San Juan Bautista Mission and State Park, San Juan Bautista. Thursday, June 25, 2015.

As swallows faithfully return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in Orange County every year, so do the SCVWS Paintsites regulars faithfully return to Mission San Juan Bautista every year.  (The good thing about us is that we're not nearly as messy as swallows and we actually spend money in some of the town's funky & fun little restaurants.)    If we keep doing this for enough years perhaps somebody, someday, will write a song about us too.  
   
Back to reality:  The day wasn't nearly as hot as we feared it might be, there was a strong breeze which helped keep us cool, and there were plenty of shady places (in the Mission arcade or under some of the many trees around the Plaza) to set-up and paint.   Conveniently located picnic table provided just the right place for lunch and a critique where we heard some exciting news.   (You'll have to scroll to the end of the posting to find just what that was.) 

For additional information about the Mission, see: http://www.oldmissionsjb.org/
For the adjacent State Historic Park, see: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=563

Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, July 2, 2015: Foothill College Bamboo Garden, Los Altos Hills.
• Thursday, July 9, 2015: Emma Prusch Farm Park, San Jose.
• Thursday, July 16, 2015:  Picchetti Ranch Preserve, Cupertino.   Either Sit & Paint or Hike & Sketch.
• Saturday, July 18, 2015:  Esther Clark Park, Palo Alto - Special start and end times - 8:00 - 9:30 AM to accommodate artists who plan to attend "1 Model, 3 Fabulous Artists, 3 Points of View" paintout at the nearby Los Altos Hills Town Hall.
• Thursday, July 23, 2015:  Japanese Friendship Garden, San Jose.
• Thursday, July 30, 2015:  Moss Landing - another long drive: paint all morning, lunch together, paint some more after lunch, drive home elated with your day's work.

For additional information and details, see the SCVWS website or the July Newsletter.


The long arcade fronting the Plaza (anybody ready for some serious perspective work?), the Mission church facade and bell tower were popular subjects:

Alan set up in front of the Plaza Hotel, across the street from the Mission and the Plaza, where he had plenty of curious tourists stop to admire his work.

Alan's painting of the arcade across the Plaza with the roof of the church and bell tower just visible.

Mitsi set up near the entrance to the Mission and the Plaza.  She was easily the most popular artist there --- a UPS truck even stopped and the driver hopped out to see what she was painting!   (Note her plastic trash bag blowing in the wind.)

Mitsi's painting looking down the arcade.  

Setting up in the tiled arcade was another option ...

Candy looking down the arcade with its many arches.

Candy's unfinished painting of the arcade and its many, many arches.

New member Christine also set-up in the arcade ...

and painted this wonderfully detailed and interesting composition.

Brad's painting of the arcade with Mitsi in the left foreground.

The imposing Mission church, the bell tower, the charming little garden in front of the church, and a seemingly insignificant gate attracted the most attention....

Broncha approached the Mission church front and center.

Broncha's unfinished painting of the Mission church.

Candy's first painting was of the church and bell tower.  (The bells are deceptively difficult to paint - these are perfect.)

Jenny and Mary, her dear friend visiting from England.

Jenny added a touch of mystery with the little gate leading to the Cemetery in her painting of the Mission church and bell tower.

Mary first attended a Paintsite paintout while visiting Jenny in 2007.   Hopefully she'll make it a regular part of future visits so we can boast that we have an Internationally recognized artist painting with us.

Lisha set up very near Jenny and Mary and decided on a similar composition.

Lisha's painting of a corner of the church, the bell tower and the cemetery gate.

 

Marilyn set up just slightly more off-center than Lisha, Jenny and Mary.

Marilyn's completed painting of just a bit of the arcade, the church, the bell tower and the cemetery gate.

Beyond the Mission and the State Park, looking in any direction, are golden hills and the lush green crops or the rich fallow brown fields which ...

... Mary R. captured with such perfection.

John, our motivator for this trip (or maybe he should be considered the instigator), was unable to join us but submitted a painting he'd recently done there on a "scouting" trip.

John's painting of the garden in the interior of the Mission (reached thru the Gift Shop).

 

Nora also found her way thru the Gift Shop into the enclosed garden for this painting.

Lunch:   We all bring lots of art supplies and equipment to these paintouts but sometimes I think we bring even more stuff for lunch --- which is OK because sometimes we spend more time eating, talking and laughing than we do painting.

