A simple little mathematical equation sums up our day:
The Palace of Fine Arts + a Passel of Fine Artists = A great day of painting in San Francisco.
It was sunny and hot (How hot? I've never had to use my car's air conditioning in February in San Francisco before - that's how hot!). It was also very bright and calm so, in addition to sharp, complex shadows moving in-and-out of and across the structures, we also had distinct reflections of the buildings in the Lagoon.
The one question we all had was "Why are the Maidens Weeping?" Marilyn did some research and found the answer. To find out for yourself about (a) our question and (b) the answer, check out ...
and
To see the Weeping Maidens, you'll have to visit. (There is free parking and public restrooms in the Innovation Hangar.)
If painting the Palace of Fine Arts wasn't enough for one day, we had a bonus event: we visited the California Watercolor Association's 46th
National (more accurately International) Exhibition at the Cannery
Galleries in Ghiradelli Square. You've probably heard the expression "like a kid in a candy shop"? In our case it was "like a watercolor artist in a CWA National Exhibition" --- we were all so jazzed. Going thru the show with other artists made it even more special. And seeing the work of some of our friends made it even more so --- a special point of pride in fact as there were three regular members of the Paintsites group who were accepted into this very prestigious show: Tom Ayers, Cathy Belleville (recipient of the Bronze Award), and Mary Raftery. Non-Paintsites SCVWS members Nancy Near (award winner) , Doug Greer, Veronica Gross, Sandra MacDiarmid (award winner), and Kathleen Mitchell were also in the show.
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| Mary R. and her CWA Exhibition artwork |
For more information about the CWA's 46th National Exhibition see:
http://www.californiawatercolor.org/gallery.php?cat=48
Note: this show closes this coming Sunday, February 28th, so there's still time to see all the wonderful paintings in one place.
Upcoming Paintsites:
- Thursday, March 3, 2016: Saratoga Heritage Orchard, Saratoga.
- Thursday, March 10, 2016: Calero CP, San Jose. Hike & Sketch or Sit & Paint.
- Thursday, March 17, 2016: Stanford University Quad and Sculptures, Palo Alto.
- Thursday, March 24, 2016: Santa Clara Mission, Santa Clara.
- Thursday, March 31, 2016: Wunderlich Park, Woodside.
For details, see the SCVWS website or the March Newsletter.
And remember, if
the weather looks 'iffy', check your e-mail or the SCVWS website Home Page for
cancellation notices. Also, since we often visit sites where mobile service may be weak and
the coordinators unreachable or GPS inaccurate -- best check the instructions sent by
Paintsites in the e-notification before heading out.
Your final assignment is to check the "Members Blogs" section as Sylvia, Anna, Mary P. and Dick
routinely update their blogs. And in the "Links" section, we've added a link to John Ediger's new website - it's definitely worth a visit as is Anna Jacke's latest from Oregon.
The central Rotunda was most everybody's focus - it's hard to ignore and hard, once one has started drawing, to put down your pencil and pick up your brush.
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| Left to right: Liz, John, Jane and Candy (The Weeping Maidens are at the corners of the box like structures atop the columns in the structures to the left of the Rotunda.) |
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| Liz's completed painting of the Rotunda. |
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| John's finished painting of the Rotunda. |
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| Candy |
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| Candy's sketch (the figures in her sketch give an accurate sense of the size of the Rotunda --- it's big!) |
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| Candy's finished painting of the Rotunda across the Lagoon. |
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| Jane |
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| Jane's painting of the Rotunda in the background and a fountain in the Lagoon in the foreground. |
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| Elaine worked on sketches of the Lagoon and the Rotunda. |
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| As did Susan. |
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| Nora |
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| Nora's painting of the Rotunda across the Lagoon. |
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| Kaaren |
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| Kaaren's painting of the Rotunda and north wing across the Lagoon. (Altho' the Palace of Fine Arts is a major tourist attraction, it's also a neighborhood park and there were lots of people just spending a normal day in the park: strolling, walking their dogs, laying on the grass, ... however, it's anything but a normal neighborhood park!) |
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| Kaarens' friend Gina joined us for a day of painting. Gina is an architect, as well as an artist, so she brought unique skill sets to this paintsite. As you can well see. |
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| Lisha gets Marilyn's attention: "We're going to get our photo taken." |
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| Now we have (left to right) Marilyn's, Lisha's, and Iris' attention. |
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| Marilyn's unfinished painting of the Rotunda. |
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| Iris' painting of the Rotunda with Lagoon in the foreground. |
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| Lisha's unfinished painting of the Rotunda (plus the tip of my thumb and an interesting shadow from my camera strap). |
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| Mary at the south end of the Lagoon. (The Weeping Maidens can again be seen in the corners of the large boxlike structure at the top of the columns to the left of the Rotunda.) |
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| Mary's unfinished painting of the Rotunda. |
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| Mary's sketch from the north end of the Lagoon. |
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| Left to right: a pigeon and some artist - everybody loves this park. |
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| Left to right: Marilyn, Salinda and Dick. |
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| Salinda's painting |
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| Dick's painting of the Rotunda. He used elements of a technique he picked up at a recent SCVWS Workshop - with excellent results. |
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| Brad's painting from the Innovation Hangar thru the Rotunda towards the Lagoon and the far shore where we had lunch.... |
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| Lunch --- Weeping Maidens on the structures, smiling artists under a Weeping Willow on the lawn - it all came together at this Paintsite. |
