Portola Vineyards, Portola Valley. Thursday, October 22, 2015.

Acting on Susan's and Elaine's recommendation, Paintsites made its first ever visit to the Portola Vineyards in Portola Valley.    The two of them painted there this past Spring with POPs (Peninsula Outdoor Painters) when a rose garden was the focus of interest.   Not this time, however, as a large pond and, of course, the vines, drew the most attention.   The Lehmanns (and their dogs Bruno and Simon), who often welcome art groups to the Vineyard, couldn't have been more welcoming.  The weather forecast was overcast until noon but it was clear and warm from the time we (all 31 of us!) got there --- weather couldn't have been better.   Vineyard couldn't have been better.   Some of the paintings couldn't have been better.  (Of course, some could have been better -- but isn't that what keeps us coming back for more week after week?)

For information about Portola Vineyards, refer to their website:
http://www.portolavineyards.com/
(Note: the 'Where to Find Us' web page tells where their wines can be purchased locally:  Buy a bottle, open it, sit back, drink a glass or two and admire your painting.   What could bring back warm memories of the day any better than that?)

 Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, October 29, 2015:  Triton Museum, Santa Clara - paint on the grounds and then hopefully the Community Gallery will be open so we can see the Members Annual Show.
• Thursday, November 5, 2015:   Redwood Ridge Estate, Los Gatos.
• Thursday, November 12, 2015:  Ainsley House, Campbell.
• Thursday, November 19, 2015:  Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills.   
• Saturday, November 21, 2015:  Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills. 

Ongoing:  There's still time - don't miss the best ever Annual Member Show at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara.  The Show runs thru November 7th.   Open Saturdays and Sundays only (plus, hopefully, Thursday, October 29th). 
 
For the Paintsites details, see the SCVWS website or the November Newsletter.


The Ponds:
What with the drought, we've been yearning  for freshwater venues (the reservoirs all have the bathtub-ring look so aren't very appealing).   This pond was brim full, natural, and surrounded by interesting plants ...

Alan

Alan's painting of the Pond and Candy.

Candy

Candy's painting of the Pond and some resident ducks.

Janice

Janice's painting of the pond.

Nora

Nora's painting of the rustic 'fallen tree' bridge 

Ducks get top billing over the bridge (lower left) in Nora's second painting.

Cathy instructing Bruno to mind his own business.   Why would she do that?   Scroll down to see why.

Cathy's painting of the cattail ringed Pond with some pretty complex reflections.

Kaaren

Kaaren's painting of the Pond from a higher vantage point.

Sherrie and Lois

Lois' Portola Vineyard entry in her journal.    Lois also brought her Hvar journal to the paintsite.   If you didn't get to see it, she plans to bring it again - ask to see it, she's happy to share it.

Susan really focused on her painting!   She stayed on to finish it up. Visit again later to see the finished product.

Sylvia ventured to the far shore of the Pond where she painted ...

this  --- her painting looking back across the Pond towards the Lehmann's home.

Unfortunately, I don't remember who painted which of the many Pond scenes.  If you recognize this painting as yours, please let me know and I'll correct the attribution.  Thanks.

Bruno:
Bruno is a mischievous four month old Border Collie.     He grabbed Nancy's water color container and took off with it.    (Nancy being our Watercolor Society president, obviously he has no respect for authority.)

Bruno demonstrating his grab-and-run technique.

Bruno, looking not at all guilty, but very wet.    To atone for his sins, knowing we are watercolorists, he jumped in the pond and came up and shook himself off so we'd have even more water to work with.  How thoughtful.

Melanie, after having successfully run Bruno down and retrieving Nancy's water container, sets up to paint.   Wait, isn't Bruno supposed to be the one retrieving things?     Apparently not in this case.

Melanie's painting of the Vineyard grounds from the Lehmann's patio.

The Vineyards:
The grapes have been harvested but the leaves were still on the vines and had already turned yellow.   They made a great contrast with the dark evergreens on the surrounding hillsides.

Note:  Again I may not have the correct attribution for all of the following paintings - if yours is incorrectly captioned, please let me know and I'll correct it.
 

Marilyn

Marilyn's painting of the vines and far hillside.

Simon, a well behaved and friendly 'Rescue" lab.   (photo by Marilyn)

Things went very well for me with my painting while my visitor was nearby.  He stayed for a while but then he had to leave to visit other artists.    Marilyn

Elaine

Elaine's painting of the road running thru the vineyard.   I don't think anybody walked to the end of the road.   Who knows what marvels lie there?   This painting make  me think there must be some.    But we'll save them for next time.

John's painting of the Lehmann's home and the road thru the vineyard. 
Simon wasn't interested in playing but he laid down by my easel for a while.    John

Kaaren's painting of a working barn in the vineyard.

Dan painting the same building.

Tom's painting of  the vineyard with Dan in the distance.

Jenny,  back from her summer in England, had some plein air painting catching up to do ...

... which of course she masterfully did.

John T. working on a sketch --- under Jenny's watchful eye, he's starting to add color to his sketches.

Leslie (seated) and Jane looking directly down a row of vines.

Leslie's painting of vines and the Lehmann's home.

Jane's sketch of the vines and house.

Jane's finished painting of the vines and cypress.

Lisha's dreamy painting of the vineyard and trees beyond.

Sylvia's painting of the vineyard and pool house.

Katherine's painting of the same subject from a slightly different vantage point.

Candy's second painting - this time of the vineyard.   Vineyards are fun to paint because of the uniformity of the rows of vines, whether on flat ground or up and down hills, and the perspective challenges presented.

Iris painted the vineyard and neighbor's home.

Rich painted a section of the vineyard and the neighbor's row of Italian Cypress.

Simon and Bruno didn't come visit Rich but he did have some visitors:   The honey bees didn't like me being so close to their hives, but I lured them away with some banana bread crumbs!    Rich

Brad's sketch of vines and cypress.

Carol's unfinished vineyards and water tank painting.

While the rest of us labored, figuratively, in the vineyards, there were other things to paint ...

Leslie

Leslie's painting of a wonderful stone oven.

I added more 'darks' to the wall in the fireplace when I got home,    Leslie

Broncha's painting of a tractor and trailer in the vineyard.   Bet a few weeks ago the trailer would have been loaded with grapes --- now, its work done, it sits idle until the next harvest.

Lunch:
What could be more pleasant than to sit on the Lehmann's patio next to the pond, eat lunch and then show off what we'd done ...

Note: Images have been added to the Agnews and Ardenwood Paintsites postings.   Check 'em out if you have a moment.