Guadalupe Oak Grove Park

Well, after all the rain we finally had a beautiful day to be out painting. Guadalupe Oak Grove is a gorgeous little park with hills for views and lots of oak trees and lichen covered rocks to tempt the artist. Sadly I was out of practice. I tried to capture the sweep of the trees and hills, but my trees left a lot to be desired so I cropped them out of the sketch!
I tried to portray the feeling of a bush perched on a ridge, its large exposed roots snaking down the rock face. The ridge was a quilt of soft oranges, browns, greys and yellows with patches of green moss clinging to its swellings. The roots looked strong and purposeful, as though they were responsible for holding the ridge in place (and perhaps they were). I don't think I quite did it justice.
Later Jenny and I climbed a steep hill for the views and were struck by the sight of a tree and rock almost melded together. On closer inspection it seemed the tree limb had been trimmed and the rock was worn or scraped underneath. Whether this was by human design or nature we couldn't tell. The rock and tree both had the same pinky hues and minty green splashes of lichen as though both had absorbed the others' nature through a long marriage. We hastily sketched the lines of branches and rocks, swearing to rush home and add the color. My sketch lies naked and unresolved in my sketchbook still. Tsk. Tsk.

Christmas gathering and Saratoga Foothill Club

Today we had a small Christmas gathering for the plein air group at my house. The weather cooperated nicely and we were able to paint outside and enjoy the views. I was a little preoccupied with organizing lunch, but did manage a couple of quick brush pen sketches of the hillside behind me, and a half hour sketch of the valley in front. For some reason I started the sketches by drawing the middle of the hillside at the top of the page. So the brush pen sketches are actually the opposite way round in my sketchbook, but through the wonders of photoshop I can post them so that they actually look like the hillside!

When I got my paints out I realized that I had two watercolors in my sketchbook that I hadn't posted, from a previous paintsite in November at the Saratoga Foothill Club.
Looking back at them now I am quite happy with how the colors came out that day. I remember it was pretty cold that day and I was sitting in the shade for the first painting so I had to move into the sun to thaw out a little.

Birds at Emma Prusch Farm

This week's paintsite was at Emma Prusch Farm. I've painted the house many times so I strayed into the barnyard and was attracted by all the geese, chickens and peacocks strutting around.
The geese were busy preening and taking short naps before the day's next invasion of school children.
I was very pleased with some of these quick gesture sketches of the birds, trying to catch their shapes as they stood on first one leg, then the other, or stretched out their wings.

Shoreline Hike and Sketch

I've been a bit of slacker with posting my sketches. Better late than never, here are some drawings from our hike and sketch at Shoreline Park.


There were a lot of birds to watch, and the color started to get really interesting towards late afternoon. I didn't take my paints - so made do with pen only.

San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin

Last week's paintsite was in Japantown at the Buddhist Church on North 5th St. We had a huge rain storm two days previous, so I dressed for cool weather - was surprised by hot tropical weather!
We were sat out on the sidewalk painting in full sun, so eventually it got way too hot to do anything. I didn't even do a drawing for the second sketch, just launched in quickly with the paints.
Over lunch, some adorable children came across from the Kindergarten to look at our paintings. I'm not sure they were that impressed!

Alum Rock Hike and Sketch

This week we went on a hike and sketch in Alum Rock Park. The day started out foggy, which was a nice atmospheric change and gave us a few challenges for painting.

We were only a short distance from the carpark when we came across beautiful views and lovely colors, and we had to stop several times in quick succession to paint.

We were stopped on the trail at this point by a magnificent view looking up the hill into the fog. The fog drifted over the hilltops and was continually changing. It was so peaceful and calming sitting there. After we had painted for about 20 minutes the fog started to clear and by the time we left it was blue sky and sunshine and the hillside had totally different colors and shadows.
Eventually we did get to do a little more hiking than sketching and discovered a large, dead tarantula on the trail (why didn't I suggest sketching it?) The male tarantulas are all out looking for females this time of year and I guess it came off poorly in the mating game.

After lunch we made our way back down into the valley and sketched alongside the creek.

Aerodynamic Aviation, Reid Hillview Airport

Fly me to the moon, la la. Well, fly me over the Bay at least...


Here we are today at my local airport trying to paint the planes. Like boats, they're quite a challenge. Somehow, you think you have them contained on the page, but then you realize they're bigger than you first thought and the perspective is damned tricky!
It was a lot of fun.


Many thanks to Aerodynamic Aviation for hosting us.