When we visited the Sunset Gardens this past May, there were a few chickens wandering around that piqued Laurie's interest in painting them. Her suggestion to find a "chicken-y" site met with enthusiastic approval. Hence our visit to the Prusch Farm Park which, even though it's in the shadow of the I280/101/I680 Interchange, has lots of chickens and much more: an old Victorian farmhouse, a large barn, old farm equipment, and a variety of livestock all of which conjure up the past agricultural history of the Valley --- just as Emma Prusch intended.
For more information about the Emma Prusch Farm Park, see:
https://www.sanjoseca.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/131
Upcoming Paintsites:
- Thursday, July 16, 2015: Picchetti Ranch Preserve, Cupertino. Either Sit & Paint or Hike & Sketch. (Jenny won't be leading the Hike so, if there is one, it'll be a tame affair -- nothing to test our mettle.)
- 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 - our big mid-Summer road trip: drive, paint, eat, paint, maybe eat again, drive home.
For additional information and details, see the SCVWS website or the July Newsletter.
Today's action:
We've all heard the old joke about "Why did the chicken cross the road?" The answer is pretty obvious: "To have its portrait painted by..."
 |
Laurie
Note: University Art in San Jose (a supporter of SCVWS) currently
has ten of member Laurie Barna's "Liberty" series paintings hung
throughout the store. Visit and see some of Laurie's fine, award-winning studio work.
|
 |
| Laurie's high-stepping rooster. |
... and ...
 |
| Candy |
 |
| Candy's chicken sketches. |
... and ...
 |
| Helen |
 |
| Helen's sketch of a particularly colorful rooster ... |
 |
| and her finished painting of same with another, less colorful, chicken. |
|
... and ...
 |
| Iris |
 |
| Iris' painting of the same two chickens. |
... and ...
 |
| Lois |
 |
| Lois' painting of one of the golden roosters - of which there were a few. |
|
|
|
... and ...
 |
| Melanie |
 |
| Melanie's chickens appreciating the view (most of the time they spend eating so it was nice to see this little group sharing a more contemplative moment together). |
... and ...
 |
| Sylvia |
 |
| Sylvia's portrait of a particularly beady-eyed rooster. |
... and ...
 |
| Lisha |
 |
| Lisha's unfinished painting of a couple of bright colored roosters. |
... and ...
Oops, no photo of Mitsi but she was there as evidenced by these to paintings...
 |
| One chicken by Mitsi, |
 |
| Two ducks by Mitsi. |
... and ...
 |
| Leslie |
 |
| Leslie's painting of a rooster - he's not worried about crossing any road, he's king of the road with a rig like that. |
Seen enough chickens? Good because there's plenty more to paint in the Prusch Farm Park:
 |
| Roger agrees - it's time to move on to ... |
The Big Barn, biggest in the county in fact::
 |
| The big barn by Melanie. |
 |
| By Candy (darn chickens insist on being in every painting). |
 |
| And by Jenny |
Emma Prusch's old farmhouse was another popular subject:
 |
| John |
 |
| John's painting of Emma Prusch's handsome old farmhouse. | |
 |
| Lois' painting of an old tractor parked next to the farmhouse. | |
 |
| Brad's painting of the Wishing Well. |
And there were other interesting buildings to paint as well:
 |
| Nora got off the beaten path (but not away from the chickens) to paint another barn. |
 |
| Nora's painting of the new barn near some of the micro gardens. |
 |
| Jenny's painting of another of the farm buildings framed by some colorful thistles. |
 |
| Kathy's finished painting of one of the "working" farm buildings. |
And there were other animals to paint too --- not as colorful, not as active - in fact pretty drab and lethargic - but equally interesting and worthy subjects (at least Melanie found them so):
 |
| A goat by Melanie. |
 |
| Two pigs by Melanie. |
And there were the East Foothills:
 |
Janice
 |
| Janice's painting of the foothills. |
|
 |
| Mary R. |
 |
| Sylvia's painting of the East Foothill with a man and his pet chicken in the foreground. |
And finally, in a category by itself:
 |
| Liz chose a subject which Leslie had also chosen the last time we visited ... |
 |
| the large plywood cows (top to bottom: Hand Cow, Smiling Cow, and American Cow) painted by kids |
A good morning's work and it was time for lunch and our critique:
After which John showed us his new, big-wheeled, go-anywhere, complete art supply and equipment cart which he designed and built himself. It's a great concept and you'll be seeing more photos of this as he refines the design.
No comments:
Post a Comment