Los Gatos Creek Trail, Hike and Sketch, April 26th, 2012

After a scorching weekend, the hike & sketch day was positively chilly, and we had a few rain spots at the first stop by the Billy Jones Wildcate Railroad.  Not daunted we strode on, finding some wonderful views of the lake, with colorful boats and flowers beside the water, and our final site was in the shelter of the reservoir dam, where we found a grassy picnic spot and ate lunch to the sound of rushing water, (and jackhammers from the road-works nearby).

Brad Santos  The Vasona Hike & Sketch  (a "hike" for me, a "stroll" for Jenny & Sylvia)  had a January-ish start:   cold and grey with a strong wind coming off the lake.    We started with a short stop at the little excursion railroad in Oak Meadow Park rail; then a view across the lake towards the boat dock with pendants flying; then another vista across the lake with the mountains in the background; and finally, my eyes watering and nose dripping, Jenny & Sylvia led us off the main path to a secluded, sunny, sheltered spot below the dam-spillway for lunch and a final sketch.     I used my Tombo water soluble pen/brush for a sketch of the main spillway gates and backside of the dam - cascading water, lots of interesting concrete planes and shapes, and a heron  (not depicted).

Dick Zunkel

Leslie Grimm.    

The day started cloudy and drizzly but soon turned sunny.  The 
colorful boats caught our attention across the lake.

Jenny Tero 

Have never noticed this rusty piece of machinery before  (or model of an engine? no one was sure what it was), but it made a nice contrast with the foliage at the miniature railroad station in Vasona Park.  (Finished this one at home; we only stop for 15 minutes when we're "hiking")

 Sylvia Waddell

I used my brushpens for drawing to encourage me to get bolder with color. There were some lovely stormy skies over the lake so I enjoyed creating a very wet sky and letting the paint do its own thing.