SANDPOINT — As the fall colors bloom across the Idaho Panhandle, things begin to come together for local artist Zuzana Drobnik. 

The leaves’ ever-changing warm colors and harsh weather leaving its own imprint on every tree bring her wonder everywhere she looks. However, it isn’t until Drobnik can escape to the mountains that her inner artist is satisfied, able to find that next spark of inspiration. 

"With all the fall colors exploding right now, it feels like my eyeballs are on fire,” Drobnik said. “Certain things will catch my eye, especially this time of year when the sun is kind of low and it hits the tress and foliage in a certain way, it’s captivating.” 

A self-described “mountain person,” Drobnik uses her chosen medium of art to keep a visual journal of her adventures with her husband and dog. Though, you’ll hardly find any people in her paintings, instead opting for landscape paintings primarily using pastels. 

It wasn’t always this way. When Drobnik began painting as a kid, she said she drew primarily from her imagination. She said that the older she got and the more she explored the wilderness, by skiing, hiking and rock climbing, the more she felt connected to the nature around her. 

"They make such an impression on me, they just leave you with this feeling that you want to hold with you the rest of the week,” Drobnik said of nature. “Being in those spaces a lot, made me feel like I want to recreate it on a two-dimensional surface and share it with people.” 

From even a short conversation with Drobnik, her fascination with the natural world is obvious. She said she loves living in Sandpoint because of the access that residents have to untouched nature like the Long Canyon of the Selkirks or the Ross Creek Cedars. 

“The feeling one has in these places can't be compared to forests that have been previously logged and impacted by humans,” Drobnik said.  

A common theme throughout Drobnik’s work is trees; nearly every one of her works on display prominently features at least one aspect of the local giants. Drobnik uses these trees as the primary way to express emotion in her paintings. 

One of Drobnik’s favorite places to find inspiration in the wilderness is on ridgelines, where trees overlook the vast growth below.  

"I like to hang out in these spots for a while, to get a sense of what it feels like, what the weather is doing, how the wind is shifting things around, all my senses,” Drobnik said. “Focusing on a tree, I’ll take a bunch of photos from every single angle, so I have a 3D vision of it in my head.” 

When exploring the North Idaho nature, Drobnik said she finds herself drawn to high elevation five needle pine species, especially due to their old and isolated nature. She said white bark pines, which were classified as a threatened species in December 2022, are one of her favorite trees because of how they adapt to the weather. 

Recently, Drobnik said she went on a two-day hiking trip with her dog up to Upper Cedar Lake in the Cabinet Mountains and found a white park pine that left her in awe. 

"It was on a west facing slope the prevailing winds coming out of the west. It has this massive trunk that’s probably like four feet at the base, but it’s not growing up,” Drobnik said. “It was growing horizontally, sort of hugging the side of the mountain. Just the shapes of the trunk and the different directions of the arms, I was just awe struck.” 

Drobnik hasn’t been able to explore the wilderness or create as much as she’d like, focusing on taking care of her 4-year-old son while her husband battles cancer. That hasn’t slowed her creativity one bit and last month, one of Drobnik’s works “The Lightning Tree” ran in the Pastel Society of America’s 53rd annual exhibit in New York City.  

"It’s always been there, it’s been the backdrop of my life,” Drobnik said of art. “Drawing has always been a grounding thing for me, if I don’t have a lot of time, I always have a journal or sketchbook with me to help my mind.” 

    An in-progress pastel on paper sketch of a tree done by Zuzana Drobnik.
  

    A detailed in-progress pastel on paper sketch of a tree done by Zuzana Drobnik.