About Forest Bathing

A view of the misty spring woods.

I’ve always loved this ravine just off the Panhandle Trail for the angle of light that enters it, that deep “V” shape creating colorful highlights and rich shadows and always mossy logs with a little sparkle of water that meanders down the center.

And in nearly all seasons I’m intrigued by the soft mysteries in that mist when the woods are damp, filled with muted light.

I took the reference photo for this painting on an unusually warm day in early March 2022, walking barefoot in the woods around the Panhandle Trail between the snows. There was plenty of mist on that day as the warm sun reached the cool damp soil, and as I walked past this ravine on my way to the trail that winds up and up the hill the light was perfect to capture that feeling.

Painting Forest Bathing en plein air in my studio…

I wanted this to be loose, just to catch the feeling of it, but not to include every twig and sprig of moss, much as I would if standing there in the wet soil and the spring afternoon was fading and the light changing each minute.

To mimic as much of the plein air experience as I could I opened the photo on my studio computer’s large screen, put the paper up on my easel, and started painting quickly, working from the middle of this scene, blocking off areas and making adjustments as I moved. That way I catch the elements of the scene that are most striking similar to the way I would if the light was actually changing,

I know a painting’s time has come when it just flows from my hand and my pastels.

I titled it “Forest Bathing” because that’s what I was doing that day.

Get a print of “Forest Bathing”

Register for an account and get a free matted print

This New Member print is a signed digital print of my pastel “Forest Bathing”. Prints are made in archival inks on Epson Satin Art Paper. This print is 9″ x 13″ and is matted with a cream mat to fit an 12″ x 16″ frame.

Click here to register for your account to order your free print. When I receive your registration I’ll send you an email with information on how to order.

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This month’s desktop calendar

Wallpaper calendars are free to download. You’ll find them below along with instructions.

If these sizes don’t work for your device, or if you have problems, please let me know. Often I can troubleshoot the reason an image won’t download or won’t load on your device, but if I just can’t figure it out I can just email it to you and hope that works.

How to download and use your desktop calendar

1. Click on one of the images below that matches the dimensions of your monitor to open the image in a new page.
2. For desktop computers and laptops, right-click on that image and on a desktop computer choose “save as desktop wallpaper” or “save as background” or whichever option your operating system gives you to be able to do this. You may also simply save it to your hard drive and set it as your background from there.
3. For mobile devices, press on the image to bring up a menu and choose “open in new window”. Go to that window and press until a menu appears and choose as “set as wallpaper” or “set as lock screen” or whatever you’d like—this is slightly different on all devices.

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Horizontal and HD monitors and screens

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Square monitors and screens

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Small Mobile Devices and Tablets

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Cell Phones and Smartphones

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Take a look at other featured artwork and desktop calendar posts.

Each month I feature a piece of artwork or a photo from the archives to the present day, tell its story, and set it up as a free downloadable desktop calendar for just about every electronic device available.

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

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© 2022 | www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.