Oak Meadow Park, Los Gatos, Thursday, June 7, 2018

Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos is a 12 acre park which is adjacent to Vasona Lake County Park.  It contains the miniature Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad and the W. E. "Bill" Mason Carousel which were both open for rides.

Billy Jones, former resident of Los Gatos, worked for Southern Pacific Railroad his entire 53 year working career, starting at age 13.  In 1939 when working as an engineer and running trains up the Peninsula, he found in San Francisco a 1/3 scale rusty locomotive which was about to be shipped to Japan for scrap metal.  It had been built in 1905 for a miniature railway on Venice Beach.  He bought the locomotive and spent countless hours restoring it and making other component parts for his home railroad.  After he lost both of his sons in WWII, he found solace in the company of children, and began to run his railroad on an irregular schedule for their benefit.  He ran his “Wildcat Railroad” on his ranch free of charge for 25 years.

Following his death in 1968 a group of civic-minded businesspeople decided to save “Wildcat Railroad”.  They formed a non-profit corporation which moved the railroad to its current location in Oak Meadow Park and Vasona Park and built nearly a mile of track.  The Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad began operation in 1970 and continues to this day. The original steam locomotive has undergone another complete restoration, and another steam locomotive and two diesel locomotives have been added to the fleet.

The W. E. “Bill” Mason Carousel was purchased by the corporation in 1980.  It was originally manufactured in Great Britain for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and shipped to North America around the horn of South America.  Following the exposition, the carousel became a part of a traveling circus, and eventually was stored in a San Francisco warehouse where the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad, Inc. discovered, bought, and restored it and built a permanent home for it in Oak Meadow Park.  It opened to the public in 1991.

It was an excellent day for painting.  The weather was perfect.  Although the train and carousel were giving rides, the crowds were light, possibly because some schools are still in session.

For information about the park, please visit: https://www.losgatosca.gov/910/Oak-Meadow-Park
For information about the railroad and carousel, please visit: https://bjwrr.org/

June and July paintsites:  See the SCVWS website or the June and July newsletters for details.

• Thursday, June 14: Frederick’s Field, Almaden Valley, must sign up in advance
• Thursday, June 21: Gamble Garden, Palo Alto
• Thursday, June 28: Hike and Sketch or Sit & Paint  - Uvas Canyon CP, Morgan Hill
• Thursday, July 5: Rengstorff House, Shoreline Park, Mountain View
• Thursday, July 12: Maison du Lac, Summit Rd, Los Gatos
• Thursday, July 19: East Bay Location, to be announced
• Thursday, July 26: Senior Safari Walkabout, Happy Hollow Zoo, San Jose

Not to be missed Shows & Exhibits by Paintsites Regulars:

• Tanvi Buch currently has a one woman show on the second floor of the Red Berry Coffee Bar, 145 Main St., Los Altos.  Do go see Tanvi's artwork and buy a cup of coffee to support a local business that supports local artists.
• Annie Haines was awarded an Associate Artist Award by the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the California Art Club for her "Point Reyes Lighthouse" watercolor.   The painting is currently on exhibit in the CAC "Art Between the Lines" show at the Peninsula Museum of Art.   The Museum is located at 1777 California Dr., Burlingame.   The show runs thru July 8, 2018.   Annie's painting is also featured in the May-June issue of Fine Art Connoisseur.
• Candy Yu and another artist have an exhibit of pet paintings at the VCA Crocker Animal Hospital, 475 N. Jackson Ave., San Jose.  The show contains 18 of Candy’s watercolor pet paintings and most paintings will be replaced on July 1, 2018 with new paintings.

Artists and their work

Some artists accepted the challenge of painting the train which stood still only briefly while passengers were loading and unloading.  Black diesel engine 2502 and green and gold diesel engine 3502 each took a turn pulling the train.

Brad's painting of engine 2502 at the station

Brad

Thursday paintsite co-coordinator, Jane

Jane's painting shows engine 2502 returning to the station

Kaaren

Kaaren caught just the front of engine 3502 at the station

Salinda's painting shows engine 3502 pulling a train carrying

many happy families

Leslie sat right by the station

Leslie's painting shows engine 2502 plus some railroad buildings

Marilyn's painting of engine 2502 with passenger car

Other artists preferred subject material that did not move, that is, the train station.

Dick beside Los Gatos Creek 

Dick's painting of the train station and soon-to-be train riders

Helen

Helen's painting of the train station

Candy's painting of the train station

John's painting of the train station

Rich's painting of train station

Lisa's painting of the train station is her 7th painting in the "30x30 Direct

Watercolor Challenge", that is, 30 paintings in 30 days in which no pencil lines

are drawn, instead artist draws only with brush and watercolor

Broncha's painting of the train station

Iris

Suzie

Last week was Lindsay's first plein air experience, and we are

very happy she came back to paint with us again.

Adjacent to the train station is the carousel.

Susan B-G is painting the carousel

Susan B-G's painting of carousel

Candy's painting of a carousel horse

Rich's quick sketch of the carousel

Oak Meadow Park is a large park with other interesting things to paint.

Benay

Benay is just starting the "30x30 Direct Watercolor 

Challenge".  This painting of the bandstand is her first

painting in the challenge.

Mary

Mary's painting of visitors enjoying the park

Admiring our work after lunch

We have no pictures to offer as proof, but when the other artists had left, two artists made like kids and rode the train.  It was absolutely delightful!