Paintsites Blog: August 2017

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Filoli Artist Access Day, Woodside, CA Thursday, August 24, 2017 - Paintsite - II

We held two paintsites this beautiful day, one in the morning at the Woodside Store in Woodside and another in the late afternoon (paid admission required) at the Filoli Artist Access Day, located 6 miles north of the Store.

Filoli is a beautiful country house set on 16 acres of exquisite formal gardens. Four SCVWS artists joined other artists and photographers at the monthly Filoli Artists Access Day. The gardens at Filoli are always beautiful, but today the reflecting pool garden was just stunning, the most beautiful I have ever seen it, with the late afternoon sun illuminating the rich purple of the "Victoria Blue" Salvia and the rich orange of the zinnias. Mixed in with these showstoppers were the only slightly subdued blue statice and coral colored dahlias. Many other garden beds were full of red and pink flowers of all shades.

Filoli is experimenting with different hours, and they worked out fine for me. Last year artists with Artist Access had the gardens to themselves from 3:30-6:30 pm, but SCVWS artists left early because it was bitterly cold and windy. This year the weather was warm and pleasant, but we shared the garden with visitors. We could paint from 4-7 pm, and visitors could stay until 8 pm. The visitors might have caused a problem for photographers, but they caused me no problem. I returned to stroll the gardens after painting, thereby giving the commuters a chance to get home, and my drive home was a breeze.

Link to Filoli

Orange and purple of the reflecting pool garden

Marilyn tried to capture the orange and purple which pleased her so much

The reflecting pool garden

Martha's painting of Garden House

Alan painting in the garden

Mary's painting with clouds flowing over the distant hills

Marilyn's painting of "Festina Lente", "make haste slowly", on a garden wall

Woodside Store, Woodside, CA Thursday, August 24, 2017 - Paintsite I

We held two paintsites this beautiful day, one in the morning at the Woodside Store in Woodside and another in the late afternoon (paid admission required) at the Filoli Artist Access Day, located 6 miles north of the Store.

The Woodside Store was the first store to be built between San Francisco and Santa Clara. In 1854 it served as a general store, post office and Dr. Tripp's dental office. The picturesque weathered wooden building has been a public museum and favorite painting site for over 50 years. The three SCVWS artists pretty much had the place to themselves except for school kids who were learning how to live as pioneers by chopping wood and doing laundry. Lorraine, Helen, and Liz painted three different versions of the old store.

Link to Woodside Store

Lorraine getting ready to paint

Lorraine's painting of the Woodside Store

Helen's sketch

Helen getting ready to paint

Helen painting

Helen's painting of the Woodside Store

Liz's painting of the Woodside Store

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Lucie Stern Community Center, Palo Alto Thursday, August 17, 2017

The Lucie Stern Community Center was built in 1934 in Spanish Mediterranean style. There can be lots of activity here with the Community Theater, the Children's Theatre, the Children's Library, and the central Courtyard all in one complex. It also has a well used wedding venue. We had wanted to have a paintsite here earlier in the summer, but we were told to come back later because the Community Center was swarming with kids attending Summer camp. Now that Summer camp is over, we had a delightful day painting. Even though the entire Center is quite large, most artists chose to paint in the "Secret Garden" behind the Children's Library where we could sit in the shade with great views of the garden, the Wishing Well, and the turrets of the Children's Theater. A big thanks to Lorraine for finding someone to unlock the gate to the "Secret Garden".

Link to Lucie Stern Center

Artists Salinda, Dick, Martha, Caroline, and Leslie

Dick's first painting of the tower

Dick's second painting of the tower

Salinda's first painting of the Childrens' Theater

Salinda's second painting of the Children's Theater

Martha's painting of the Wishing Well and Children's Theatre

Palo Alto Princess by Caroline

Leslie's painting of the Wishing Well

Leslie's sketch of the gate to the "Secret Garden"

Lorraine

Lorraine's painting of the outdoor Children's Theatre

Benay

Benay's painting of the outdoor Children's Theatre

Marilyn's painting of the outdoor Children's Theatre

Mary

Mary's painting of the Wishing Well

Mary's painting of the garden

Annie

Kristi

Kristi's painting of the secret garden wall. (Was this the wall from the Fantasticks?)

Helen's painting of the garden

Helen's painting of another part of the garden

Leslie's sketch of an artist in the garden

Leslie's sketch of the courtyard

Lunch in the Secret Garden

Everyone enjoyed the show!

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum Park, San Jose Thursday, August 10, 2017

There are so many interesting things to paint at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum Park. The Egyptian Museum is architecturally inspired by the Temple of Amon at Karnak in Egypt and houses the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts on display in Western North America. The planetarium is of Moorish design to honor the important contribution of Arab astronomers. The Peace Garden is authentic to the Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. The garden contains so many fountains, statues, flowers, and trees that we could return to again and again without running out of things to paint. The day started out cloudy, the sun came out before noon, and the temperature was just warm enough to make for a lovely day.

Link to Egyptian Museum
Link to Rosicrucian Park