Saturday, March 31, 2018

Weekend Paintsites -- Hidden Villa Ranch, Los Altos Hills, CA March 31, 2018

Hidden Villa Ranch has deep roots in California history dating back thousands of years of habitation by Ohlone native Americans, Spanish missionaries, the Moody and Duveneck families, and as a refuge for interned Japanese families during WWII. (One of our beloved local artists played on the grounds of Hidden Villa during her Japanese family's residency during the war.)  The site is now a favorite day trip for visiting families and artists. Today the ranch hosts children and adults to view farm life, animals, and historic architecture. Our weekenders enjoyed spectacular weather between rain storms. 


Next Weekend Paintsite, San Jose History Park  April 21, 2018

Paintings from Hidden Villa Weekend Paintsite

Helen's painting of the farm and animals

Helen's painting of sheep

Cindy's painting

Cindy's sketchbook

Helen's sketchbook

Cattle grazing on the grounds

Jayne's sketchbook

Spring rains provided lush grazing for all animals

Cindy and Helen 

Sheep lounging in the sun

The barn is a favorite subject for artists

Alison's painting of sheep

Alison's painting of the barn

Artists display their work at the end of the session

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve, Morgan Hill, March 8, 2018

There was a threat of rain but thankfully it never materialized. Instead, we were treated with sun and magnificent cloud formations. Only 20 miles from downtown San Jose, this 348 acre open space preserve has one 4 mile loop trail  that traverses through rare serpentine rock outcroppings, grasslands and oak forests. There was a choice to paint/sketch near the parking lot or hike and sketch on the 4 mile Arrowhead Loop Trail. Hikers had spectacular views in all directions, and a chance to see a host of fauna and flora including coast live, blue and valley oaks, California bays, buckeyes, an early peek at wildflowers,  yellow-billed magpies,  red-tailed hawks and meadowlarks just to name a few. Those who chose to stay near the parking area had excellent views of ranch buildings, grazing horses and the surrounding hills.

For more information on the Coyote Valley Open Space see:

https://www.openspaceauthority.org/visitors/preserves/coyotevalley.html

Upcoming paintsites: See the SCVWS website or the March and April newsletters for details.

  • Thursday, March 15, 2018: Gamble Garden, Palo Alto
  • Thursday, March 22, 2018: To be determined
  • Thursday, March 29, 2018: Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills
  • Saturday, March 31, 2018: Weekend Paintsite: Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills
  • Thursday, April 5, 2018: Villa Montalvo, Saratoga
  • Thursday, April 12, 2018: Paintsite and Sketch: Coyote Hills Regional Park, Fremont
  • Thursday, April 19, 2018: Campbell Heritage Theatre, Campbell
  • Thursday, April 26,  2018: Cummins Iris Garden, Scotts Valley

As part of the Silicon Valley Open Studios "Talk Art"series of community TV programs, Paintsites regular John Ediger discusses his background, a few of his paintings, and demos his paintings, and demos his painting techniques for depicting the rusty objects for which he is noted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17wJwy4cdoc





Annie, Jane, Liz and Marilyn. 
First leg of the loop trail- scenic overlook, 140' elevation.

Marilyn painting from the scenic overlook.


Annie at the scenic overlook, first stop for sketch and hike.

Annie's sketch from the overlook. 

Jane and Liz at the overlook.

Liz's sketch of the oak savannah.

Leslie overlooking the Coyote Valley.

Leslie's pen and ink from the overlook.

Leslie's sketch of the monster tree stump.

Leslie's pen and ink of the storage shed near the secret orchard.

Leslie's sketch of Jane near the picnic area.

Salinda's painting of Coyote Valley from the scenic overlook.

Liz, Annie and Salinda sketching near a secluded orchard.
 This spot was approximately 800' above sea level
 and was considered the second leg of the hike. 

Salinda's view of the storage shed near the orchard.

Annie's sketch of the orchard and chicken coop.

Jane's view of the orchard and hills.  

Not another hill!

Annie, Salinda and Liz at the picnic area, an offshoot of the main trail.

Annie's sketch of the serpentine rocks scattered on the hillside. 

Toni sketching the newly leafing oak.

Toni's painting of the oak capturing afternoon shadows.

Dick's painting of a hillside studded with serpentine rock.

Helen's sketch of the cattle ranch.

Helen's second sketch of the ranch.

Kaaren's view of the ranch

A different view of the ranch by Tanvi.

Marilyn's painting of the patchwork fields of the Coyote Valley painted from the overlook.




Saturday, March 3, 2018

Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum, Thursday, March 1, 2018

After three years of scheduling an orchard paintsite when the apricot blossoms were past their peak, we finally scheduled a paintsite at a heritage apricot orchard when the blossoms were just reaching peak.  Unfortunately, there was heavy rain at paintsite time.  But since we had scheduled the paintsite at Sunnyvale Heritage Park which has both orchard and historical museum, with the kind approval of the Museum Association Director, Laura Babcock, we moved our paintsite later to noon start and sketched inside the museum.  Thank you very much, Laura, for letting us sketch inside the museum again this year.

The museum is housed in a replica of the pioneer Murphy family’s Bay View home and contains many artifacts depicting the history of Sunnyvale from the time of the Ohlone Indians through the advent of technology, with emphasis on the Murphy Family.  Our artists focused on the furnishings of the parlor, the kitchen, and the guest bedroom, and the portion of the mural room depicting downtown Sunnyvale.  As an unexpected treat, a virtuoso pianist delighted the artists by playing classical music on the parlor piano.

Marilyn had visited the trees about every other day for the past week to encourage them to bloom at the right time, so she was determined to capture the orchard.  Until the rain stopped she sketched the orchard and hills beyond from the back balcony of the Murphy House.  Then she joined Jane for watercolor painting under the roof of the decorative barn adjacent to the Murphy House.  By the time the paintsite was over, the rain was completely stopped, the sun was shining, and the museum garden was beautiful.

For more information see:

Sunnyvale Historical Park Museum website

Upcoming paintsites: See the SCVWS website or the March newsletter for details.
  • Thursday, March 15, 2018: Gamble Garden, Palo Alto
  • Thursday, March 22, 2018: To be determined
  • Thursday, March 29, 2018: Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills
  • Saturday, March 31, 2018: Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills
  • Thursday, April 26, 2018: Cummins Iris Garden, Scotts Valley

As part of the Silicon Valley Open Studios "Talk Art" series of community TV programs, Paintsites regular John Ediger discusses his background, a few of his paintings, and demos his painting techniques for depicting the rusty objects for which he is noted.

Link to John Ediger's video on youtube

Grace drew the part of the mural that includes buildings that
still stand in downtown Sunnyvale

Kaaren and Helen sketch in the parlor

Kaaren's sketch of the parlor piano

Kaaren's sketch of the guest bedroom

Helen's sketch of the old locomotive from the hand painted mural

Helen's sketch from the hand painted mural

Annie is in the kitchen drawing on her iPad 

Annie's iPad drawing of stove and utensils

Annie's iPad drawing of tea kettle

Caroline's painting of the Taate family piano with portrait
of Elizabeth Yuba Murphy Taate.  Caroline drew this inside the 
museum and painted later.

Marilyn's painting of the orchard as viewed from the Murphy House balcony