Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley

Twentyfour: Roger, Let’s Soar

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Continuing the ‘Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley’ year long project. (Click here for complete info.)

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Roger Let's Soar!, 8x10, oil on board
Roger Let’s Soar!, 8×10, oil on board

I had been planning this painting location for quite some time and this is the original lead in to this weblog entry which I was just about to publish…

What was once the 1800’s Rancho Potrero de Santa Clara and later onion fields, gradually became a landing strip for the budding aviation industry after World War I. In the late 1940’s the city of San Jose turned the private airfield into a municipal airport and in 1948 Southwest Airlines was the first to commercially fly passengers.

The Guadalupe River originates in the Santa Cruz Mountains, flows north right through downtown San Jose, continues by and forms the northeastern border of what is now called the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airportalso known as SJC. The river continues on north and empties into San Francisco Bay. It is the southernmost major U.S. river with a King salmon run.

After writing the above prelude, I googled “King Salmon Guadalupe” and the name Roger Castillo kept popping up. He is tirelessly dedicated to cleaning up the Guadalupe River to enable the King Salmon to spawn. My goal in this project is to make everyone, everywhere appreciate the little spots of nature around us whether in a big city, the suburbs or even the countryside. What better way to do that than dedicating this blog entry to Roger, the “Watchdog” of the Guadalupe, who appreciates this waterway for more than just the scenery. You can read about him here, and check their website out here. Incidently, Roger is the one who discovered mammoth bones along the river some years ago.

Anyway, about the painting–I wanted to paint the Guadalupe close to the airport, so walked across a field to the northeast corner of SJC. Click this link for a map of all painting locations. Since it was an airport, I also wanted to make this a sky painting as we have had some beautiful skies with the series of Pacific storms hitting the bay area. We had a wonderful sunset the evening before I did this painting, and I wasn’t sure what skies the next day would bring, so just in case made some color notes. Painting sunsets en plein air is tricky as right after the best part, it becomes too dark to paint! You usually have to make color notes, and then finish the painting another day. I ended up basically combining the prior day’s sunset with the location today.

Sunset the day before.
The field I walked across to get to the river. The offices of eBay are in the far distance.
Looking north along the Guadalupe.
My easel looking south toward the airport.

Looking at the painting above, the overpass in the background is Highway 101 (AKA Bayshore Freeway), and the airport is immediately behind that. It was hard to see much of the airport from my vantage point so just indicated a few buildings, the one on the left being the parking garage for terminal A. I set up on the Guadalupe River Trail & right behind me was the office complex for some company called eBay. The airplanes were taking off toward the south, a little unusual for this airport, so I put one soaring in the distance.

Twentyfour: Roger, Let’s Soar Read More »

Twentythree: Fi-na-lee! Quimby!!

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Continuing the ‘Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley’ year long project. (Click here for complete info.)

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Finally! More streams are running! We are in the midst of another series of storms bringing rain to much of parched California.

I have been patiently waiting for this particular creek to start running, as it is very special. The creek is dry much of the year, but flows once we start getting winter rains. Since moving to my home of 30 years in the Evergreen area of San Jose, I have driven by this spot near my house thousands of times (by calculations, easily over 9 thousand times). Each time I tell myself it would make a great little painting…but never painted it. I was too busy painting the Sierras, Lake Tahoe, Big Sur, Yosemite, and other ‘scenic places’ to sell in the art galleries who represent me.

This spot was the genesis of the idea to start this project to paint the Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley. Right at the corner of bustling Capitol Expressway and Quimby road, across the street from a major shopping mall, surrounded by tract homes, smack dab in Silicon Valley suburbia, is this little scene. It’s not spectacular, but with proper treatment, as good as scene as you can find to paint. Click this link for a map of all painting locations.

It’s Thompson Creek, and about half a mile from painting number One: It Begins. I painted it between two major storms hitting San Jose. The skies were gorgeous and again, besides painting the creek, wanted to include the stormy skies.

As soon as I started painting, a young Chinese couple came by inquiring about my painting, so they accommodated me by taking a few pictures.

