand years to make some of the oldest of the Sequoias, trees that are still standing in perfect strength and beauty, waving and singing in the mighty forests of the Sierra. Through all the eventful centuries since Christ’s time, and long before that, God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand storms; but he cannot save them from sawmills and fools; this is left to the American people. The news from Washington is encouraging. On March third [1905?] the House passed a bill providing for the Government acquisition of the Calaveras giants. The danger these Sequoias have been in will do good far beyond the boundaries of the Calaveras Grove, in saving other groves and forests, and quickening interest in forest affairs in general. While the iron of public sentiment is hot let us strike hard. In particular, a reservation or national park of the only other species of Sequoia, the sempervirens, or redwood, hardly less wonderful than the gigantea, should be quickly secured. It will have to be acquired by gift or purchase, for the Government has sold every section of the entire redwood belt from the Oregon boundary to below Santa Cruz.

Sequoia National Park

http://threeriverscalifornia.wordpress.com/

http://www.threeriversvillage.com/

Finished and available for Sale in my ETSY store soon. It is still wet and will about take about 3 weeks to dry. If you would like to buy this painting contact me. ginette@ginettefineart.com

Here is my latest. I love it if I may say so myself! Click on the image to go to my ETSY Store it’s available for a really nice price of only 259 and that includes shipping within the [...]]]>

Here is my latest. I love it if I may say so myself! Click on the image to go to my ETSY Store it’s available for a really nice price of only 259 and that includes shipping within the US. Can’t beat that for one of my originals.
Okefenokee Swamp
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Canal Diggers Trail in early spring.
The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000 acre (1,770 km²), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida border in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness. The Okefenokee Swamp is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia. The Okefenokee is the largest peat-based “blackwater” swamp in North America, and one of the largest in the world.

Location and history
The name comes from the Hitchiti okifanô:ki, meaning “bubbling water”,[1] or alternatively “trembling earth” [2], a reference to its spongy bogs. The swamp was formed over the past 6,500 years by the accumulation of peat in a shallow basin on the edge of an ancient Atlantic coastal terrace, the geological relic of a Pleistocene estuary. The swamp is bordered by Trail Ridge, a strip of elevated land believed to have formed as coastal dunes or an offshore barrier island. The St. Marys River and the Suwannee River both originate in the swamp. The Suwannee River originates as stream channels in the heart of Okefenokee Swamp and drains at least 90% of the swamp’s watershed southwest towards the Gulf of Mexico. The St. Marys River, which drains only 5–10% of the swamp’s southeastern corner, flows south along the western side of Trail Ridge, through the ridge at St. Marys River Shoals, and north again along the eastern side of Trail Ridge before turning east to the Atlantic. The Suwanee Canal was dug across the swamp in the late nineteenth century in a failed attempt to drain the Okefenokee. After the company’s bankruptcy, most of the swamp was purchased by the Hebard family of Philadelphia, who conducted extensive cypress logging operations from 1909 to 1927. Several other logging companies also ran train tracks into the swamp until 1942, remnants of which can still be seen crossing swamp waterways. On the west side of the swamp, at Billy’s Island, logging equipment and other artifacts remain of a 1920s logging town of 600 residents. Most of the Okefenokee Swamp is included in the 403,000 acre (1630 km²) Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

Read More at source

Land Of The Treambling Earth

HistoryOkefenokee National Wildlife RefugeThe swamp has a rich human history including Native American settlement, explorations by europeans, a massive drainage attempt, and intensive timber harvesting.Native Americans inhabited Okefenokee Swamp as early as 2500 BC.[4] Peoples of the Deptford Culture, the Swift Creek Culture and the Weeden Island Culture occupied sites within the Okefenokee.[4] The last tribe to seek sanctuary in the swamp were the Seminoles.[4] Troops led by General Charles R. Floyd during the Second Seminole War, 1838-1842, ended the age of the native americans in the Okefenokee.[4]The Suwanee Canal Company purchased 238,120 acres (963 km²) of the Okefenokee Swamp from the State of Georgia in 1891 to drain the swamp for rice, sugar cane, and cotton plantations.[4] When this failed, the company began industrial wetland logging as a source of income.[4] Captain Henry Jackson and his crews spent three years digging the Suwannee Canal 11.5 miles (18.5 km) into the swamp.[4]Economic recessions led to the company’s bankruptcy and eventual sale to Charles Hebard in 1901.[4] Logging operations, focusing on the cypress, began in 1909 after a railroad was constructed on the northwest area of the swamp.[4] More than 431 million board feet (1,020,000 m³) of timber were removed from the Okefenokee by 1927, when logging operations ceased.[4]The Okefenokee Preservation Society, formed in 1918, promoted nationwide interest in the swamp.[1] With the support of State and local interests and numerous conservation and scientific organizations, the Federal Government acquired most of the swamp for refuge purposes in 1936.[1]In 1937, with Executive Order 7593 (later amended by Executive Order 7994), President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the refuge, designating it as “a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife.” [1] The establishment of Okefenokee Refuge in 1937 marked the culmination of a movement that had been initiated at least 25 years earlier by a group of scientists from Cornell University who recognized the educational, scientific, and recreational values of this unique area.[1]In 1974, to further ensure the protection of this unique ecosystem, the interior sections of the refuge were designated a National Wilderness Area.[4]

Here is another painting from that region. The Suwanee River bank painting also availabe in my ETSY store… CLICK IMAGE TO VIEW

Come in to my ETSY store and check it out!

Learn about the Suwannee River

Suwannee River a famous song was written in 1851 by the great American composer, Stephen Foster. The river flows 207 miles from the Okefenokee [...]]]>
New painting just finished.
One of my personal favorites.
If you buy it before February 27th you’ll get a 10% discount.

Come in to my ETSY store and check it out!

Learn about the Suwannee River

Suwannee River a famous song was written in 1851 by the great American composer, Stephen Foster. The river flows 207 miles from the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico, its banks lined with tall longleaf pines, cypress and sweeping live oaks dripping with Spanish moss.

10% Discount if bought before Febr. 16, 2009

It’s in my ETSY store

Comin’ In!