Joseph D. Grant County Park, San Jose. Thursday, May 12, 2016.

The last time we visited Jos. D. Grant CP on the long and winding road to Mt. Hamilton, we had something of an unanticipated adventure which, happily, we all survived.   This time there was no hint of "adventure" (I know, I kept my eyes open for the brutish miscreants that threatened us last time) --- it was just a near perfect day for painting plein air whether we stayed under the shady oaks in the historic ranch house area or hit the trail for a Hike & Sketch.   A bonus:  the ticket machine was broken so we got in free - doesn't get much better than that.

For additional info about the park, see the official website: 
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/JosephDGrant.aspx

Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, May 19, 2016:  Sawyer Camp Trail (10:00 AM = regular time) and/or Filoli Artist Access Day.  3:30 - 6:30 PM.   (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 
• Thursday, June 2, 2016:    Rancho San Antonio, Cupertino - Hike & Sketch or Sit & Paint.
• Thursday, June 9,  2016:    Allied Arts, Menlo Park
• Thursday, June 16, 2016:   Vasona County Park, Los Gatos
• Thursday, June 23, 2016:   Sierra Azul Nursery & Garden, Watsonville 
• Thursday, June 30, 2016:   Duc Vien Buddhist Pagoda, San Jose

Details can be found on the SCVWS website and in the May Newsletter.    Be sure to check the Sunday e-notifications for specific driving and parking directions --- especially for the Sawyer Camp Trail paintout on May 19th as road work requires we take a circuitous route to get to the site.   Follow Marilyn's instructions in the Sunday e-notification for the 19th and you can't go wrong.

Other ongoing and 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 details see the SCVWS Home page:  http://www.scvws.org/.
• Saturday and Sunday, May 21 - 22, 2106:   Final weekend of the Silicon Valley Open Studios.   (Northern Santa Clara County and the Coast.)    The SVOS catalog can be viewed online at:  http://www.svos.org/
• Sunday, May 22, 2016:  Registration deadline for the Filoli "Valley of Hearts Delight" juried exhibit.   See  the "Prospectus" and "Call for Entries" at http://www.filoli.org/art-exhibits/#valleyofthehearts, and  https://onlinejuriedshows.com/Default.aspx?OJSID=8624

First Stop:  We met in the parking lot, just a short walk from  Jos. Grant's  historic hotel/roadhouse/hunting lodge/ranch house, rose garden, water tower, resident tom-cat, huge oaks, and great view down Hall's Valley --- lots to see and lots to paint.

 

But, before we even left the parking lot, Marilyn found a place from which to view (using her spotting scope)  the Lick Observatory and start a painting.

Marilyn's finished painting of the Lick Observatory.

OK, here we are in the Historic section of the park, the first stop for everybody ...
(Note: some of the paintings which follow are "finished", others are 30 minute sketches before The Hikers hit the trail.)

Nice old building, nice shady old trees, nice (but not old) focused artists ...

 

 

Joy's first painting.    This one is the Rose Garden fence (left) and the Arbor (right)  leading to another ranch house.

Liz:   best ever plein air artist/botanist -- especially when it comes to identifying and painting wildflowers.

Liz's sketches included one of the old Hotel, one of one of us, and several botanicals.

Katherine

Katherine's painting of the Hotel.

Lisha's painting of the same.

Jenny and Sylvia

Jenny's unfinished painting of the water tower and back of  the hotel.

Sylvia's painting of the same.

Nora's painting of the hills and oaks behind the Hotel.   (The trail is the same one The Hikers took - but in the opposite direction.)

 

Salinda

Salinda's painting from near the Hotel looking at the gateway to Hall's Valley and the hills above the valley.

Broncha

Broncha, situated a little below where Salinda set-up, painted the same subjects.

Joy's second painting of the same.

Helen

Helen's painting is of the area little to the left of Salinda's, Broncha's and Joy's - the small frame building is the same one they depict.

 

Dick's painting of an overgrown, barely still-standing ranch house.

Carole in the historic Rose Garden

 On the Hotel Trail:

 

I should have listened to Sylvia at the first fork in the road (next time I will) but eventually we got on the correct trail (photo by Salinda).

We stop to check out some the many species of wildflowers.

It was considerably warmer than we anticipated so we decided to stop under the first shady spot on the trail for our initial sketch.... 
  

Broncha's painting looking across Hall's Valley.   Up close, the purple vetch was definitely a vibrant purple.  In the distance, it took on a distinctive greyish tone.   Jenny speculated that there was some interesting color theory at work here what with the purples, greens and (already) yellow/gold hillsides all in play.

Carole's painting of close-up vetch on the hillside sloping into Hall's Valley.

Jenny's fetching vetches in Hall's Valley.

Lisha's painting of same.

And Sylvia's

 

"Come back Jenny":   Intrepid Jenny (that's her walking down the trail) was all for continuing (we'd only hiked 3/4 mile) but she was outvoted ---- most of the rest of us were hot and hungry so we decided to head back to the Hotel area, our friends, and lunch and a critique on the lawn, in the shade.

 

Heading home ... 

 No adventures this time, just another great day of painting.