Thompson Creek just before it passes under Quimby Rd.
This is the basic scene I wanted to portray.
A passerby graciously took a few picts of the artist.
A panorama of the scene. The Chinese passerby’s were well versed on iPhone capabilities!
My easel by a dry creek!
The intersection of Capitol Expressway and Quimby Rd right behind me. It was quite noisy painting!

You might notice some pictures have water running, and some don’t. Thompson Creek was a raging torrent for a few days, then the day I went out to paint, was dry again. I had to use my recollections from the day before to paint the water. While I was painting, a maintenance crew was walking the creek checking for what I don’t know. My guess is there is some flow control upstream, but not sure where.

Finalee, Quimby, 8x10, oil on board
Finalee, Quimby, 8×10, oil on board

As I was painting, it looked like the next front was coming in, loaded with rain, so I finished the last part in the studio. The next day, writing this, I drove by Quimby and Capitol, and Thompson Creek was again a raging torrent.

Twentythree: Fi-na-lee! Quimby!! Read More »

Twentytwo: The Tall Stick

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Continuing the ‘Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley’ year long project. (Click here for complete info.)

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In 1769 Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola hiked over a small range of coastal mountains, saw a beautiful bay, and camped under a giant redwood tree on the banks of a creek in order to explore the area further. He called the tall redwood tree El Palo Alto, which means ‘tall stick’ in Spanish. The land is now called California, the mountains are now called the Santa Cruz Range, the bay is San Francisco Bay, and the creek named San Francisquito Creek. Years later a town would spring up in the area named after the landmark tree, Palo Alto, and a famous university called Stanford started. You can read more about Palo Alto history here.

El Palo Alto in 1875. Note how much of a landmark it was in the old days.
El Palo Alto in 1875. Note how much of a landmark it was in the old days.

I did painting number Twentytwo under the same 1,035 year old redwood tree Portola camped, which still grows along the bank of San Francisquito Creek. It is also right next to El Camino Real, where the original “Kings Highway” passed connecting California’s 21 missions. Incidently, paintings seven and eight were painted in Portola Valley, named after the explorer.

Palo Alto could be called the birthplace of Silicon Valley. Growing up together with bordering Stanford University, the town of about 64,000 residents has fueled the high-tech industry with it’s garage startups galore. Many books have been written about all the startups and other high-tech companies in the area, so won’t go into that here.

Here is the trestle viewed from El Camino Real. The tall tree in the middle is “El Palo Alto”.
This plaque placed in 1926 is cemented to a rock in front of the historic redwood tree.
The trestle from the opposite side I painted from.
My easel set under “El Palo Alto” historic redwood tree.

As mentioned, I did the painting right under the historic “Palo Alto” redwood tree. Click this link for a map of all painting locations. A plaque from 1926 is there commemorating the historic place. A train trestle was built within feet of the tree and Caltrain rumbles up and down the peninsula carrying passengers to and fro. I wanted to try to capture the tree, trestle, and creek in one small horizontal painting, no small task, especially considering the creek is in a ravine about twenty feet below. I finally settled on a partial composite view of all three with just glimpses of each element.

The Tall Stick, 8x10,oil on board
The Tall Stick, 8×10,oil on board

The painting turned out to be an almost abstract quilt work of steel girders and organic material.

I did the painting last Monday afternoon after Twentyone: Baylands Fun, but felt this deserved a separate blog post. I also wanted to touch the trestle up a bit under different light and after drying a bit. Prior to this quest, I don’t think I have ever painted a train trestle, and so far there are three in the collection!

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Twentyone: Baylands Fun

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Continuing the ‘Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley’ year long project. (Click here for complete info.)

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180 degree panorama from the Lucy Evans Center
180 degree panorama from the Lucy Evans Center

Ringing the lower San Francisco Bay is a wonderland of estuaries, marshes, ponds, tidal and fresh water habitats, accompanied by an amazing amount of small animals and particularly rich in bird life. It is a major migratory stopover on the Pacific Flyway and one of the best bird watching areas on the west coast.

The Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve is the largest remaing tract of undisturbed marshland in the San Francisco Bay area. Over the years, actually since the 1850’s, much of the bay’s shoreline had been converted to salt evaporation ponds for the production of sea salt. These are really quite pretty from the air. Much of that is being restored now to its natural state, but some still remain.

