Alviso Marina County Park Thursday July 13, 2017

From the 1840's (before the California Gold Rush) until a train connected San Jose to San Francisco in 1864, Alviso was a prominent shipping port for transporting both people and goods between these cities.  There are very old historical buildings still standing in Alviso including the "Union Warehouse and Docks", circa 1850, and the Bayside Canning Co, whose peak was from the early 1900's until 1936. At first it was used to can tomatoes, but when the owners developed the technique to can asparagus, it became the 3rd largest cannery in the U.S.  The Union Warehouse was first a warehouse for shipping, but then was used as storage for the cannery.  As a painting site, the Alviso area has great diversity because the County Park has the Alviso Slough that leads to the Bay, salt ponds, marshlands, and expansive views of the surrounding hills.

Liz led the paintsite while all the other co-coordinators were away.  She did a wonderful job, not only giving maps of historical buildings to all artists, but also providing chocolate cookies which were a big hit.  She reports that the weather was beautiful, not too hot or cold or windy, and everyone had a good time.

Alviso Marina County Park
About Alviso

Candy's first painting of Alviso County Park

Candy's second painting, the levees

It was great to have Melanie painting with us again

Melanie's painting of the gateway to marshland, salt ponds, and surrounding hills.

Liz's painting

New member Benay

Benay's sketch of houseboat which has rested there for over 20 years

Benay's painting of houseboat

Lorraine

Lorraine's painting of houseboat

Suzie

Suzie's painting of the houseboat

Broncha

Broncha's painting of a historic building

Artists painting Bayside Canning Co.

John

John's painting of Bayside Canning Co

Annie

Annie's first painting of Union Warehouse and Docks and Bayside Canning Co

Annie's second painting of the same

Kristi

Krist's pencil sketch of Bayside Canning Co

Candy's painting of Yacht Club sign.  The Yacht Club was formed in the very late 1800's

Artists in full sunlight

Wunderlich County Park, Woodside, CA July 6, 2017

The weather was perfect as 11 artists gathered at Wunderlich County Park near Woodside.  Meeting at Wunderlich two days after the July 4th holiday was a very good thing traffic-wise because traffic on I-280 was much lighter than usual.  We heard the whinnying and clip-clop of horses as horse-campers practiced with their horses in the corral, and as small and large groups left for rides on the trails.  Many visiting hikers also headed out on the trails. None of our artists ventured on the trails during this paintout. 

The dairy building, built around 1874, was the most popular subject.  Wunderlich has most handsome and stately trees, and several artists chose to paint them.  Marilyn could not resist the complex architecture of the Folger Stable, built in 1903 by the same architect who designed the San Francisco Opera House, renovated in 2010.

Link to Wunderlich Park  Link to Folger Stable Historic Site

Wunderlich County Park

Broncha and Liz paint the dairy building

Broncha's painting of the dairy building

Liz's painting of the dairy building

 Lorraine is getting organized to start

Lorraine's painting of the dairy building

Mary's painting of the dairy building

John's painting of the dairy building.  Master of painting rust, he used this skill to bring out the colors in the dairy building.

Toni's painting of a stately redwood tree near the picnic area

Marilyn's painting of the Folger Stable

The artists are getting ready to share their artwork.  

Anna Cook's Mexican Garden, Saratoga June 29, 2017

We are very fortunate that once again Anna Cook welcomed us into her Mexican garden. Not only does her garden have an incredible number of artfully arranged objects to paint, Anna also provided drinks, cookies, and watermelon.  She is very interested in our artwork and when she came around to check on our progress, she also wanted to see all of our earlier artwork in our sketchbooks and journals.

Two wonderful things happened.  First, we had three new members.  Second, two neighbor girls not only admired our work, but ran home and got their art supplies, and with their mother's blessing, returned and painted with us.  We are used to having children admiring our work, think of Hidden Villa and Ardenwood, but this is the first time we have ever had children painting with us. It was a delight.

Everywhere you looked you found interesting objects to paint and lots of artists painting them:

Anna (R), her sister (M), and her niece (L)

Kaaren, Annie, and Jayne in the entry courtyard

Leslie and Lisha in the driveway

Suzie, Dick, Kristi, Alan, Candy, Helen, and Cindy in the backyard

Cindy, Salinda, and Kristi in the backyard

New member Susan

Susan's painting

 New member Kristi

Kristi's painting

 New member Toni

 Annie's painting

 Kaaren's first painting

 Kaaren's second painting

Jayne's first journal page

 Jayne's second journal page

 Lisha's painting

 Leslie's painting

Marilyn's journal page

Marilyn showing her painting

Iris's painting

 Mary's painting

Suzie's painting

 Broncha's first painting

 Broncha's second painting

 Candy's first painting

Candy's second painting

Cindy's painting

Helen's first painting

Helen's second painting

Grace's painting

Salinda's first painting

Salinda's  second  painting

Dick's Painting

 Lunch

Cindy showing her painting

Dick showing his painting

Helen showing her painting