Stanford Arizona (Cactus) Garden. Thursday, May 14, 2015

Altho' the Stanford Cactus Garden PaintSite was officially "cancelled" due to a forecast 77% chance of rain, Liz and Melanie (like many artists, rebels at heart), defied not only the National Weather Service but also the Paintsites Coordinators, and showed up to paint!    And paint they did until higher authorities started hurling lightning bolts and thunder claps at them.    At which point they confessed they retreated to their vehicles.   

Note: The first 2015 meeting of Weekend Paintsites will be in the Cactus Garden at 10:00 AM on Saturday, May 16th.     Thursday Paintsites currently has no plans to return to the Cactus Garden anytime soon so if you were disappointed by the rainout, this is your chance to see the garden at its peak.

 For more information about the Stanford Arizona (Cactus) Garden, check out:  http://bgm.stanford.edu/groups/grounds/special/arizona

 Upcoming Paintsites:

• Saturday, May 16, 2015: Stanford Arizona (Cactus) Garden, Stanford  (1st 2015 Weekend Paint Site)
• Thursday, May 21, 2015: Sunset Magazine Gardens, Menlo Park
• Thursday, May 28, 2015: Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, San Jose - short Hike & Sketch or Sit & Paint

 (All photos by Melanie)

The entrance to the Cactus Garden

Liz and her guest Christine

Cactus with yellow blossoms and really sharp stickers.

Liz's painting of cactus with yellow blossoms.   (And really, really sharp stickers!)

These cactus were painted with watercolor pencil on the rainy Thursday just before the thunder and lightning -  kind of a little crazy imagery for me   Liz

New member Christine, (Liz's & Melanie's Mt. View / Los Altos Adult Ed watercolor teacher --- she must be good judging from Liz's & Melanie's work), braved the bad weather and came up with this on her first Paintsites foray.

And toughed it out to do a second painting.

Cactus with red flowers

Melanie's painting of cactus with red flowers

Artist unknown - an exercise in photo-realism.