Santa Cruz Paint-Out, Thursday, September 28, 2017

There is so much to see and paint at the west side of the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor: many moored vessels, colorful sailboats in dry storage, kayaks, paddle boards and people enjoying them.  The boats have easy access to Monterey Bay as they travel past the breakwater and the little lighthouse.  To the west of the breakwater is Seabright State Beach with a view of Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

It was a wonderful day for the SCVWS artists. The weather was beautiful with blue skies and a light breeze to ruffle the reflections, warm but not too hot. Master watercolor artist and teacher of the "Beyond the Obvious" SCVWS watercolor workshop, Mike Bailey, painted with us.  All three of the Thursday paintsite coordinators, Brad, Jane, and Marilyn, were together for the first time since January.  Marilyn was so happy to see Brad and Jane again.

The artists showed their good nature and resourcefulness when the planned potluck venue was unexpectedly unavailable.  Karen solved the venue problem by getting permission to use Aldo's restaurant's chairs after their temporary lawn location closed at 3 PM, and she provided a card table to hold food, so we set up under a couple of trees right by the harbor.  We are so lucky that she carries a card table, just in case she needs it for painting. Everyone pitched in to carry chairs and no one complained when they had to pay more to park longer.  Having solved the venue problem, Karen led her usual gentle and entertaining critique of our day's work. 

Altogether a very fun day.  The paintings are arranged from North to South or in other words, from inland to Monterey Bay.

Link to Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor website

Cindy's painting of the harbor

Mike

Mike's painting of boats and reflections

Karen's first abstract painting

Karen's second abstract painting

Jane P.

Jane P's painting of sailboats in the harbor

Jane P.'s painting of  colorful sailboats in dry storage

Jane S., paintsite co-coordinator, just back from her summer home.  Welcome back!

John's painting of sailboat

Candy showing her progress on her first painting

Candy's first painting

Alison, weekend paintsite coordinator, in front of colorful kayaks

Alison's painting

Row of artists seeking shade of trees on Atlantic Ave with view of the harbor

Elaine

Annie

Annie's painting of boats in the harbor

Annie's sketch of boats in the harbor

Marilyn's painting of boats in the harbor

Brad, paintsite co-coordinator on leave of absence.

Welcome back!  It was such a delightful surprise to see you!
We hope you can paint with us again soon.

Lois at Seabright State Beach

Broncha at Seabright State Beach

Broncha's painting of the beach, Monterey Bay, and Santa Cruz wharf

Susan B-G with breakwater and lighthouse in the background

Susan B-G's painting of Monterey Bay, Seabright Beach, and roller coasters

of Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in the background

Candy's first lighthouse painting

Candy's second lighthouse painting

Candy's pen and ink detail of lighthouse

Karen, leading her usual "gentle" critique, is admiring Alison's painting.

Note the use of Aldo's chairs.

Karen showing Candy's painting

Karen studying Jane P's painting

Our potluck is ready to enjoy.  The drinks and chips are on the park bench,

the entrée appetizers are on Karen's card table, and the desserts

are on Aldo's chairs.

Emerald Lake Country Club, Redwood City, Thursday, September 21, 2017

Emerald Lake is a private oasis in the wooded Emerald Hills area above Redwood City.  Although usually only available to Country Club members, SCVWS member Chris invited us to paint there.  The lake was quiet while we were there, but there were so many beach toys, diving boards, colorful beach chairs, etc, that it was easy to imagine all the wonderful sounds one would hear on a summer day when many children were frolicking on the beach and in the water while their parents watched nearby.

We expected the last full day of summer to be a typical warm summer day.  Unexpectedly the Jet Stream made a sharp dive to the South bringing brisk winds and cold temperatures.  We had to bundle up and sometimes get a firm grip on our palette and artwork for a particularly strong breeze.

This paintsite was supposed to be Jenny and John's last paintsite as they prepare to move back to England.  Jenny and Sylvia led the paintsite group for 8 years from 2006 until May 2014, so Jenny has been a very big part of the SCVWS paintsite group.  Unfortunately moving to England is such an enormous task that they were unable to attend the paintsite, but that didn't stop the other artists from having a little party to wish them well.

Jenny wrote to the group, "I am sorry to have missed the last paint site we could have gone to.  I have enjoyed knowing everyone, and co-leading the group was one of the most satisfying and enjoyable things I have done in my life.  I treasure the book that so many contributed to -- a wonderful memory of painting outdoors in California with some super people."

Link to Emerald Lake Country Club

A huge thanks to our hostess Chris for arranging for us

to paint at this charming lake

Chris's first painting

Chris's second painting 

Helen and Leslie are painting from the peninsula.

Helen's first painting shows brightly colored beach chairs

Helen's second painting shows a little building across the lake

Leslie's value sketch 

Leslie's painting shows many of the ways to play at the lake.

Marilyn's painting of the diving platform

Martha

Martha's painting of a house across the lake

Lorraine, Salinda, and Dick have comfortable tables for painting.

Lorraine's painting of a house across the lake

Salinda's painting of the diving platform and a house across the lake

Dick's painting of colorful beach chairs

Caroline is properly bundled up for the cold wind.

Caroline's brilliantly colored painting of the totem pole

Mary

Mary's painting of the artists on the peninsula

Broncha

Broncha captured the entire panorama

Chris and Marilyn are admiring Broncha's painting

and they are liking what they see.

The artists are toasting John and Jenny on this new adventure in their lives,

not with champagne, but with a cookie.