Castillo's Winery, Morgan Hill, October 27th, 2011

We were fortunate to be allowed to paint at this scenic winery in the Morgan Hill foothills, with a grand mansion, a medieval style cottage (Queen's Hamlet, Versailles)  a lake, vines, and views. We enjoyed our lunch together on a shaded balcony in comforable chairs overlooking the lake and the mountains.  And we also had beautiful weather for it.  As Chris E. said "aren't we lucky to live in California!" 

Rear of the grand mansion house, Sylvia Waddell

Castillo Winery,  Dick Zunkel

Castillo's, Brad Santos

Seems like everywhere we paint there are lots of happy, laughing people.   (Besides us that is.)    Two weeks ago it was the schoolchildren at Ardenwood.   At the most recent paint-site, Castillo's Hillside Shire Winery, our "audience" (a 5th-wheeler club out for a day of wine tasting in the Morgan Hill area) was considerably older but having an equally good time.   My take on it is that they all  experience such joy at seeing our paintings.   Chris thought it the wine.    She may have been correct as they seemed particularly jolly coming out of the Tasting Room, the subject of my painting.   Whatever, it was a great location and a great day of painting.   Brad

Chiminea on the back porch, Castillo's Winery,  Jenny Tero

Castillo's,  Anna Jacke

Mary Paquet

I settled on a landscape done from a beautiful loggia overlooking a pond that reflected two olive trees, my center of interest. I was remembering my wonderful day in Provence painting in an olive grove last summer. I recalled instructor Maggie Siner's planes of recession and applied those concepts. The pointed mountain in the background is a famous Morgan Hill landmark, El Toro, a fitting name for the steep topography of an extinct volcano.   Mary

Flower Painting Competition

Caroline Garbarino - flowers at the Sunnyvale Art Gallery Painting Competition on October 22nd, 2011

Redwood Preserve, Los Altos, October 20th, 2011

On October 20th, we were treated to a pleinair demonstration by Kay Duffy.  For more information and photos of this, see the SCVSW website, Paintsites page.  Here are some of the paintings we produced having been instructed and inspired!

Redwoods, Anna Jacke

Fall Redwoods, Mary Paquet

"Fall Redwood" is a 10" x 14" watercolor. I had just the loveliest time and learned a lot from Kay Duffy's demo. She reminded me of "how to start" a landscape. The mix of her demo and our painting was perfect -- she would stop occasionally to let things dry on that misty morning and tell us to paint. The potluck at Karen Druker's home was delicious and it's always nice to chat with fellow artists and SCVWS  members I might not know. By now the sun was out and the view of the Bay and East Foothills was beautiful from the deck. The critique after lunch was perfect, with Karen moving things along and Kay giving helpful comments. Thanks to Sylvia, Jenny, Karen, and Kay for planning a perfect day. 

Neighborhood house peeping through the redwoods at the Redwood Preserve, Jenny Tero

I've come to think that Jenny & Sylvia can control the weather as we always seem to have perfect conditions for the Thursday paint-outs  --- so I was surprised that it was quite cool and foggy for the Kay Duffy demo in the Los Altos Redwood Preserve.   But on further reflection, I wonder if they didn't dial up the fog so we could see how Kay deftly handles wildly changing light, color, and shadow conditions.  I learned a lot from watching and talking to Kay in the Preserve and even more in the post-luncheon critique at Karen Druker's.    Thanks to all who made the day happen. 
Brad Santos  

Ardenwood Historical Farm

Last week we enjoyed a gorgeous day at Ardenwood Historical Farm. This site is full of very paintable views; the farm house, animals, barns, and of course rows of orange pumpkins and the distant hills. We had a lovely gathering at lunch and shared our artwork. It's great to see all the different approaches and how we can learn from each other. (There are lots of you out there who didn't send me your paintings. Don't be shy ...its never too late to send them in!)
Sylvia

Laurie Barna

Green Barns at Ardenwood, Jenny Tero




Mary Raftery

Sylvia Waddell

Ardenwood Historic Farm,  Brad Santos

A beautiful afternoon, thousands of pumpkins, hundreds of happy children (monitored by a handful of frazzled parents and teachers), a dozen artists, and some great paintings!

 

Moffett Field Paintout

On September 17th we took part in the open paintout at Moffett Field. It was a great site with lots of subject matter. Here are some of the paintings done by our members.

Laurie Barna

Anna Jacke

Brad Santos

 Brad: Behind the Historical Society & Museum, an old F-104 Starfighter:  ex-Luftwaffe; ex-NASA; back at Ames where some of it's early development may have occurred.

Sylvia Waddell

Sylvia: I was intrigued by the windows in the sides of the hangar.

Alum Rock Park

Some paintings from our visit to Alum Rock Park in September. Yet another gorgeous summer's day.
Sylvia

Brad Santos

 Brad: While joining up in the parking lot, Janice Faulstich commented that the park was mountain lion territory. After mulling this over,  we decided to stick with Dick Zunkel as offering the best protection against same!  He led us past a number of late-19th Century and early-20th Century stone grottoes (better suited, I think, for trolls than mountain lions) and baths to a wonderful old arched stone bridge. For the day, no mountain lion or troll sightings, only fine paintings.

Dick Zunkel

Sylvia Waddell

Sylvia: This is one of my tiny postcard paintings. It turned out quite well. I think I do better when I'm not thinking about what I'm doing. Painting with the left side of my brain!