Portola Vineyards, Portola Valley, Thursday, July 25, 2019

We have visited beautiful Portola Vineyards in the fall, but this is the first time we visited in the summer when the green grapes were on the vine.  This was our last chance to see the ripening grapes because soon the vineyards will be netted to protect the grapes.  Thank you to our hosts, the Lehmann family, for allowing us to paint at these lovely vineyards.  Thank you to Liz for leading this paintsite while the co-coordinators were both out of town.  Thank you to Edward for helping Liz with photography.
 
It was a very warm day but we had lots of shade from all the big trees and lots of water available. From the interesting old reddish barn to the very green vineyards with green grapes to the old brown water tower to the beautiful blue pond to the dark evergreens to the golden grasses we had a very colorful environment to paint in.

For more information about Portola Vineyards visit https://portolavineyards.com/
For more photos from the paintsite, see Edward Rooks's Flickr album:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/edwardrooks/sets/72157709888153246/

Upcoming Paintsites:  See the SCVWS website or the August Newsletter for details:

• Thursday, August 1, Saratoga History Park
• Thursday, August 8, Don Edwards Wildlife Preserve, Fremont
• Thursday, August 15, Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, San Jose
• Saturday, August 17, Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, San Jose
• Thursday, August 22, Senior Safari, Happy Hollow Zoo, San Jose
• Thursday, August 29, Villa Montalvo, Saratoga
• Thursday, Sept 5, Emerald Lake Country Club, Emerald Hills

Artists and their artwork:

Brad by the grapevines and roses

Brad's painting of the vineyard

The green grapes are on the vine.

Lauren and Caroline

Lauren's painting of the vineyards and roses

Caroline's painting of the vineyards and roses

Caroline's pencil sketch

Cindy

Cindy's sketches in her sketchbook

Helen

Helen's painting of the vineyards and roses

Sham and Indira

Indira's painting of the vineyards

Sham's painting of the swimming pool

We were very happy to have a new member, Kathy, paint with us.

Kathy's painting of the old wood staves and 

rusty steel cables on a water tank

Edward's painting of the pond

Elaine by the pond

Rich and Caroline by the pond

Rich's painting of the pond

Bruno, a busy border collie, kept us entertained while we painted with his need

to chase a stick, twig, ball, anything he could get anyone to throw for him.

Here we see Bruno with our host Len Lehmann and Elaine.

Our artwork on display

Thank you to Liz for leading the paintsite while

co-coordinators Jane and Marilyn are both out of town.

Liz is showing Helen's painting.

A posed photo of our artists

Weekend Paintsite, Webb Ranch, Portola Valley, July 20, 2019

The weekend artists had a fun time sampling berries at Webb Ranch in Portola Valley on a nice summer day!  They found each other in the rows of berries.  Three varieties of blackberries were ripe for picking. The horses on the hills provided an ever-changing hillside. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing the artists toasted their down to earth day's work with Tang!

Link

Cindy in the rows of berries

Berries!

Carol and Jayne 

Mary

Marilyn

Alison's painting of rows of berries with horses on the hill

Marilyn's painting of colorful berries

Mary's painting of rows of berries

More berries

More berries and flowers to make even more berries

Horses on the hill above rows of berries

Stevens Creek CP Lakeshore Picnic Area, Cupertino, July 18, 2019

Stevens Creek Reservoir was nearly full in July for the first time in a long time.  This made for a beautiful painting subject for us, a pleasant place for a picnic for a group of residents from a neighborhood rehabilitation center, and a fun place for paddle boarding for a group of children and their leaders.  It was a warm day, but Stevens Creek CP Lakeshore Picnic Area has lots of beautiful oak trees giving shade to many picnic tables with good views of the reservoir, so we were very comfortable.

For more information about Stevens Creek County Park, visit Link

Upcoming Paintsites:  See the SCVWS website or the July/August Newsletters for details:

• Thursday, July 25, Portola Vineyards, Portola Valley
• Thursday, August 1, Saratoga History Park
• Thursday, August 8, Don Edwards Wildlife Preserve, Fremont
• Thursday, August 15, Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, San Jose
• Saturday, August 17, Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, San Jose
• Thursday, August 22, Senior Safari, Happy Hollow Zoo, San Jose
• Thursday, August 29, Villa Montalvo, Saratoga
• Thursday, Sept 5, Emerald Lake Country Club, Emerald Hills

Artists and their artwork:

Tanvi's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

Children paddle boarding on Stevens Creek Reservoir

Lora had a comfortable painting location

at a picnic table.

Lora's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking east

Susan B-G

Susan B-G's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

Lorraine

Lorraine's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

Lauren

Lauren's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking east

Helen had a great view of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

Helen's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

Leslie

Leslie's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

Leslie's sketch of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking north

showing the dam, a paddle boarder, and Canada geese

Thursday paintsite co-coordinator Marilyn's painting of

Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

It was wonderful to have John painting with us again

John's journal page contains a painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir

looking north toward the dam and a sketch of folks at the picnic area

Broncha

Sham and Indira share a picnic table

Sham's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking north toward the dam

and a group of paddle boarders launching their boards

Indira's painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking east

Cindy

Cindy's painting of folks enjoying the view of the Reservoir

Cindy's watercolor sketch of Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

Elaine

Elaine's painting of the Reservoir, the dam,

and paddle boarders launching their boards

Elaine's painting of Cindy painting

Elaine's 4" x 6" painting of Stevens Creek Reservoir

for a greeting card

After the other artists left, Elaine painted another

painting; Stevens Creek Reservoir looking south

We posed for a group photo before our formal sharing of our artwork.