Maison du Lac, Summit Rd., Los Gatos. Thursday, July 14, 2016

"Discovered" by Lois, (who has attended community events there in the past), and coordinated by Marilyn, Maison du Lac was a new Paintsite for us.   Owned, created and maintained by Patti Hughes for almost 50 years, it's a very special place and, as a popular  wedding reception venue, has special meaning for many people.    Unlike so many of the more recent grand "estate"  developments in this area, the house, although architecturally interesting, sits very lightly on the land.  The "stars" are the many redwoods (a number of which were lost in the 1985 Lexington Fire which happily spared the Hughes' home), the lake and the wildlife friendly gardens.  (And for some of us, as you'll see, the rusty 1926 Model-T truck.)   It's a place where it's easy to get lost in your own unique "space" and get really engrossed in your painting.    And it was unanimous:  this is a site to which we hope to return again.  (Actually, maybe again and again and again --- if they'll have us.)

Maison du Lac doesn't have an official website but there are many glowing reviews in social media.

Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, July 21, 2016:   New Almaden Historic District, San Jose
• Thursday, July 28, 2016:   Downtown Los Altos with potluck lunch to follow at a member's nearby home.  (See the Members Only / Paintsites Detail webpage and the Sunday, July 24th e-notification for directions to the potluck.) 
• Thursday, August 4, 2016:   Uvas Canyon County Park, Morgan Hill
• Thursday, August 11, 2016:   Moffett Field Historical Society Museum, Mt. View
• Thursday, August 18, 2016:   Harris-Lass House, Santa Clara

Details can be found on the SCVWS website and in the July & August Newsletters.

Ongoing events of interest involving Paintsites regulars:

• Candy Yu's one-woman show runs thru August 6th in the Cupertino Library, 10800 Torre Ave., in the Cupertino Civic Center Plaza.    Hours are:  Mon. - Thu. 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM;  Fri. - Sat. 10:00 AM -  6:00 PM; and Sun. noon - 6:00 PM.
• Mary Raftery and Laurie Barna were accepted in the Haggin Art Museum's 59th Annual Juried National Exhibition.  The Haggin Art Museum is located in Stockton and is famous for its outstanding fine art collection.   The show runs July 7  - September 11, 2016.  
• The SCVWS Summer Palette exhibit continues its run (thru August 26th) at the Hobee's restaurant at  680 River Oaks Parkway in San Jose.     Hours of operation are:  Mon. - Fri. 7:00 AM - 2:30 PM; Sat. 8:00 AM - 2:30 PM; Sun. 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM.   (This Hobee's serves breakfast & lunch only.)

And keep checking the "Members Blogs" links in the right sidebar for updates -- Sylvia and Mary both have recent postings. 

Our day at Maison du Lac:
We come out to commune with Nature but what do some of us do?    We paint a rusty old truck!

Left to right: Dick, the Model-T truck, and John ("The Painter of Rusty Thing"), caressing the truck.

Dick's painting of the old truck.

John's unfinished painting of the truck.   Watch for a "studio" version on his website (see the Links sidebar on the right) in the near future.

Annie and Kaaren

Annie is from Michigan and her family are GM people --- so, although this is a Ford, she knows cars and trucks.   And obviously knows how to paint them.  (Unfinished.)

Annie's finished painting.

So taken was he with the site, Alan threatened to get "lost" on the property so he could stay past our allotted time.  When he realized he'd have to live on what he could catch - lizards maybe - he came to his senses.   (Check back later for his truck painting.)

Painting the "Lac" was another popular subject.  It was so pleasant just sitting by the lake that it took considerable ambition to actually get started.    But we did and the results justify the effort.

Carolyn found a shady spot on one of the really cool cement benches to set-up.

Carolyn's unfinished painting looking east across the lake.

Lois and Shelly, a Santa Cruz artist, who was able to join us for the day.

Lois' journal entry for the day.   (She also shared her wonderful 'June in Provence' journal with us.)

