Weekend Paintsites Downtown Los Altos--October 17, 2015

There weren't any fall colors to paint really but that was a minor disappointment. Downtown Los Altos is a great subject any time of year. Artists often arrive at different times and wander off to different locations. The painting coordinator's phone number is always in the newsletter. Calling her/him will avoid missed opportunities.

Broncha checking out Louise's travel hournal

Louise's Sketch

Jane's Sketch

Uma's incomplete rendering

Baker Beach, GGNRA, San Francisco. Thursday, October 15, 2015

This was the first visit to this spectacular (but a bit out-of-the-way) site for a number of us.    Happily, neither the long drive from the South Bay during the commute period nor the fog and cool breezes off the ocean dampened our enthusiasm or energy level once we arrived.   This paintsite is unlike most others in that there's no indecision as to what to paint --- the Bridge makes that decision for you:   you sit down and paint the Bridge.  (After it's released it's spell, it's OK to paint other subjects -- which we did.)    A great thing about this paintsite is that steps from your car you're treated to two spectacular vistas.   To the North:  the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin Headlands (also part of the GGNRA and which includes the barely discernible Point Bonita Lighthouse).    To the Southwest:  Lands End and the Sea Cliff district.    (And, technically, maybe a third vista due West:  Japan as there's nothing but the North Pacific between our paintsite and that distant land.)      Added to the majesty of the site was the weather:  fog came and went, low clouds formed and broke up just as quickly, even the high overcast occasionally cleared so we were left with constantly changing colors whichever way we looked.


For additional information about Baker Beach, including driving directions, refer to a couple of official websites:
http://www.parksconservancy.org/visit/park-sites/baker-beach.html
http://www.nps.gov/prsf/planyourvisit/baker-beach.htm

Upcoming Paintsites:

• Weekend Paintsite - Saturday, October 17, 2015: Main St., Los Altos - urbanscapes with Uma - fun and challenging.
• Thursday, October 22, 2015:  Portola Vineyards, Portola Valley.
• 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:  Time's running out - 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 Thursday, October 29th). 
 
For October Paintsite details, see the SCVWS website or the October Newsletter.    For the November Paintsites, all special, you'll have to wait until the November Newsletter is published.

The Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands:
The fog and clouds teased us all day:  obscuring parts of the towers ("Hey, where'd the South Tower go?") and then revealing them in all their splendor ("Aargh, that color's so bright it hurts my eyes") --- who'd have thought a bridge could mess with an artist's mind so much.   The Headlands were also constantly changing: from grey, to muted greens and beige, to rust, to bright red.    The well-behaved ocean, trying to keep things simple for us, changed within a much narrower range of greys to blues to greens (when the sun was fully out.)

An interesting phenomenon was the morning shadow the North Tower cast on the Headlands (like a giant gnomon on a sundial) when the sun was out.   It was a case of  "now you see it, now you don't" and when you did see it next, it had moved.   

The Golden Gate Bridge as a giant sundial, the North Tower as the gnomon --- you can see by the shadow on the Headlands it's 11:37 AM.  (Photo by Marilyn)

The Golden Gate Bridge and some of the SCVWS Paintsite's Golden Girls (left to right: Jane, Candy, Lisha, Helen, Janice) and an appreciative admirer.

Candy's first painting of the Bridge.

Candy's second Bridge painting.

Janice's painting.   The fog had lifted and the low clouds drifted away for a few minutes so we had a glimpse of the Bridge in all it's orange (not really "gold") glory and the elusive North Tower shadow which Janice captured here.

Helen using the over-the-left-shoulder technique to paint the Bridge.

Helen's preliminary sketch of the Bridge.

Helen's finished painting of the Bridge.   Note:  the fog has crept back in and obscured part of the South Tower.

Jane.  The day started out more than a bit chilly with all of us wearing all the clothes we'd brought -- and wishing we'd brought more. 

It improved a little --- enough for Jane to drop her hood.   But not enough to shed her finger-less gloves.

Jane's preliminary sketch of the Bridge.

A preliminary pen and ink. I quickly found out that the new pen I bought was water soluble.   Jane

Jane's finished painting of the Bridge.   (Note the North Tower shadow.)

More Golden Girls (Lisha, Broncha, Marilyn) and Alan;

...  and their view of the Bridge from beach level.   (Note the two figures on the beach between Alan and the Bridge - they were wonderfully depicted by Lisha later.)

Marilyn's painting of the Bridge

Alan's finished painting of the Bridge.   (Note the North Tower shadow.)

Lisha's painting of the Bridge and the Marin Headlands.

Brad's painting of the Headlands and the Bridge.

Mary worked her way down the beach a little closer to the Bridge.

Mary's painting of the Bridge.

Lands End and Sea Cliff:  
The constantly changing light as the cloud cover and fog came and went - sometimes from minute to minute - made for equally constantly changing colors of the bluffs --- one of the things that makes plein air painting so interesting.   And challenging.   And frustrating.   But mostly so much fun.

Candy has already finished her Bridge paintings and was starting on her third - Lands End and Sea Cliff.

Candy's painting of Lands End and Sea Cliff.

Broncha's painting of Lands End and Sea Cliff.

Lisha's painting of Lands End and Sea Cliff.

