Japanese Friendship Garden/Happy Hallow Zoo, San Jose, Thursday, September 23, 2021

Brad, Janice, Candy, Lora, Alison and Marni played hooky from painting and enjoyed the animals, artwork and kiddie rides at Happy Hollow. 

The Friendship Garden and Happy Hollow lived up to their names as we had a howling good time and had a nice lunch with friends in the picnic grounds.

Our enthusiasm was not Drag-on and we  appreciated the mascots of Happy Hollow.

Upcoming Paint Sites

October 7- Queens Pumpkin Patch, Saratoga

October 14 –  Portola Vineyards, Portola Valley

October 28 – Winchester Mystery House, San Jose

For additional information about these paint sites check out the SCVWS Newsletter or Website www.scvws.org

Artists and their Artwork

Alison's watercolor of the Happy Hallow Zoo carousel

Paint site leader Alison riding the Happy Hollow 
carousel

Brad and Janice riding the merry-go-round

Brad with his trusty dragon stead

Candy riding the Happy Hollow merry-go-round

Lora racing the giraffe, with the leopard pulling up on her
 left to make it a close win!

A very anxious macaw!

Happy Hallow lemur

Petting zoo mini hedgehog!

Is this tortoise real?

Happy Hallow Police Dept on patrol

Happy Hallow dragon sculpture

All artists aboard, the dragon train is leaving!

One of the ponds is under repair at the Japanese 
Friendship Garden, but it was  still very tranquil

Happy Hallow's famous anteater out and about, scouring for ants?

Paintsites member Jayne S sketching at the Friendship Garden

The anteater had his own topiary!

Brad, Janice and Candy take a break from touring the zoo

Selfie of a brave group of carousal riders
Lora, Marnie, Alison, Candy, Janice and Brad

Senior Safari - Happy Hollow Zoo, San Jose. Thursday, October 27, 2016

Taking advantage of the free Senior Safari for adults 50+ at Happy Hollow Zoo, we had a chance to sketch & paint wild (tho' not in the wild) animals for the first time at a Paintsite.  (Other than the wild boars at Joseph Grant County Park but sketching them was the last thing on our minds at the time.)   Intermittent showers didn't discourage us at all but did most of the animals as they were smart enough to stay in their nice dry little 'houses', caves, dens, burrows, etc.  (Not sure what that says about us.)

For information about San Jose's Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, see:
http://www.hhpz.org/
For information specifically about the Senior Safaris at the Happy Hollow Zoo, see:
http://www.hhpz.org/index.cfm/id/310 
(Thursday was the last 2016 Senior Safari -- hopefully the program will restart in 2017.)

Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, November 3, 2016:  Japanese Garden, San Mateo Central Park, San Mateo.
• Thursday, November 10, 2016:  Historic Santa Clara RR Depot, Santa Clara.
• Thursday, November 17, 2016:  "Kids & Artists" - Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills.
• Saturday, November 19, 2016:  "Kids & Artists" - Hidden Villa, Los Altos Hills.

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

Ongoing activities of interest involving Paintsites regulars:

• Candy Yu is currently showing 18 watercolor pet portraits at the VCA Crocker Animal Hospital, 475 N. Jackson Ave., San Jose.  Most of her artwork is in the reception area and hallways and can viewed by the public.   Ask the reception if it's OK to see artwork in the exam rooms.   The Hospital is open Mon. - Fri. 7:00 AM - 8:00 PM; Sat. & Sun. 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM.    The exhibit runs thru Sunday, October 30th.
• Mike Granger has two paintings in the Fremont Art Association's 50th Annual Art Show.  The Association Gallery is located at 37697 Niles Boulevard, Fremont.   Hours are: Tue. 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM; Wed. 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM; Thu. 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM; and Fri. - Sun. 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM.    The show runs thru Sunday, October 30th.
• Candy Yu is showing 17 original paintings & canvas prints at Foothill Presbyterian Church, 5301 McKee Rd. San Jose.   Call the church (408) 258-8133 before visiting to make sure the show will be accessible.   The show runs thru the end of December. 

Two red pandas, recently installed, are the 'stars' at Happy Hollow Zoo.  Beautiful animals, they only occasionally made forays out of their tree house for a spin around their enclosure.

Marilyn at the Meerkat habitat.  The little fellows, cozy in their underground dens, were not to be seen, or sketched most of the day.

Marilyn patiently waited for a Red Panda to come out and, when it did, made this quick sketch of it.

For a rainy Thursday morning when just seniors were in the zoo, the paths were unexpectedly crowded but, just outside the Zoo's perimeter fence, was the Meadow Amphitheatre ---  where there was room to spread out and set-up ...

Jane S., between a rock and a hard place, practices yoga while sketching.

Liz

Liz's painting of the 'Crooked House'.

Salinda and Dick.

Salinda's painting of the aptly named 'Crooked House'.

Dick's painting of the same.

Jenny and John in the Meadow

Meanwhile, back in the Zoo, in the rain ...