Helen's painting of the lake and floating dock.

Salinda looking east across the lake.

Salinda's painting of the lake and the truly purple trees on the far shore.  (There is a photograph on the web of these trees in the Fall - they're spectacular!)

The following paintings include the "Maison" as well as the "Lac" and you can easily see how harmoniously everything relates.

Lisha facing north.  Just to her right is the lake.

Lisha's painting of the house and the lake.

Sharon (left) and Joy.

Also looking north, Joy set up a bit farther from the lake, and painted both house and lake.

Carole also set-up just a few feet from the lake looking north toward the house.

Carole's painting of the house and lake.

 Venturing away from the lake and the house there was much more to paint ... 

Broncha with the sturdiest of backrests - a nice redwood.

Broncha's painting of a formal paved area and the adjacent lawn beyond which is the lake.

Kaaren set up in a shady clearing among the redwoods.

The photo doesn't do this painting justice --- when, during our "critique", we asked who painted this masterpiece, we all said "Me", "Me", "Me - it's mine", "No it's mine!".   Shameless liars!   It's Kaaren's.

Leslie in a particularly secluded spot --- I think it was the Native Garden.

Leslie's painting looking down-slope into the Sculpture Garden.

Melanie captured the sunlight filtering through the redwoods onto this lattice arch.

 

Brad's unfinished painting of the formerly forested, now a lawn, area swept clear by the big '85 Lexington Fire.

 Some close-ups ... 

Mary R's unfinished painting of a redwood.

Liz's painting of an old pump.

Candy's birdhouse - one of many funky birdhouses at Maison du Lac.

Another old pump of some sort - this one by Candy.

Some petunias by Candy.

A "bouquet" by Candy.

Another bouquet - this one by new member Toni.   She claimed it was her first ever plein air painting.   John didn't believe it --- much too good for a first effort he said.

Lunch in the redwoods ...

Lunch

Left to right: Lisha, Helen and Candy.

Dick and Salinda

Shoreline Park, Mt. View. Thursday, July 7, 2016

We'd originally hoped to paint at the historic Rengstorff House but a conference required the house and grounds for their activities so we shifted our focus from the house to the adjacent lake.     Turned out to not be a problem as there was plenty of interesting things to paint on and around the lake. 


An added bonus was provided by Weekend Paintsite regular Alison, a civil engineer with the City of Mt. View whose projects include Shoreline Lake, who was able to take a long lunch and explain how the lake (which is saltwater) operates.  From the surface it looks very natural --- like any other lake.   And of course we don't think of lakes as 'operating' --- but this one does!   The reality is that it's very complex with pipes, pumps, gates, control centers, data links and I don't remember what all else.  And that's just the lake ---- it's all tied in with nearby sloughs, creeks, and the Bay itself.    

Alison (green jacket & cap) briefs us with schematics, diagrams, and photos detailing how the lake is managed.  (Thank goodness there wasn't a test afterwards.)

For more information about Shoreline Park, see the official website:
http://www.mountainview.gov/depts/cs/shoreline/

Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, July 14, 2016:   Maison du Lac, Los Gatos, Summit Rd., Los Gatos
• Thursday, July 21, 2016:   New Almaden Historic District, San Jose
• Thursday, July 28, 2016:   Downtown Los Altos with potluck lunch to follow at a member's nearby home.  (See the Members Only / Paintsites Detail webpage and the Sunday, July 24th e-notification for directions to the potluck.) 

Details can be found on the SCVWS website and in the July Newsletter.

