Sunnyvale Heritage Orchard. Thursday, March 12, 2015

 We missed the peak bloom of the apricot trees in the Heritage Orchard (not that that stopped us from painting blossoms where they would have been but for the record warm February) but still found plenty to paint: the beautiful, bright green, just emerging foliage; a few blossoms; the rugged, gnarly trunks and limbs of the older trees; some old tractors and farm equipment; each other; and, perhaps most important of all, the answer to the age old question of  "Why did the chicken cross the road?" 

For more information about the Sunnyvale Heritage Orchard and the adjacent Museum, check out:
http://northerncaliforniagardens.sutromedia.com/sunnyvale-heritage-orchard.html

Remaining Thursday Paintsites in March:

• Thursday, March 19, 2015:  Kirk-Farrington House, San Jose - we hope there will still   be some of the spectacular tree peonies and the old wisteria in bloom.

   Some of us started out "small" with blossom, leaf, branch, and specimen studies ...

Helen working on her Apricot 'botanical'

Helen's sketch of (a) new blossom, (b) spent blossom, (c) new leaf, and (d) parent tree

Iris

Iris' painting of Spring flowers in bloom

Liz & Melanie

Liz's take on (a) apricot leaf, (b) blossom, (c) tiny little apricot, and (d) tree from which they all came

Melanie focused on a single branch in exquisite detail ...

... as did Sylvia who focused in equal detail on a different branch and added an old wheel for flavor

Moving on to bigger (but not necessarily better) things ...  The old wagon with the yellow wheels was a very popular subject.

Rich's sketch of the wagon was from the middle of the orchard

Bonnie painted the wagon and apricot trees the way they should look in mid-March

Bonnie

Elaine's trees with the last of the blossoms, the first of the new leaves, and some orchard equipment

Elaine

Sylvia's painting of the old wagon and trees - also the way they should look mid-March

Sylvia and Bonnie

Some other old orchard equipment also caught our eye ...

Not content with the old wooden wagon, Broncha focused on the old, heavy metal model "Thirty" Caterpillar tractor - apparently a popular model in the "Valley of the Heart's Delight"

Broncha

as did Brad

Buildings associated with the Sunnyvale Heritage Museum were also worthy subjects ...

Iris's painting of the Museum

Dick decided to shine a little light on the day

Dick

While most of us were happy to stay on the paved patio, others weren't afraid of a little dirt and ventured into the orchard itself to work .....

Rich's second sketch of another piece of orchard equipment

Kaaren painted the orchard and the distant Coast Range with an old orchard implement accent

Kaaren working in the midst of it all

Lisha's painting of Kaaren painting in the orchard

Lisha

Jane's painting of a magnificent apricot tree

Jane

Another artist at work - this one of Melanie by Helen

 Still wondering about "Why the chicken crossed the road?"  -  keep going

Some of the other artist's in attendance ...

Candy

Laurie

Jolene's first time with the Thursday Paintsites group

After a hard day laboring in the fields, we rewarded ourselves with a nice lunch ..

Before starting our "critique" ...

Finally, here's what you've been longing to discover ---  the answer to the eternal question "Why did the chicken cross the road?" -- to get in Leslie's painting of course!

Leslie's painting

s

Wildwood Park, Saratoga. Thursday, March 5, 2015

An all-time great Spring day in one of the all-time great Paintsites venues:  the ancient sycamores and a small decidious oak had just leafed out and couldn't have looked more beautiful against the clear blue sky; there was lots of merry, splashing, tumbling, and falling water in the creek --- only the rocks in the stream bed seemed not to care that it was Spring.

For additional information about Wildwood Park go to the official Saratoga website:   http://www.saratoga.ca.us/cityhall/rec/facility_and_park_rentals/parks/wildwood.asp  


Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, March 12, 2015:  Sunnyvale Heritage Orchard, Sunnyvale - apricot trees in bloom.
• Thursday, March 19, 2015:  Kirk-Farrington House, San Jose - tree peonies in full bloom.
• Thursday, March 26, 2015: Still to be determined.   

For complete details, see the SCVWS website or March Newsletter.

We'll start with a tour of the trees in Wildwood Park:  

Leslie's tree

Leslie

Candy's tree

Candy, Helen and Lisha

Elaine's tree

Elaine

Brad's tree

Janice and Brad (photo by Yan)

 
Now we'll move down to the creek where some artists focused on the surly rocks and made them the stars of their paintings:

Iris' painting

Iris

Lisha's painting

Liz's unfinished painting (hat's off to Liz for working in a completely new style)

Liz

Some emphasized the water in the creek -- listen carefully as you view these and you can hear the creek gurgling along  ... 

Doug's 1st painting

Doug's 2nd painting

Doug

Dan's painting

Dan

Dan's painting of rocks in the stream.    This one was actually completed at a later date (Sept,. 2015)

Helen's painting

Dick's painting

Dick (hats off to Dick as well for working in a very different style!)

And some wanted it all!   Balancing the trees, the water, and the rocks was a challenge ....

Susan's painting

Susan

Bonnie's painting

Bonnie (in the hat) and her guest Mary

Melanie's painting

Melanie

Pat's painting

Sylvia's painting

Sylvia

Leslie's sketch

More artists - visit again when their paintings are completed and posted: 

new member Joe

John

Yan

After our morning's brush & pigment workout we were ready for lunch and our critique ... 

Eating lunch .....

still eating ...

... still eating!

Finally, the Critique:

our impromptu display area for most of what we did (photo by Liz)

Brad documenting it all for posterity (photo by Liz)