Thursday, July 7, 2016

Shoreline Park, Mt. View. Thursday, July 7, 2016

We'd originally hoped to paint at the historic Rengstorff House but a conference required the house and grounds for their activities so we shifted our focus from the house to the adjacent lake.     Turned out to not be a problem as there was plenty of interesting things to paint on and around the lake. 


An added bonus was provided by Weekend Paintsite regular Alison, a civil engineer with the City of Mt. View whose projects include Shoreline Lake, who was able to take a long lunch and explain how the lake (which is saltwater) operates.  From the surface it looks very natural --- like any other lake.   And of course we don't think of lakes as 'operating' --- but this one does!   The reality is that it's very complex with pipes, pumps, gates, control centers, data links and I don't remember what all else.  And that's just the lake ---- it's all tied in with nearby sloughs, creeks, and the Bay itself.    

Alison (green jacket & cap) briefs us with schematics, diagrams, and photos detailing how the lake is managed.  (Thank goodness there wasn't a test afterwards.)

For more information about Shoreline Park, see the official website:
http://www.mountainview.gov/depts/cs/shoreline/

Upcoming Paintsites:
  • Thursday, July 14, 2016:   Maison du Lac, Los Gatos, Summit Rd., Los Gatos
  • Thursday, July 21, 2016:   New Almaden Historic District, San Jose
  • Thursday, July 28, 2016:   Downtown Los Altos with potluck lunch to follow at a member's nearby home.  (See the Members Only / Paintsites Detail webpage and the Sunday, July 24th e-notification for directions to the potluck.) 
Details can be found on the SCVWS website and in the July Newsletter.

Events of interest involving Paintsites regulars:

  • Candy Yu's one-woman show runs thru August 6th in the Cupertino Library, 10800 Torre Ave., in the Cupertino Civic Center Plaza.    Hours are:  Mon. - Thu. 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM;  Fri. - Sat. 10:00 AM -  6:00 PM; and Sun. noon - 6:00 PM.
  • Mary Raftery and Laurie Barna were accepted in the Haggin Art Museum's 59th Annual Juried National Exhibition.  The Haggin Art Museum is located in Stockton and is famous for its outstanding fine art collection.   The show runs July 7  - September 11, 2016.  
  • Saturday, July 9, 2016 - 4:00 - 6:00 PM:   Reception for the SCVWS Summer Palette exhibit at the Hobee's restaurant at  680 River Oaks Parkway in San Jose.    The exhibit runs from June 26 - August 26th.  
And keep checking the "Members Blogs" links in the right sidebar for updates.


Although we couldn't paint on the grounds of the Rengstorff House proper, we were able to set up close enough for a good look at the old water tank/tower at the back of the property ...


Liz, just back from Alaska, ready to do some serious painting.


Liz's  painting of the Rengstorff House water tank/tower.
John's painting of the water tank/tower.

Annie's painting of the water tank/tower.

Staging from the San Antonio Rd. / Terminal Blvd. parking lot, (hoping to avoid the Google traffic on Shoreline Blvd.), Marilyn, Jane P., Cathy B., and Alison painted one of the small creeks which flow into the Casey Forebay, a storm runoff (freshwater) catch basin. Cathy shared an image of a wonderful painting she'd done there last week which inspired the others to give it a shot.   And Cathy to do another.


Jane P. (left) and Cathy B. paint the creek flowing into the Casey Forebay. (photo by Marilyn)


Cathy B's creekside painting.

Jane P. captured the same scene.

Marilyn's journal entry for the day started out with the same creek scene.
Thank you, Alison, for the excellent presentation about the engineering of Shoreline Lake, Charleston Slough, and surroundings.  I have been enjoying this park for such a long time, and you explained things I never knew about the park.     Marilyn


Alison's painting of the slough from approximately the same place as Marilyn's (lower right) Journal entry above.


Left to right:  Marilyn, Alison and Jane P. walking from the far end of the lake to join the rest of us for lunch and our critique.


There was lots happening on the lake and on the grassy areas the whole time we were there:  Day camps for kids, windsurfing lessons, kayakers, pedal boats, sailboats, walkers, bicyclers, a pirate themed playground,  birdwatchers, and, of course, painters.   And geese, lots of geese -- and where there weren't geese, there were reminders of where there had been geese.
Carole

Carole's kayakers on the lake and geese on the shore.
Helen

Helen's windsurfer and more geese
Janice

LuAnne

LuAnne wanted to capture the fog rolling in over the distant Coast Range -- she did.   I did not want to get any weird shadows in these photos --- but I did.


John.   Happy to finally have a Painsite with a cafe & coffee bar mere steps from where we painted.

John's second painting - this one of the lake and boaters.
Brad's painting of a windersurfer class in progress.
Melanie's painting of rental sailboats at the dock in the morning.   Later in the day, when the wind came up, they were out sailing.


Ji-eun set-up on a trail in the less developed part of the park looking back toward the lake.

Joe worked the north shore of the lake right next to the water.

Joe's first painting:  the shoreline wrapping around the point where the paved trail branches off toward the Bay Trail.


Joe's second painting: an interesting little flowering plant growing right on the shoreline.
 
Susan's trail side painting of the lake.

Karen looked for inspiration for her '50/50' project in a grassy, natural part of the park.


Karen's 6" X 6" sketches -- studies for her entry in the upcoming Sanchez Art Center "50/50" (50 paintings in 50 days) Exhibit in Pacifica.
For more information about this juried show, see this older write-up for a previous show:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23903779/sanchez-art-center-launches-its-50th-50-50
For more information about the Sanchez Art Center itself, see:
http://www.sanchezartcenter.org/index.html




Did we mention that there were lots of happy kids at the lake?   This is one of the many buses which brought them to brighten our day.    Painting by Melanie.


Lunch by Shoreline Lake ...


It's not often we look for sunny spots midday in July but here we are shunning the shade and seeking the sun.

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