I felt I had to squeeze one last painting in to the Virtual Paintout for February. The location this month was San Francisco, with a plethora of possibilities to choose from for painting sites.
While cruising around Golden Gate Park, I came across the Hagiwara Tea Garden, a very lovely spot. This doesn’t do it justice but I think it gives the feeling of a peaceful Japanese setting.
Here’s my second entry into this month’s Virtual Paintout for February. I thought I’d better get on the stick because the month is fast disappearing.
This one I call “The Kibitzer” because it looks like the elephant is reading over the woman’s shoulder.
I found this scene at 704 Bridgeway in Sausalito, across the Bay from San Francisco. I went to Sausalito in (what seems like a millennia ago now!) the late 70’s with my husband not too long before we were married. He had grown up in S.F. and I had only visited it briefly, so this was a great introduction to the area. We took a ferry over to Sausalito and enjoyed walking around the town and peering into the shops. A very pretty locale.
So, the Virtual Paintout for the month of February is the San Francisco bay area. What a lot of opportunities there are there! Bill Guffey (the genius mastermind behind Virtual Paintout) has drawn the boundaries from Santa Rosa in the north, to San Jose in the south and east to Antioch. That is a lot of territory in which to find subjects to paint and draw!
That being said, I knew exactly where to find my first location:
48 Grattan St. in the city of San Franciso.
This is where my husband and his two brothers and their mother lived. The house is a three story “flat,” and the family lived on the third floor while his grandparents lived below them and were the owners.
I did the painting from Google street view showing how the house looks today. But as a twist, I included a drawing from a snapshot of my husband and his family out in front of the house on Easter Sunday in 1952. (There is actually more of the house next door showing in the snapshot, with its arches and columns.)
My husband was amazed at the size of the trees on this street now. When he was living there, the street had few trees and the ones that were there were quite small. What a difference almost sixty years can make!
Since I’ve sworn off politics, I’ve found that it had been a huge time suck in my life. I spent way too much time checking in on Huffpost, Politics Daily, Politico and the like when I could have been doing something more productive—like plucking my eyebrows or flossing my teeth.
That being said, since I have more time on my hands now, I had no excuse not to do another entry for the Virtual Paintout for January, located in lovely Corsica this month.
Ever since I’ve been doing these I thought it would be fun to paint people waiting at a bus stop and was always on the lookout for some interesting characters. I happened upon a couple of ladies at a bus shelter at 10 Cours Napoleon, Ajaccio, Corsica and although I’m sure I haven’t done them justice, at least I’ve gotten my bus stop fixation out my system for now. haha
Click on the image for an enlarged view, and be sure to click on the link above to visit the Virtual Paintout site to see all the amazing art from other artists from around the world who have met “virtually” to paint Corsica this month.
Well, I finally got off my duff and did a painting for the January Virtual Paintout! About time.
This month the destination is the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean. It’s considered part of France but it’s actually closer geographically to Italy. It’s a very beautiful location with lots of wonderful landscapes but, of course, I chose to paint a street scene, the Boulevard Paoli in Bastia in northern Corsica.
I liked the way this girl was chatting on her cell phone in front of a clothing store, her body language somewhat mimicking the mannequins in the window. (Click on the image for an enlarged view.)
As always, click on the above link to go to the Paintout website where you can see all of this month’s entries and ones from previous locations.
The month of December is quickly winding down so I thought I would submit one more painting to the Virtual Paintout for Mexico.
This painting is the Apatlaco, Iztacalco, D.f., area in Mexico City. The street was an amazing feast for the eyes, with street vendors on both sides of it (and down the middle of it, too) along with shops of all kinds. This shop was a “unisex” barbershop which was graced with a beautiful bouganvillea bush.
Click on the link above to visit the Virtual Paintout site and enjoy the wonderful interpretations of Mexico City by various artists.
Hola! Just in time to warm you up for the holidays—the Virtual Paintout location for the month of December is South of the border in Mexico City.
My entry is for the area called Stand de Tiro. As before, you can view all the entries for this month and past months on Bill Guffey’s great website. Just click on the link above. While you’re there, click on any photo to see an enlarged view.
Because I went a wee bit overboard with my entries into last month’s Virtual Paintout, I’m atoning for that by just entering two into the paintout for November.
This one is 66 Ochterloney St., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. As with the others, you can click on any of the photos on the website and that will allow you to see an enlarged view of the paintings.
The Virtual Paintout for November is Nova Scotia.
Canada is a very cold spot in the winter, so what better Google street view than Pinky Skoopmore’s ice cream stand in Bedford, seen here in the summer.
On the website you can click on the photo for an enlarged view. Yummy!
Okay, last Virtual Paintout street view entry for October. Seriously. I mean it.
This one is 70 Irish Quarter W., Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland.
On the Virtual Paintout site, click on the entry for an enlarged view. The next paintout starts Nov. 1—yay!
I Tried Being Tasteful... 