Events of interest involving Paintsites regulars:

• Candy Yu's one-woman show runs thru August 6th in the Cupertino Library, 10800 Torre Ave., in the Cupertino Civic Center Plaza.    Hours are:  Mon. - Thu. 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM;  Fri. - Sat. 10:00 AM -  6:00 PM; and Sun. noon - 6:00 PM.
• Mary Raftery and Laurie Barna were accepted in the Haggin Art Museum's 59th Annual Juried National Exhibition.  The Haggin Art Museum is located in Stockton and is famous for its outstanding fine art collection.   The show runs July 7  - September 11, 2016.  
• Saturday, July 9, 2016 - 4:00 - 6:00 PM:   Reception for the SCVWS Summer Palette exhibit at the Hobee's restaurant at  680 River Oaks Parkway in San Jose.    The exhibit runs from June 26 - August 26th.  

And keep checking the "Members Blogs" links in the right sidebar for updates.


Although we couldn't paint on the grounds of the Rengstorff House proper, we were able to set up close enough for a good look at the old water tank/tower at the back of the property ...

Liz, just back from Alaska, ready to do some serious painting.

Liz's  painting of the Rengstorff House water tank/tower.

John's painting of the water tank/tower.

Annie's painting of the water tank/tower.

Staging from the San Antonio Rd. / Terminal Blvd. parking lot, (hoping to avoid the Google traffic on Shoreline Blvd.), Marilyn, Jane P., Cathy B., and Alison painted one of the small creeks which flow into the Casey Forebay, a storm runoff (freshwater) catch basin. Cathy shared an image of a wonderful painting she'd done there last week which inspired the others to give it a shot.   And Cathy to do another.

Jane P. (left) and Cathy B. paint the creek flowing into the Casey Forebay. (photo by Marilyn)

Cathy B's creekside painting.

Jane P. captured the same scene.

Marilyn's journal entry for the day started out with the same creek scene.

Thank you, Alison, for the excellent presentation about the engineering of Shoreline Lake, Charleston Slough, and surroundings.  I have been enjoying this park for such a long time, and you explained things I never knew about the park.     Marilyn

Alison's painting of the slough from approximately the same place as Marilyn's (lower right) Journal entry above.

Left to right:  Marilyn, Alison and Jane P. walking from the far end of the lake to join the rest of us for lunch and our critique.

There was lots happening on the lake and on the grassy areas the whole time we were there:  Day camps for kids, windsurfing lessons, kayakers, pedal boats, sailboats, walkers, bicyclers, a pirate themed playground,  birdwatchers, and, of course, painters.   And geese, lots of geese -- and where there weren't geese, there were reminders of where there had been geese.

Carole

Carole's kayakers on the lake and geese on the shore.

Helen

Helen's windsurfer and more geese

Janice

LuAnne

LuAnne wanted to capture the fog rolling in over the distant Coast Range -- she did.   I did not want to get any weird shadows in these photos --- but I did.

John.   Happy to finally have a Painsite with a cafe & coffee bar mere steps from where we painted.

John's second painting - this one of the lake and boaters.

Brad's painting of a windersurfer class in progress.

Melanie's painting of rental sailboats at the dock in the morning.   Later in the day, when the wind came up, they were out sailing.

Ji-eun set-up on a trail in the less developed part of the park looking back toward the lake.

Joe worked the north shore of the lake right next to the water.

Joe's first painting:  the shoreline wrapping around the point where the paved trail branches off toward the Bay Trail.

Joe's second painting: an interesting little flowering plant growing right on the shoreline.

 

Susan's trail side painting of the lake.

Karen looked for inspiration for her '50/50' project in a grassy, natural part of the park.

Karen's 6" X 6" sketches -- studies for her entry in the upcoming Sanchez Art Center "50/50" (50 paintings in 50 days) Exhibit in Pacifica.

For more information about this juried show, see this older write-up for a previous show:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_23903779/sanchez-art-center-launches-its-50th-50-50
For more information about the Sanchez Art Center itself, see:
http://www.sanchezartcenter.org/index.html

Did we mention that there were lots of happy kids at the lake?   This is one of the many buses which brought them to brighten our day.    Painting by Melanie.

Lunch by Shoreline Lake ...

It's not often we look for sunny spots midday in July but here we are shunning the shade and seeking the sun.