Central Wholesale Nursery, San Jose. Thursday, December 14, 2017.

Another frosty December morning which turned, late-morning, quite warm and, by mid-afternoon, almost sweltering (almost) .   This was a new site, discovered by Alison Turner (Weekend Paintsites coordinator), for the Thursday Paintsites group.   And a fine site it is with lots of wide places in the paths for us to set-up and spread out.  Altho' it's called a "Wholesale" nursery, the public is welcome and for gardeners it's a great place to wander around and check out the huge variety of plants, a lot more than just the common annuals & perennials found in most local garden centers.    Plus it's much larger than most garden centers.   Definitely a destination for avid gardeners.  Enough about the nursery.   Isn't there a saying about "From Little Plants do Great Paintings Come"?   If not, there should be --- as you'll see. 

For more information about this Paintsite see ... Central Wholesale Nursery, San Jose
Also,
Central Wholesale Nursery plants & landscape supplies
Upcoming Paintsites:   See the SCVWS website or December & January Newsletters for details.  (Tho' it looks like we're into another drought, there's always a chance of inclement weather or treacherous driving conditions, so always check the website and your e-mail for cancellation updates before heading out the door.)

• Thursday, December 21, 2017:  Holiday break - no Paintsite
• Thursday, December 28, 2017: Los Altos Redwood Grove, Los Altos -  Mmmmm -- our Annual December  Paintsites Pot-luck - one of the best traditions Sylvia and Jenny started.    We paint, then pig-out.

• Thursday, January 4, 2018: Wilder Ranch State Park, Santa Cruz
• Thursday, January 11, 2018: Emma Prusch Farm Park, San Jose
• Thursday, January 18, 2018: Downtown Campbell
• Thursday, January 25, 2018:Charleston Slough, Mt. View 

Also coming up:  The Big, Big SCVWS Annual Holiday Party:   See SCVWS website Home page links (below the red shoes) for details.   And remember to bring a 4" X 6" painting for the Painting Exchange.
  
Dates to keep in mind::

• Tuesday, January 9, 2018: last day to RSVP for Annual Holiday Party
• Saturday, January 13, 2018: Annual Holiday Party, Saratoga 

Artists at Work:

From a central open space in the nursery many of us set-up with interesting subjects in a 360 degree circle encompassing the old barns and sales buildings, the mature trees in big boxes (probably for the trade), individual plants, and even other artists.

Annie

Anu.   Note how well her cap coordinates with the bedding plants in the trays behind her - now that's artistic!

Cindy painting some of the many boldly colored ceramic pots and animals.

Helen

Jane S. can't decide if it's gotten too hot or it's still too cold to paint with a jacket on.  So she's compromising.  (Aren't we lucky in this area to have to make decisions like this mid-December?)

John - nothing rusty to paint but he's still a happy artist and were we ever happy to have him back with the group after a brief absence.

Kaaren - also, happily for us, back after a short absence, eschewed the bright red plant at her feet and opted for a wider subject matter.   She brought her 2018 Calendar featuring her exceptionally fine fruit & vegetable still life paintings (I believe some of which we've seen in exhibits) to share with the group.

Lisa T. back with us for her second Thursday Paintsite.

Lisa B - also brought her 2018 calendars featuring her very eclectic artwork for the group.   What a treat!   She has some ideas for a 2019 Paintsites Calendar with paintings by Paintsites artists which sounded interesting.    We agreed that we'll explore that in a few months and see if there's any interest.

Brad (Peter) trying to emulate Leslie's wonderful Tombow sketches.   Not successfully this time but Leslie gave him a tip which should make all the difference in the world the next time.   (If you think he's going to share the tip with the rest of you, think again!)

Lisha found a delightful little perennial with small but beautiful blue flowers with which to spend her morning.

Liz forgot some essential part of her painting kit but made do, very well thank you, with what she had.

Lorraine set-up in one of the shade plant areas.

Marilyn had her heart set on painting poinsettias but they were nearly sold out so she purchased one and returned it to the plant area to paint it.

Salinda set-up in a corner of the nursery with lots to paint and tackled it all.  (Incidentally, Salinda recently sold her first painting - congratulations, well done!)

Dick painting the barn like buildings.

Iris painting a large tropical looking plant.  (The bright red plants in pots behind her are cyclamens.

Leslie sketching topiaries.

Tanvi and Elaine G. taking a break.

We Paint then We Eat Lunch:

We congregated for lunch to eat, meet and get to know some of the new members, and look at the calendars Kaaren & Lisa B. passed around, the cards (mostly botanicals) Elaine G. has created, and a unique little "book" which Liz created.

It was so pleasant sitting here (sun or shade) that it was difficult to rouse ourselves for the next activity ...

Showing and Sharing our artwork:

Jane S. holds up one of the day's outstanding paintings.  So outstanding in fact that Helen and Tanvi felt compelled to salute it (in the future they'll have to learn to salute with their right hand as does the artist in the lower left cornerl).   Or maybe they were saluting Jane in appreciation of her erudite commentary?  Or maybe they were just shielding their eyes from the sun?   Or all three?

The Show & Share audience waits for the next painting to be presented.

Here's our artwork which we illustrates the variety of subjects we tackled.

Anu's painting of Cyclamens

Annie's  painting of the Nursery barn/store.   Redwood trees along the Southwest Expressway lent a fine "borrowed" landscape element.

Brad's painting of a row of topiaries.  (There were many such scattered throughout the nursery.)

Dick's painting of the Nursery barn/store.  (If you visit, the retail area is under the green shed roof on the right.)

Elaine G's painting of deciduous trees in tubs.

Elaine G's painting of a second old building next to the barn/store.

Helen's painting of rows of trees in pots and the long shadows they cast.

Helen's painting of cyclamens.

Jane S's painting of plants in the Native Plants section.  (There is also another water-wise section.)

John's painting of Annie

John's painting of a pile of pallets (not to be confused with the palettes artists employ)

Kaaren's painting of Icelandic poppies and Fall colors

Cindy's painting of pastel pots.

Cindy's painting of a trio of deciduous trees showing the last of their fall foliage.

Broncha's painting of the barn//store,

Leslie's pen & ink and Tombow rendering of a garden sculpture.

Leslie's pen & ink and Tombow sketch of topiaries

Lisa T's watercolor pencil painting has a strong and pleasing design element.

Lisha's painting of Felicia daisies

Lorraine's painting of Statice

Salinda's painting of one of the paths lined by a variety of interesting plants.

Tanvi's painting of the small tractor that nursery staff used to move, haul & push stuff around.

Tanvi's second painting

Marilyn's red poinsettia

Liz 's red poinsettia.  She had to buy it in order to paint it.

Liz's drawing of a garden sculpture.  She forgot her paints so she had 

to use her graphite aquarelle pencils by Faber-Castell.  It was a good

excuse to practice drawing.

Remember to sign-up for the January 13th Annual Party by January 9th!