Moffett Field Paint Out - September 17 & 18, 2011

Robin Chapman and the Moffett Field Historical Society and Museum sponsored a Paint Out at Old Hangar One in Mountain View. Painters from all over the Bay Area took part that weekend. It was simply a sketchers paradise! Check out the link under Robin's name above for her postings.


The Famous Hangar One - it was a scorchingly HOT day and I think I suffered a bit from heat exposure by the end of the day. I went to look for trees for shade in my later sketch.

Working in pastels I tried to capture my impressions of the structure while sitting under the hatch of my SUV (I had no shade umbrella with me that day!).

"Hangar One" (artist Janice L-H) 12"x16" pastel on black Canson paper

Later I sketched it with its surrounding landscape.

"Moffett Field Hangar One" (Artist Janice L-H) 6"x 12"sepia ink sketch in my CoMo sketchbook

I HAD to find some shade so I drove around (past the NASA and Ames Labs) and found a stand of big shade trees near one of the Flight Control Towers. I sketched with other local artists listening to the loud wails of jets waiting to take flight from the airstrip nearby.

"Water Tower and Memorial Plane at the Deconstructed End of Hangar One" (Artist Janice L-H) 6"x12" sepia ink sketch in my CoMo Sketchbook

Some of the other Artists will be showing their work at a show at the Museum later this year.

Check out some other sketches done that day by Cathy McAuliffe and John Decker.
The Historical Society & Museum is also on Facebook.

Napa Valley Part III - September 2011

The hubby and I wandered over to Yountville for another art crawl (as we are wont to do) on a nice sunny weekend in September. Hungry for Mexican food, we stopped on Hwy 29 at the Red Hen Cantina.

Yummy combo dishes and soft flour tortillas complemented my carnitas dish. Hubby had tacos which he enjoyed.
I even got a neat Mexican hat to wear when I go out sketching.
I loved the bright colors in this cantina (which has a really extensive outdoor bar area and lighted fountain for seating big groups). Worth a stop if you are in the area.

Let's Draw Davis - September 16, 2011

UC Davis (before the student rush):
The "Let's Draw Davis" sketchcrawl was scheduled for the Saturday, but since I was going out of town, I decided to do my own solo trip on the Friday. I borrowed the tentative route and managed to do it (more or less) considering that I hadn't been on campus in a few decades!

I started at the bus stop near the Memorial Union. It was pleasant in the shade, but fairly hot in the sun. Not many students showed themselves (except when the busses emptied!) since classes hadn't yet started.

I loved the trees in back of the stop with the red old fashioned British telephone box. It gave me a chance to use some new metallic-glittery pens I bought recently. Staff from the University would come out on their breaks and use their cell phones from time-to-time.

Not really knowing my way around campus (I had left my handy map in the car) I walked over to the front of the MU building and found a nice shady table to paint some of the early sketches. It was nostalgic for me to see the small groups of new students come through the quad with their campus tour guides. Geez , they are looking younger every year I think! I headed out toward the Art Building (I thought) and found one of Robert Arneson's Egghead statues in front of the Shields Library Building.

Well I must have gotten a little lost, because I missed the Eggheads in front of the Art Building (heck, I missed the whole Art Building!) - I DID find the one in front of Mrak Hall. I also had forgotten my little camp chair, so I used the closest bench I could find to capture that one in the low angle of the late afternoon sun.

All in all a pretty nice day in Davis , I only wished I could have been able to join the Saturday Group...

Here's an article about Pete Scully's Group.