Iris and Tammy sketching Sophia the Jaguar.    Sophia was sleeping in her cave (that's what cats do best) and and all we could see of her was her head.

Leslie's painting of a Red-ruffed Lemur at his feeding dish.

It was on a branch when I started but went down after I got the sketch drawn so I had to use the one lying down to get the colors.   But it climbed up again as I was nearly done, so I was able to use it as a model again.    I had to put my umbrella up over me as I finished the painting to prevent any watercolor "surprises"."    Leslie

Dick, left, and Brad

Brad's sketch of the Red-ruffed Lemur.

Brad's quick sketches of Eloise the (pig-like) Collared Pecarry, a Ring-tailed Lemur, and the African Spurred Tortoise.   (Lesson learned: don't use a Tombow when it's raining.)

A case of role reversal:  Here an artist, Helen, stays dry in the enclosed aviary observation building while the birds flit about in the rain.

Sometimes the best part of a paintout is the least expected:   Because of the weather we decided to skip lunch and our critique.  But then, on the way out, near the Main Entrance is a colorful carousel we couldn't resist riding.  And riding, and riding ....

The Keep-Around Carousel.  (Rides were free.)

And sometimes a bunch of serious artists is transformed into a bunch of happy kids ...

Jane on an eagle and Liz on some hybrid horse/zebra like animal.  (Photo by Marilyn)

Here comes Liz and Jane again.

There goes Jane on her eagle.

Oops, here comes the eagle without Jane.  What happened to Jane?

 (Scroll down to find out*.)

from left, Brad, Helen and Marilyn.   (Photo by Jenny)

Marilyn on a hummingbird and Helen on an anteater.  (Photo by Jane S.)

Brad on a jaguar.   (Photo by Jane S.)

Jenny on a shark.

John on a fishing cat.  (He's too tall for the giraffe.)

*Don't worry about Jane - she got off the eagle without mishap.

Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, San Jose, Thursday, August 22, 2019

This is the fourth year in a row that we took advantage of seniors (50+) getting in free to Happy Hollow Zoo for Senior Safari to sketch the animals.  With this much practice, we should be getting the hang of sketching animals who are constantly on the move, but it is still quite the challenge.  Even if difficult, it is fun to try, and one learns a lot by spending time with an animal.  For example, it took a quite a while to notice how the giant anteater walks on his knuckles while tucking his long sharp claws into his palms.

The weather was delightful with sun and a pleasant temperature.  We seniors had the park to ourselves from 9-10 AM, then families with young children arrived at the regular opening time.  After a full morning of sketching and painting, some of our artists enjoyed a ride on the “Keep–Around Carousel”, featuring endangered species.

For information about Happy Hollow Zoo visit  https://happyhollow.org/

Here is a giant anteater video provided by the San Diego Zoo.  It is worth waiting through the beginning 15 second advertisement to see the close ups of the anteater’s very long tongue and long sharp claws.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0Lo2XnakbY

Upcoming Paintsites:  See the SCVWS website or the August and September Newsletters for details:

• Thursday, August 29, Villa Montalvo, Saratoga
• Thursday, Sept 5, Emerald Lake Country Club, Emerald Hills
• Thursday, Sept 12, Rosicrucian Museum Park, San Jose
• Thursday, Sept 19, Allied Arts Guild, Menlo Park
• Saturday, Sept 21, Edenvale Gardens Regional Park / Hayes Mansion, San Jose
• Thursday, Sept 26, Natural Bridges State Beach, Santa Cruz

Artists and their artwork: 

Many more animals were sketched and painted than are shown here.

Iris's magnificent scarlet macaw

Iris holding her painting

Lauren's scarlet macaw and

blue and gold macaw

Elaine

Elaine's page of red ruffed lemur sketches

Elaine says the goats in the petting area

were very interested in the senior with his walker.

Thursday paintsite co-coordinator Marilyn

Marilyn's sketch of the giant anteater

The "Keep-Around Carousel" was very popular, both for riding and for painting.

Brad on the shark and Ed on the black rhinoceros

Helen peeking around the giraffe's ears

and Jan C. riding on the swan

Brad's painting of "Keep-Around Carousel"

Iris and Helen

There are lots of people in Helen's "Keep-Around Carousel" painting

Jan C.

Jan C's painting of "Keep-Around Carousel"

Elaine's painting of "Keep-Around Carousel"

Toni

Toni's painting of a magnificent tree in front of

the "Keep-Around Carousel"

Toni's detail of tree

There are other interesting scenes to paint at Happy Hollow Zoo:

Broncha

Broncha's painting of the "Crooked House"

Sham and Indira found a comfortable bench on a hill

overlooking the picnic area

Sham's painting looking down on the umbrellas in the picnic area

Indira's painting looking down on the umbrellas in the picnic area

Lunch and sharing at the Jaguar Picnic Area

One group of artists

Another group of artists

Thank you Thursday paintsite co-coordinator emeritus Brad for leading the sharing of our artwork