After lunch, we held our "critique" where Mitsi definitely had the last laugh.  When I asked where her painting was, she said she couldn't put it out for display.   My comment was something like "Oh, that bad huh?"  A pause then Mitsi said "No.  I sold it.".    She hadn't even had time to photograph it before he happy art patron took it away.   Luckily for us, he came back to the Plaza (with the painting) to see what the rest of us had been up to.  He not only let us photograph the painting but posed with Mitsi and his new artwork.   This sort of experience --- meeting enthusiastic and appreciative art lovers, strangers at that, --- is one of the real bonuses of plein air painting and something in which the whole group can share.

Mitsi, the much pleased new owner, and his (formerly her) painting.

Agnews Historic Park, Santa Clara. Thursday, June 18, 2015.

Weatherwise, an almost perfect day for plein air painting --- almost perfect because the day started late-Spring cool and became early-Summer hot in the full sun.   Subject-wise, an almost perfect day for plein air painting --- almost perfect because too many choices isn't always a good thing and there were four excellent buildings from which to choose.  Comrade artist-wise, a perfect day for plein air painting --- no "almost" about it.
Several members of the group had personal stories from their childhood of visiting mentally ill relatives at Agnews.    It was a sad place and a sad experience - this time was certainly better.

For additional information about the Agnews Historic Park, check out the following websites:
http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/santaclara/agn.htm
http://santaclaraca.gov/index.aspx?page=2654&recordid=321

Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, June 25, 2015:  San Juan Bautista Mission, San Juan Bautista - bring your lunch or join us for take-out from JJ's Homemade Burgers.  Many of us will stay after lunch for a second painting.
• Thursday, July 2, 2015: Foothill College Bamboo Garden, Los Altos Hills.
• Thursday, July 9, 2015: Emma Prusch Farm Park, San Jose.
• Thursday, July 16, 2015:  Picchetti Ranch Preserve, Cupertino.   Either Sit & Paint or Hike & Sketch.
• Saturday, July 18, 2015:  Esther Clark Park, Palo Alto - Special start and end times - 8:00 - 9:30 AM to accommodate artists who plan to attend "1 Model, 3 Fabulous Artists, 3 Points of View" paintout at the nearby Los Altos Hills Town Hall.
• Thursday, July 23, 2015:  Japanese Friendship Garden, San Jose.
• Thursday, July 30, 2015:  Moss Landing - another long drive: paint all morning, lunch together, paint some more after lunch, drive home elated with your day's work.

For additional information and details, see the SCVWS website or the June & July  Newsletters.

Of the four historic buildings, the Clock Tower Building was the favorite subject.  There are any number of walls at various angles to each other in this building which made anticipating where the shadows (and they were quite distinct) would fall and how they would change over the course of the morning a challenge.

Candy working on her Clock Tower Building painting - almost done.

Candy's Clock Tower Building painting.

Cathy's finished painting of the Clock Tower Building.

Helen smiles while she works on the Clock Tower ....

... and she had good reason to smile.

Kathy joins us for her second SCVWS Paintsite

Kathy's unfinished painting focused on the state flag.

Leslie worked closest to the Clock Tower Building and was best able to appreciate the building's architectural details and elaborate brickwork.

Leslie's painting of the Clock Tower Building.

John was fully prepared to deal with "Is it Spring or Summer?" dilemma

John's sketch of the Clock Tower.

and his second, finished painting of the Clock Tower

 

Brad's painting of the Clock Tower.   Leslie challenged me to include some figures.   So I did -- really big figures - they had to stoop to go thru the front door.

The Auditorium, not quite as dramatic a building but equally handsome and equally rich in detail, was also a worthy subject ...

Alan wrapping things up for the lunch break.

Alan's finished painting of the Auditorium.

Nora

Nora's painting of a magnolia in front of the Auditorium.  (I've tried to paint magnolias a number of times in the past with no success.   Now that I see how it's done, I'll give it another try.)

The Admin Building is perhaps the least interesting of the historic buildings --- except when depicted by skilled artists such as ...

Broncha,

Elaine,

(Elaine's unfinished painting of the Administration Building.)

(Bonnie's painting of Mary with the Administration Building in the background.)

and Iris and her daughter.

Iris' painting of the Admin Building.

Iris' daughter's pastel of some of the fine old trees at Agnews

While Liz painted the Mansion, the fourth of the historic buildings, other artists painted Liz:

Liz forgot her chair but made the best of it and persevered.  Little did she realize that others were watching her.

Iris's painting of  Liz.

Leslie's sketch of Liz.

 Looking over our work after lunch: