Thursday, April 28, 2016

San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, San Jose. Thursday, April 28, 2016

We just missed the peak bloom in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden but, even if the roses weren't all "perfect", they were close enough.   And not finding the perfect rose right off the bat had some benefit as it motivated us to walk through much of the garden looking for just the "almost perfect" rose.    Which we all eventually did find.

See the official Heritage Rose Garden website for additional information:  http://www.heritageroses.us/ 
(Rose lovers - be forewarned - it's easy to spend hours browsing the website, especially the catalog so read this blog posting first, then go back to the catalog.     Note: the catalog can be accessed thru a smartphone as you wander thru the garden.)

Upcoming Paintsites:
  •  Thursday, May 5, 2016:  Hakone Gardens, Saratoga
  •  Thursday, May 12, 2016:  Grant County Park - Hike & Sketch or Sit & Paint, San Jose
  •  Thursday, May 19, 2016:  Sawyer Camp Trail (regular time) and Filoli Artist Access.  3:30 - 6:30.  (Pre-registration required:  there may still be open slots - check http://www.filoli.org/art-exhibits/#artistaccess to find out if it's still possible to join the group.)
  •  Thursday, May 26, 2016:  Anna Cook's Mexican Garden, Saratoga 
Check the SCVWS website and the May Newsletter for details about these very popular paint sites.   And keep checking your e-mail or the SCVWS website Home Page for cancellation notices (it can still happen) and the Sunday e-notifications for specific driving and parking directions --- you don't want to be late for any of these paintouts.

Other upcoming local events of interest to plein air painters:

  • Through Friday, May 27, 2016:    SCVWS  Member Show "H2O Works" at the Presentation Center in Los Gatos.   For information about the exhibit see the SCVWS Home page:  http://www.scvws.org/ For information about the Presentation Center, see:  http://www.presentationcenter.org/
  • Sunday, May 1, 2016:  Plein Air Festival at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, Spring and Taylor Streets, San Jose.  10:00 AM - 2:00 PM.   For details, check the official Heritage Rose Garden website:  http://www.heritageroses.us/
Horticultural paintsites always present us with the choice of painting individual blossoms; perhaps a stem or stalk with several blossoms; or row after row of plants in bloom.   The Heritage Rose Garden is no different with the exception that, unlike the Municipal Rose Garden, there are few beds where there is more than one specimen of a single variety in the bed.   So instead of a swath of a single color, there's a motley patchwork of color.   

Red Roses:
Nora

When most people think of a "rose" they most often picture a single, long-stemmed red rose.   Nora found Kardinal, a hybrid tea rose introduced in 1934 whose buds are an almost black-red.


Pink (light, medium, and dark) Roses:

Candy and Jane S. painting the light-pink Shropshire Lass, a very early "English" rose introduced by David Austin in 1968.

Jane S.

Jane's Shropshire Lass (#1).

Jane's Shropshire Lass (#2).

Candy

Candy's Shropshire Lass

Mary R.'s light-pink rose

Mary R.'s second light-pink rose.
Brad's light-pink Bride's Bouquet "found" rose.

Left to right: Lisha, Iris, and Helen.

Iris' light-pink blossoms and buds.

Lisha's pink blossom and buds.

Candy's medium-pink rose.
Sylvia's medium- to dark- pink roses.

Carole

Carole's dark-pink rose.


Marilyn
The Heritage Rose Garden is directly under the flight path for the airport.    We eventually got used to the noise of the planes (we didn't duck when one flew over) and Marilyn was so taken with the proximity of the planes that she did a number of (very quick) sketches when they passed overhead.  (photo by Marilyn)

When she wasn't sketching planes, Marilyn, using techniques learned in the Birgit O'Connor workshop, focused on a dark-pink rose. (Would those techniques work for airliners?)   Anyway, this painting is of Chuckles, a floribunda introduced in 1958.

Yellow Roses:
Salinda and Dick found a perfect yellow rose to paint ...

Salinda's yellow rose.
Dick's version of the yellow rose.

Orange Roses:
Broncha was the only artist to color-coordinate her shirt with her subject ....
Broncha's orange rose blossoms.

Nora's second painting:  Mevrouw G.A. Van Rossem, introduced in 1929.
 
Joy


We're calling this an "orange rose" painting but it could as easily be a "pink rose" painting.    Either way, Joy used her Chinese Brush technique skills to advantage in this lovely painting.

 Mauve Roses:
 
Annie's sketch of a mauve rose.


 Rose Bushes in the Garden:    While the rose blossoms are all beautiful, many of the shrubs themselves aren't --- in which case it takes some props and special talent to make an interesting composition based on a single rose bush.  Here demonstrated by ....


Annie

Annie's large rose bush in bloom.

Annie's white rose and garden furniture.

Kathy W.

Kathy's sturdy arbor and climbing pink rose.
Garden Paths:    The garden is laid out in concentric circular beds so looking down a path provides a pleasing perspective for perceptive painters such as ....


Jenny

Jenny's first painting looking down beds of mixed roses.

Jenny's second painting looking down the curved rose beds.
Kathy W.'s second painting of a bed of mixed roses.
Katherine

Katherine's unfinished painting.

Helen's rose bed with Marilyn in the middle-ground.

Sylvia's roses, trees, Mt. Umunhum and the clear blue sky we were blessed with.  (I think the only thing she left out was Marilyn.)  (The dark blob in the foreground is a shadow = photographer's, not artist's, error.)
 Lunch:
Lunch in the shade.

The Show-and-Share Critique ....
Broncha is happy with her painting, as well she should be, during the "critique" session.

Dick sharing his "One thing I like about my painting" comments during the critique.  The rest of us liked everything about the painting.

Friday, April 22, 2016

Gamble Garden, Palo Alto. Thursday, April 21, 2016

Gamble Garden is both a "perennial" and an "annual" favorite of Bay Area plein air artists working in all mediums.   It's also favored for the variety of trees (most past their blooming period but with bright, fresh Spring foliage; a formal rose garden (currently in full bloom); a handsome old house; a giant (scary this time because it had bright red eyes) topiary rabbit; and lots of interesting stuff around every corner, down every path, and through every gate.    Happy sounds in a garden, be it a fountain, a stream, or a breeze in the trees are always a plus --- for us this time it was the chatter and laughter of young children planting the vegetable garden under the watchful and encouraging eyes of Gamble Garden volunteers.

For general information about Gamble Garden, see the official website:  http://www.gamblegarden.org/
If you plan to paint there, please observe Gamble Garden's etiquette policies at: http://www.gamblegarden.org/visit-us/policies-etiquette/   

Upcoming Paintsites:
  •   Thursday, April 28, 2016:  San Jose Heritage Rose Garden (not the Municipal Rose Garden), San Jose
  •  Thursday, May 5, 2016:  Hakone Gardens, Saratoga
  •  Thursday, May 12, 2016:  Grant County Park - Hike & Sketch or Sit & Paint, San Jose
  •  Thursday, May 19, 2016:  Sawyer Camp Trail (regular time) and Filoli Artist Access.  2:30 - 6:30.  (Pre-registration required:  there may still be open slots - check http://www.filoli.org/art-exhibits/#artistaccess  to find out if it's still possible to join the group.)
  •  Thursday, May 26, 2016:  Anna Cook's Mexican Garden, Saratoga 
Check the SCVWS website and the April and May Newsletters for details about these very popular paint sites.   Happily, rain is still with us so please continue to check your e-mail or the SCVWS website Home Page for cancellation notices and the Sunday e-notifications for specific driving and parking directions.

Other upcoming local events of interest to plein air painters:
  • Sunday, April 24, 2016:   "H2O Works"  Artists' Reception at the Presentation Center.   2:00 PM - 5:00 PM.  For information about the Presentation Center, check    http://www.presentationcenter.org/   For information about the Reception and the exhibit (which closes May 27, 2016) see the SCVWS Home page http://www.scvws.org/
  • Sunday, May 1, 2016:  Plein Air Festival at the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden, Spring and Taylor Streets, San Jose.  10:00 AM - 2:00 PM.   For additional information, check the official Heritage Rose Garden website:  http://www.heritageroses.us/

This is another site where painting the smallest details (flowers large or small), mid-size subjects (big plants or pots of flowers) or the big picture (structures or one of the many individual gardens) all  yield equally interesting and fine results.

Here's some "detail" work: 


Anna B. found a quiet spot to paint.

Anna B.'s quick sketch of blue poppies.

Anna B.'s detailed 'ink and wash' blue poppies.

Liz trying to ward off the caterpillars dropping from the oak trees.

Liz's painting of an orange, orange poppy.
Elaine liked the look of some kniphofia --- even though they were past their prime they're still an interesting subject.

Elaine's unknown variety of  "Red Hot Pokers" .

Jenny had the same inspiration as Elaine.

Jenny's Red Hot Pokers (the plant, not the fingers in the photo).

Nora

Nora's portrait of the ladybug who kept her company in the Garden.  (And the foxgloves where it made its home.)

Helen

Last week at Nola's iris garden Helen painted a yellow iris.  This week she complimented it with a purple one.

Helen's second painting - an orange rose.    The bee is painted, not an insect that she squished on her painting to add interest.  (Although wouldn't that be equally "artistic"?)
Sharon with some snapdragons.
 Going for larger subjects, but not the biggest, were ...
Dick

Dick's painting of one of the Garden's handsome container plantings.

Comment:  This is a brush pen drawing with watercolor wash. I have painted in the garden before, but cool weather and great subjects made this my best day at the site ever.    Dick


Candy

Candy's quick sketch of pink flowers along a railing.


Lisha

Lisha's container planting painting.

Joy

Joy's painting of  lovely pink flowers.

Leslie hiding among the foxgloves.

Expecting foxgloves?  Tricked you --- this is Leslie's first painting done in the succulent garden.

Salinda

Salinda's unfinished painting of a container garden and the green fence which surrounds the gardens and which provides a counter-point for all the soft shapes.

Jenny

Jenny's painting of some perennial beds.    Working out how to paint wide sweeps of blossoms without getting "blobby" (I think is how Jenny described it) was a challenge.   Which she obviously mastered.

Candy
Candy's painting of the foxgloves and background trees.
All in, big picture paintings were done by ....

Joy

Joy's painting of flower beds in the foreground, the gazebo in the middle ground and the surrounding trees in the background.

Katherine
Katherine's painting of some foxgloves, the gazebo, and trees.

Broncha set-up in a patio behind the Gamble House.

Broncha's painting of the back of the Gamble House.

Melanie was able to swing by for a few hours before she had to go back to work ... teaching, of course, Art.
Melanie's finished painting of the back of the Gamble House.


Chris

Chris' painting of one of the paths leading thru a shady part of the garden.

Brad (photo by D. Stuart)
Brad's unfinished painting of the small formal herb garden. 

Mary set -up on the perimeter of the formal rose garden.

Which afforded a view thru the white roses down one of the paths into the shaded garden.


Iris

Iris' unfinished painting of a hut-like structure in one corner of the garden.  (If she finishes the painting, she will submit it so visit again.)

 Lunch and our show-and-share critique...
Anna and Jean

Paintings set out to share and study.

Jane P. and Chris on the bench in the formal herb garden.  They'd  hoped to escape from the insidious caterpillars that kept dropping from the oaks onto our clothes, our equipment, and our paintings --- but hopefully not onto our lunches.