Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve, Thursday, January 2, 2014

If the rest of 2014's paintouts are as good as this one, it'll be a great year indeed!   Sunny, mid-60s, windless, a King Tide lapping at our feet (which gave a much different look to the ever popular slough), and lots and lots of beautiful waterfowl provided the setting for a bunch of talented artists turning out some fine paintings (which we'll show this Spring at the Palo Alto Baylands EcoCenter).  

Please be sure to bring your plein air sketchbooks and some plein air paintings to show at the Annual Holiday Party on January 18th.

Next Paintsites:

• Thursday, January 16, 2014:  Neale's Hollow, Saratoga
• Thursday, January 30, 2014: Paintsite or Hike & Sketch  - location to be notified nearer the time.

For details, check the Society website or January Newsletter.

Here are some of us by the internationally famous Duck Pond.  

Here's some finished artwork:

Marilyn Perry

I admit to using my camera to photograph the Northern Shoveler, and drawing from the LCD screen.  But he and his mate were very hungry and spent the entire morning feeding right by where I was sitting, so I got to paint while viewing the real bird, not the photo.     Marilyn
 

Liz Siegel

 

Brad Santos

Lots of geese, lots of ducks, lots of gulls, lots of children, lots of airplanes at the adjacent airport, lots of fine artists = lots of fun.     Brad

Jenny Tero

Painting probably needs a couple of people and a flock of birds - there were certainly plenty of those around.  It was a beautiful day close to nature.  While we were painting the "islands" disappeared under water but by the afternoon they were back again and much bigger - magic!    Jenny

Caroline Garbarino

Once upon a time, I did this same scene in oil paint.    Now I see that it lends itself much better to watercolor.    Next time, I'll focus on reflections in the pond as an abstraction.   The Baylands offers an infinite array of beauty, just begging to be painted.   Thanks for the

adventure.     Caroline

Here we are looking over the morning's work...

 

 And here's a snapshot at some of what we produced (check back later for more finished artwork)....