On April 22, Earth Day 2021, local artist Richard McDaniel began a new series of drawings and paintings at Pepperwood. Selected as an artist in residence, he’s visited the reserve throughout the seasons to respond in pencil, pastels, and oils to the magnificence of Pepperwood’s diverse 3,200 acres.

The images he creates are not a direct visual transcription of the reserve or its environs, but rather a culmination of his emotional response, with the landscape providing a stimulus to design. Some of the paintings even portray multiple views or composite arrangements of the area. Some paintings may evoke a succession of images jumbled together – much as our personal memories and dreams include fragments of loosely connected experiences. His work truly inspires us to connect with nature on a deeper level. Through his unique brushstrokes he portrays place, mind, and emotion together to bring about a more spiritual union between the Nature we see, and the Nature we are.