Carmelite Monastery, Santa Clara Thursday, May 25, 2017

The Carmelite Monastery was truly, as described by Marilyn, an oasis of tranquility. For a painter the grounds have plenty of interesting views and subjects including a beautiful chapel, bell tower, small garden, and a large olive grove.  

The Carmelite Monastery is a City of Santa Clara Historical Landmark. Also known as the Bond Ranch, the site was originally owned by Judge Hiram Graham Bond between 1885 -1906 and then purchased by Senator James Phelan in 1913. The monastery was consecrated in 1917 for Carmelite nuns in memory of Senator Phelan’s sister. The buildings were designed by Maginnis & Walsh and the plans for the chapel won first prize at the 1925 Paris International Exposition. It is considered an excellent example of new world Spanish Renaissance Ecclesiastical architecture. It is said that Jack London was a frequent visitor of the ranch and the location was inspiration for his novel “Call of the Wild”.

Link to Carmelite   
Link to 2014 Carmelite blog

Inside the Carmelite Monastery Chapel

Cindy and Lisha

Karen in the olive grove

Grace

Marilyn 

Lisha

Anu

Ready, set, paint.

Marilyn's painting of the Chapel

Grace’s painting of the chapel 

Iris’s painting of the cloister

Joy’s painting of the olive grove

Cindy’s painting of the bell tower

Helen's Painting

Broncha's painting

Karen’s painting

 John’s painting

Jane’s painting

Weekend Paintsites, Saratoga Farmers Market May 20, 2017

This is always an exciting place to paint with so many people and colors. Special thanks to Alison who was our leader for this paintout.

Link

Alison's sketch above, Jenny's sketches below

The Saratoga Farmers market is always great fun.

Artist and art critic

Arizona Cactus Garden, Stanford University, May 18, 2017

The Arizona Cactus Garden is a hidden gem within the Arboretum on the Stanford Campus. The garden contains approximately 500 cacti and succulents, some of which were in glorious colorful bloom, appreciated by artists, photographers, and hummingbirds alike. The garden was designed for the Stanford family in the 1880s, and many of the plants are originals from that time. They have grown large enough to provide very welcome shade which was enjoyed by the 15 watercolor artists. The garden was neglected from 1927 - 1997, but now is beautifully maintained by volunteers.
Link

Jane's painting buddy visited many times.

She captured this stop action photo of the hummingbird

Jane's painting of the hummingbird's favorite cactus

Jane's painting of a succulent

Helen's yellow flower opened while she was painting

Helen's painting of flowering cactus

Ji-eun's painting of flowering cactus  

Iris had shade in the garden

Iris's painting of flowering cactus

Broncha sat in the shade of the arboretum while painting the garden

Cindy sitting in the garden

Cindy's painting of a flowering succulent

Annie sketching in the garden

Lorraine sitting in the shade of the enormous tree

Lorraine's first cactus painting

Lorraine's second cactus painting

Paula is painting succulents

 Liz with flowering pricky pear in the background

Liz's painting of a trio of cacti/succulents

Shakun lives in Minnesota but still paints with us from time to time.  

Her sister Amita is visiting from India.

Shakun's colorful painting of flowering barrel cacti

Shao Wei gets a good view of cactus garden while sitting in the shade of the arboretum

Shao Wei's painting of the Cactus Garden

Mary had a shady spot in the garden

Mary's painting of the garden

Mary's painting of a succulent

Marilyn liked the red-orange flowers of the barrel cactus so much 

that she sketched them three times.

Marilyn's third sketch of flowering barrel cactus

Salinda's painting

Dick's painting

We ate our lunch and shared our artwork in the shade of an enormous tree

A posed group photo of some of the artists