Once again, the Los Gatos group was out painting a place on my “to-do-list”, so I joined them again! We painted close to the Lucy Evans Nature Center. There was a good painting everywhere you turned. One friend in the Los Gatos group asked if this qualifies as a Creek or River in Silicon Valley. Most assuredly yes, I replied. The water is the estuaries formed by the San Fransiquito and Matadero Creeks as they empty into the bay.

Click this link for a map of all painting locations.

Some pictures of the day. You can now click on a thumbnail, then scroll directly from picture to picture—

The Los Gatos artists enjoying the day.
More of the local artists working away.
Teresa painting the estuary.
I set up right in front of my SUV in the parking lot.

I love the abstract shapes of the marshes with their islands of grass and the water reflecting the sky, so that was the focus of my painting. This is the first painting in the series which actually shows San Francisco Bay.

Baylands Fun, 8x10,oil on board
Baylands Fun, 8×10,oil on board

The distant shore is the East Bay Foothills above the Newark/Fremont area, and to the left going out of frame would be the Dumbarton Bridge. On the right distant shoreline, I indicated a few of the huge salt piles (which were really there). My guess is these are over 50 feet high. San Francisco Bay is the water just in front of the distant shore.

I plan on painting more around the bayshore before the project is finished. In fact will be painting on the distant shoreline looking back this way soon enough.

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Twenty: The Trestle Charity

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Continuing the ‘Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley’ year long project. (Click here for complete info.)

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Willow Glen Trestle
Willow Glen Trestle

1921 was the year the trestle was built. In it’s day the rails carried cargo wrapping around the southern end of San Jose and up over the trestle I painted in number Seventeen: The Eggo Team.

Although the railroad tracks are long gone, it has stood the test of time until recently when the San Jose city council voted to tear it down and put in a new steel trail bridge for the Lost Gatos trail system. Citizens rose up and are demanding the trestle be kept and restored. I agree. The 90 year old trestle is solid, and the Friends of the Willow Glen Trust have now sued the city to stop it’s destruction. You can find some local reports and opinions here, and here. They also have some Facebook pages here, and here. There is a charity event coming up on February 22.

For the last year or so I have wanted to paint the trestle, and figured I better do it now if it is torn down. So here is number twenty in my Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley. I visited the site about a year ago, and along the creek, it was pretty junky, with a few homeless encampments nearby. This is only a few miles from “The Jungle”, the largest homeless camp in the US. I’ll save commentary on that for another day. Today, most of the junk was gone right around the trestle I think from volunteers cleaning the area up.

A few pictures. You can now click on a thumbnail, then scroll directly from picture to picture—

The trestle.
I just thought this would make a cool painting. Under the right branch, you can make out a homeless camp.
My easel and partially completed painting.

Here’s the painting–

The Trestle Charity, 8x10, oil on board
The Trestle Charity, 8×10, oil on board

For better effect, I took out about half of the pylons, otherwise it would have looked like a jumbled mess. This is the only painting I did not complete entirely on site. With some of the noise coming from the homeless camps, I felt a little unsafe being there all alone, so finished about half of it in the studio. My heart goes out to the truly homeless, but many are drug addicts or other problems, and the camps can be dangerous places.

Oh, almost forgot…that’s Los Gatos Creek!

Click this link for a map of all painting locations.

Addendum. Oops…forgot to mention the Save the Trestle website here.

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Eighteen, Nineteen: Mercury Sheen

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Continuing the ‘Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley’ project. (Click here for complete info.)

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New Almaden Smelter 1863
New Almaden Smelter 1863

The native Ohlone Indians called it cinnabar. The early pioneers called it quicksilver. Today we call it mercury, the liquid metal. The southern part of Silicon Valley was once home of the most productive mercury mine in the US. Mercury was produced at the New Almaden mines from 1845 until 1976. It is used to extract gold from ore and was in great demand during the California gold rush years.

The mines are now shut down and the area was made into a county park named, you guessed it, Almaden Quicksilver County Park. There is a lot of history here and some of the houses date back to the mid 1800’s. The hills are dotted with remains of the old mining equipment, closed mine shafts, and a museum is housed in an old mansion, The Casa Grande built in 1854.

