Paintsites Blog: Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills, Thursday, June 5, 2014

Combine an absolutely perfect Summer day; a wonderful site with as varied a range of subject matter as we're likely to find anywhere in the Bay Area; and a sizable group of talented artists (many of whom are recent converts to plein air painting --- but you couldn't tell that by their work) and you'd expect to get exactly what we got --- a bunch of smiles and fine paintings & sketches.

For additional information about Hidden Villa and the Duvenecks and their extraordinary social and environmental activism, see: http://www.hiddenvilla.org/

Upcoming Watercolor Society paintouts:

Thursday, June 19, 2014: Vasona Lake County Park, Los Gatos
Saturday, June 21, 2014: Rancho Canada Oro Open Space Preserve, Morgan Hill
Thursday, July 3, 2014: Allied Arts, Menlo Park
Thursday, July 17, 2014: Rengstorff House, Mt. View

Some of us chose to paint the Duveneck House ...

Katherine & Sylvia (Katherine, listen to mom - she knows best)

Sylvia's sketch


Caroline

I had two top models accidentally pose for me. Thanks for the much-needed adventure beauty of Hidden Villa. Caroline

Leonard

Leonard's painting

Rich

Rich's painting (1 ) (keep going for #2 & #3)

Leslie

Leslie's painting (1) (keep going for #2 & #3)

Melanie

Melanie's painting

Brad's painting

Liz's painting of the house (keep going for her painting of the Dogwood in the Duveneck garden)

... While others chose to paint some of the handsome trees in the Duveneck's garden ...

Sarah

Sarah's painting

Leslie's sketch (2)

... Or the spectacular Dogwood tree specimen ...

Liz and the big Dogwood

Liz's painting of the Dogwood

... While others found the large White Barn an equally worthy subject ...

Jane

Jane's painting (1)

Jane's painting (2)

Kaaren

Kaaren's painting

Rich's painting (2)

Although Rich has been a member of the Watercolor Society for a number of years, he only recently tackled plein air painting --- with a vengeance. Keep going to see Rich's 3rd painting - his choice for his best of the day.

... The Old Farm House (late 19th Century) was another popular subject...


Cathy

(Most of us positioned ourselves in the shade --- not Cathy! Note the improvised foot protection from the sun --- are we a tough, resourceful crowd or what?)

Kathy's painting - well worth the pain!

Lisha

Lisha's painting

Marilyn

Marilyn's painting

Nancy - giving plein air painting a try

Yan

... Or the old farm out-buildings ...

Anna

I had a great adventure painting at Hidden Villa. The lush foliage, flowers, gardens and the voices of happy children were uplifting. This year I have scaled back my plein air gear to a small watercolor journal. It makes painting more fun knowing I can produce several small pieces at every outing. Hope we can return to Hidden Villa during Autumn. Anna

Don't ever say Anna can't see both sides of a topic....