We tried something a little different with this paintout: In order to meet the Newsletter deadline, we typically schedule Paintsites up to 7 or 8 weeks in advance which makes timing for garden sites a hit or miss proposition and we sometimes hear the old refrain: "you should have been here last week" or "next week the garden will be even better". Jane volunteered a couple of months ago to host Paintsites but, with the weather so unpredictable, we didn't want to commit to a specific date. Paintsites coordinators Marilyn and Jane S. came up with the idea of a 'flash' paintout whereby Jane K. would tell us when her garden would be at its best and then Marilyn would send Paintsites e-notifications three days before the paintout. So that's what we did and, considering the very short notice and a different day of the week (Wednesday), it couldn't have worked out better --- an excellent turnout for a special day in a special place. Couldn't have been any better last week. Won't be any better next week.
As to the garden: Many of us know Jane as a marvelous watercolor artist but may not realize she's also an artist in the garden. As a watercolorist, she's adept at avoiding "mud" - as a gardener, she revels in it. Her gardening technique is very loose - an interesting collaboration between Jane and her plants - she does the basic design and then lets the plants take over, freely naturalizing until every square foot is perfectly coordinated color & texture wise with shadows and shady spots providing strong contrasts.
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| Jane in her front yard. |
Upcoming Paintsites:
- Thursday, March 24, 2016: Santa Clara Mission, Santa Clara.
- Thursday, March 31, 2016: Wunderlich Park, Woodside.
- Thursday, April 7, 2016: Southern San Mateo County - site to be determined depending on where wildflowers are in bloom.
- Thursday, April 14, 2016: Nola's Iris Garden, San Jose.
- Thursday, April 21, 2016: Gamble Garden, Palo Alto
- Thursday, April 28, 2016: San Jose Heritage Rose Garden
For details, see the SCVWS website and the March & April Newsletters. And please remember,
check your e-mail or the SCVWS website Home Page for
cancellation notices.
Some of us focused on a single blossom, a stem with multiple blossoms, or an individual plant ....
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| Carol up close and personal with her subject ... |
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| ... this lovely Dutch Iris. |
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| Paintsites co-coordinator Marilyn |
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| Marilyn's painting of a trio of tulips in the style of Birgit O'Connor. |
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| Pat |
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| Pat also worked in the style of Birgit O'Connor. |
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| Kaaren was in an adventurous mood and worked on slick Bristol sheets. |
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| Kaaren's first painting of a Bearded Iris ... |
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| ... and her second Bearded Iris (with some small white flowers to keep it company). |
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| Sylvia |
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| Sylvia's portrait of an iris. |
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| Lois' journal entry of a clump of Dutch Iris. |
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| Painting from the sidewalk in front of Jane's house were, left to right, Candy, Helen, Lisha and Annie. |
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| Candy's study of two Dutch Iris. |
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| Candy's second painting of the Dutch Iris. This time there's three of them - My! Jane's garden does grow fast! | |
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| Candy's painting of potted cyclamens. |
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| Candy's painting of a hanging geranium. |
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| Candy's sketches of an assortment of blossoms. |
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| Helen's sketch of a yellow Bearded Iris. |
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| Her finished painting of same. |
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| Annie liked the look of this clump of California Poppies. And captured it perfectly. |
And some of us wanted more than a single plant or blossom but not the whole garden ...
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| Joy |
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| Joy assembled this lovely bouquet of iris, poppies, and tulips. |
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| Another of Kaaren's fine paintings on Bristol paper |
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| And Kaarens' final painting of the day. |
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| Berni |
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| Berni's painting of Joy at work |
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| Berni's painting of "The Lady in the Pink Hat" - she's everywhere! |
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| Lois' journal entry of a bed of iris and poppies. |
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| Lisha's painting of a Bearded Iris and it supporting cast. |
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| Sylvia's second painting - this of a varied planting including, I think, the only one any of us did of a Foxglove. |
And some of us wanted to capture the overall feeling of the garden ...
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| Jayne |
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| Jayne's
unfinished journal entry - note the chickens peeking out of their
hen-house "playhouse" (or is it a playhouse "hen-house"?) | |
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| Kay |
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| Kay's unfinished painting. That's Marilyn in the pink hat blending in perfectly with the flowers. |
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| Uma spent her lunch break with us -- just enough time to create two wonderful paintings ... |
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| Uma's quick sketch. |
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| Uma's second, more detailed, painting. |
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| Brad's painting of artists (including Marilyn of course) in Jane's spectacular garden. |