The names cinnabar, quicksilver, and mercury are seen everywhere and the local San Jose newspaper is still called The Mercury News.

The Los Gatos group was out again painting along Alamitos Creek in the general area I painted Fifteen: The Hard Drive Machine. Alamitos Creek flows right through New Almaden. The last five days we have been experiencing a Pineapple Express, a moisture drenched series of storms originating around Hawaii in the Pacific, so I expected the creek to be flowing quit readily, but, it was basically dry! Since this is the first real rain all season, it takes some time for the parched earth to saturate enough for the streams to flow and the reservoirs to start filling.

I set up virtually under the Almaden Expressway bridge close to where it ends at Harry Road. It was still overcast from the recent storms, but the sun did peek out a few times. Click this link for a map of all painting locations.

Here are a few photos of the morning’s work. You can now click on a thumbnail, then scroll directly from picture to picture—

An egret was enjoying the cloudy weather.
Some of the Los Gatos painters enjoying the outdoors.
My easel under the Almaden Expressway overpass.

Here is the painting. I edited out quite a few of the trees and brush as I wanted a clearer view of the skies.

Mercury Sheen I, 8x10, oil on board
Mercury Sheen I, 8×10, oil on board

I planned on staying in the area the afternoon for another painting, so after wolfing down a sandwich, I drove around the New Almaden area, and finally decided to join a ‘holdout’ from the mornings paintout, Teresa, who was painting the Almaden Valley at the corner of Harry Road and Camden Ave. I wanted to do more of a sky scene to document we finally got some rain! A picture from the afternoon painting session–

Painting Almaden Valley along Harry Road.
Painting Almaden Valley along Harry Road.

This is the first painting where the creek is not the main focus as I wanted to mark the first big storm of the season. New Almaden is in the distant hills and to the lower left is Arroyo Calero Creek.

Mercury Sheen II, 8x10, oil on board
Mercury Sheen II, 8×10, oil on board

These are the first paintings I have done in almost three weeks as I was in East Texas due to my father’s passing. I am still well ahead of schedule but plan on doing one more this week.

Eighteen, Nineteen: Mercury Sheen Read More »

I Sure Picked the Best Year

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Well, it seems I picked a really good year to paint the streams and rivers of Silicon Valley! So far we are in the biggest drought since California became a state! With the rest of the country drenched in snow, we have had no appreciable rain so far this winter, and things are as dry as I have ever seen.

I planned on painting some of the smaller creeks which run mostly during the winter and spring, but of course none are running yet. Hopefully we will eventually get some rain so it is a wait and see situation, but dry creeks are still creeks, and can be just as compelling a painting without water. I have been compiling a list of places to paint since starting this project, and I will never get to all of them, drought or no drought.

As a side note, I spent the first part of the week in Tyler Texas sleeping on a roll away bed and living in a hospice room with my ailing father, who passed away Tuesday night. No paintings will be forthcoming this week nor possibly in the next week or two. I am plenty ahead of schedule.

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Seventeen: The Eggo Team

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Continuing the ‘Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley’ project.

Eggo

The Eggo frozen waffle was invented by three brothers in San Jose. Marketing it in 1953, they first called it ‘Froffles‘, but people started calling them Eggos because of the egg like taste. In 1968, Kellogg’s purchased the brand. Their advertising slogan – “L-eggo my Eggo” is now well known.

Miguelita Creek flows out of the east foothills of Silicon Valley, joins Lower Silver Creek, right past the Kellogg’s plant where Eggos are made, and then empties into Coyote Creek. I painted number Seventeen by the Kellogg factory entrance at the junction of Eggo Way and Wooster Avenue (yes there really is an Eggo Way). The factory is near the junction of Hwy 101 and Mckee Road, just northeast of downtown San Jose. Click here for a map of all painting locations.

I originally planned on painting a sunset scene looking towards the west, but when I got there, the opposite direction was more compelling to me. The old abandoned Western Pacific railroad tracks run right by there crossing an old wooden trestle. This rail branch used to run from Niles to San Jose. You may remember Niles was the location of paintings Nine and Ten.