Lisha's painting of the two young women who were having so much fun playing in the surf -- laughing, shrieking when a wave hit them, racing in and out of the water.   I don't know when I've last seen two people enjoying themselves as much as they were - they brightened our day too.

Lunch and Critique:

Lunch

After lunch, the "critique" in which we show-and-share our day's work.

Ardenwood Historic Farm, Fremont. Thursday, October 8, 2015

We came back to this favorite site to paint pumpkins and more pumpkins (pumpkins are not just for pies you know, they're also wonderful subjects both individually and collectively on the vine).   But the big Central Field had been planted in Indian corn instead (part of the normal crop rotation program) and they were harvesting the pumpkins in the adjacent commercial farm faster than we could paint them so determined pumpkin painters had to settle for a field of picked pumpkins in one of those ubiquitous "farm stands" where there's nothing but pumpkins.   (For those who made a point of charging their palettes with lots of orange - don't change a thing, next Thursday we'll be painting the Golden Gate Bridge.)     Fortunately, there's lots more to paint at Ardenwood so any disappointment at not finding pumpkins still on the vine quickly dissipated and it was on to old trucks, old buildings, farm animals, and the aforementioned Indian corn.
(Note: Ardenwood is hosting their annual Harvest Festival this weekend, Saturday, October 10 - 11.  You can help harvest the Indian corn and get to take some home.   See the Special Events page on the park website  http://www.ebparks.org/parks/ardenwood   for details.)

 Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, October 15, 2015:  Baker Beach, San Francisco - the Golden Gate Bridge!
• Weekend Paintsite - Saturday, October 17, 2015: Main St., Los Altos - urbanscapes with fall foliage.
• Thursday, October 22, 2015:  Portola Vineyards, Portola Valley.
• Thursday, October 29, 2015:  Triton Museum, Santa Clara - paint on the grounds and then a special "open" day in the Community Gallery to see the Members Annual Show.

Ongoing:  Not to be missed!    Best ever Annual Member Show at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara runs thru November 7th.   Open Saturdays and Sundays only (plus Thursday, October 29th). 
For details, see the SCVWS website or the October Newsletter.

 

Candy's painting of the road into the park.

The long line to buy entry tickets.  It looks like John, Leslie, Marilyn, Broncha and Candy were near the head of the line.  But looks can be deceiving: the two adults in front of them were each buying about 100 tickets for the busloads of  excited (I think my hearing has been permanently damaged), but well behaved, school children waiting to get into the park.

Pumpkins:

Kaaren arrived early and started painting the commercial pumpkin farm stand on the road into the park.

Kaaren's pumpkin farm stand painting.

Waiting for the park to open, Candy painted Kaaren painting pumpkins.

Rich hit on the pumpkins and corn theme too - this painting was done in the park.

Farm chores: 

On old farms, a woman's work was never done.    Here Leslie and Sylvia do artistic homage to them and the the chore of drying the laundry.

Leslie's painting of the wash hung out to dry.

Sylvia's sketch of the drying laundry.

Farm equipment:

You can take an artist to an old farm but you can't make him/her paint anything but an old truck (if there's one nearby) ...

John.   

John's unfinished painting of  The Old Truck.

Rich painting a different, not quite as old, truck.

Rich's painting of an old, but not the oldest, truck.

Lisha and Broncha.

Lisha's painting of The Old Truck and the Indian corn field.

Broncha's painting of  The Old Truck.

Leslie's painting of  The Old Truck.

I wasn’t happy with my truck painting - I’d tried painting it without a drawing and the truck didn’t stand out well.  So I did some line-work and I like it better.    Leslie
 

Sylvia painting the big sky, the corn field, and the Diablo range.

Sylvia's painting -  she couldn't resist including The Old Truck.

Kaaren.

Kaaren, a rebellious spirit, painted a tractor (may be an old one, maybe not), not a truck,  which was actually being used for farm duty.

Farm buildings:
There were things other than farm equipment to paint:

Melanie

Melanie's painting of the Cooks's House.   This handsome little building currently serves as the feeding station for the farm cats and resident peacocks and peahens.   Which offered Melanie the opportunity to make some quick sketches (not shown here) of the animals impatiently waiting for their lunch.

Broncha's painting of the Country Kitchen.

Marilyn's painting of the Gazebo.   
My favorite part was when two little girls on a field trip, then three more little girls came by to admire my work.  I did my best to encourage them in their own artistic pursuits.  Marilyn

 

Rich's painting of the old windmill powered Tankhouse.

Mary's painting of one of the specialty farm gardens.

Animals:
What would a visit to a farm be without some farm animals?

Jane's painting of the small herd of sheep kept on the farm.

Jane's painting of some goats, one of which (probably the beady eyed one looking directly at her) tried to eat her brush right out of her hand.    
Yes, the goat on the right is rather large but she is very pregnant, maybe with twins. Jane.

Corn: Somebody had to paint the Indian corn ....

Brad's painting of the Indian corn. 

The wind rustling thru the dry corn stalks was a pleasant accompaniment to the morning's painting.   Brad.

Lunch:

Lunch.

And, after lunch ...

... on the way out of the park, Melanie couldn't resist another quick sketch ("Leaving Ardenwood") which she finished at home.