Below are some pictures from the afternoon. You can now click on a thumbnail, then scroll directly from picture to picture—

Entrance to the Eggo Kellogg plant. Miguelita Creek flows under this bridge.
The original scene I planned to paint.
The old train trestle was too compelling to pass up.
A closer shot of the train trestle.
My easel towards the end of the painting session.

Below is the finished painting. Just on the other side of the trestle, you can see Hwy 101 (known locally as the Bayshore Freeway) overpass. I indicated a few cars and trucks whizzing by.

The Eggo Team, 8x10, oil on panel
The Eggo Team, 8×10, oil on panel

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Sixteen: The Evergreen

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Continuing the ‘Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley’ project.

Many don’t believe Orville and Wilbur Wright did the first heavier than air controlled flight. They think John Joseph Montgomery did and there is quite a bit of evidence to back them up. Montgomery, who some have called the ‘father of aviation’, did many of his flight tests on a hill in the Evergreen area of San Jose. Montgomery Hill Park, behind Evergreen College stands as a monument to his efforts. “The Evergreen” was the name of his aircraft, and he was eventually killed in it, albeit somewhat of a freak accident. You can read the entire story here. Glenn Ford starred in a 1946 movie also telling the story, “Gallant Journey“.

The Evergreen area of San Jose has also been my home for thirty years. Originally settled by Antonio Chaboya in 1833 and named Rancho Yerba Buena, it was fertile orchards, vineyards, and farmlands until the second half of the last century when suburbia took over and is now primarily a bedroom community of Silicon Valley. Even the Mirrasou Winery started in 1854 (which was still here when I moved to the area) is gone now. Here is a short history of the area.

Fowler Creek flows down from the hills Montgomery once glided, into Thompson Creek, then Silver Creek, Coyote Creek which empties into the San Francisco Bay. I did this little painting right where Fowler flows into Thompson, behind a strip mall which also happens to be where I get my favorite Indian takeout cuisine! Click on any picture to view a larger version.

Here is the scene. In the distance is San Felipe Rd.
My easel towards the end of the painting.

The light area in the distance is San Felipe Rd. Click here for a map of all painting locations.

I named the painting after Montgomery’s glider–

The Evergreen, 8x10,oil on panel
The Evergreen, 8×10,oil on panel

Sixteen: The Evergreen Read More »

Fifteen: The Hard Drive Machine

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Continuing the year long “Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley” project.

The hard disk drive, found in virtually every computer in the world and many other devices, was invented at the IBM San Jose Research Center in the mid 1950’s. The center is one of IBM’s nine worldwide research labs, and now located in Almaden Valley. This tranquil little valley, bordered by smaller ridges, is in the southern part of San Jose and also a bedroom community of Silicon Valley.

The Los Gatos Plein Air group was out painting a stream in Almaden Valley, so once again I joined them. This time we painted Alamitos Creek which flows through Almaden Valley and eventually joins the Guadalupe River which then flows to San Francisco Bay.

We painted in Pfeiffer Park which runs along the creek. The IBM center was in the hills behind us about a mile away. Below are a few pictures from the morning. Click on any photo to see a larger version.

I painted a more intimate scene of just a few rocks in the stream.
Some of the Los Gatos group painting
Some of the Los Gatos group painting

And finally, I had someone take a picture of me painting! When I do small works, I usually sit in a camping chair and hold the painting in my hand much of the time. This is to save my back from too many visits to the doctor–

Yours truly out painting along Alamitos Creek.
A closeup of me painting.
The Hard Drive Machine, 8x10, oil on board
The Hard Drive Machine, 8×10, oil on board

Around noon, the group adjourned to a local pizza place for lunch and fellowship. It was a great time talking painting, places to paint, and enjoying good food.

Since I was in the area, I stayed the afternoon and painted Randol Creek, a tributary of Alamitos Creek. I wanted to paint the sunset again, but only got about halfway through. There is a lot of history in the area, so I plan on going back to finish Randol Creek and do other paintings. Stay tuned!

Fifteen: The Hard Drive Machine Read More »