Continuing the “Creeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley” year long quest.
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It’s springtime in Silicon Valley! The wildflowers are out! Due to the drought, this year might be a little short on flowers, but we had enough rains for the flowers to bloom.
As the official California state flower, the California Poppy ranges in most of the far western states plus Mexico, and has been transplanted to South Africa, Argentina, and especially flourishes well in Chile.
I had been searching for a location by a creek in Santa Clara Valley which had some California Poppies growing. Since the California Poppy grows mainly in well drained, sandy, poor soil, you won’t find many by a stream bank, so, I decided to paint in Rancho San Antonio County Park, where a field of poppies is close to Permanente Creek.
Permanente Creek starts in the east flank of Black Mountain, courses though the cities of Los Altos, Mountain View, and into San Francisco Bay.
Most of you have probably heard of Kaiser Permanente, the huge health care conglomerate mainly in the western United States. The name Permanente came from Permanente Creek, which flowed past Henry Kaiser’s first cement plant on Black Mountain near Cupertino. Kaiser’s first wife, Bess Fosburgh, liked the name.
This is the first (and probably last) painting in this quest where you can’t actually see the water in the creek. Although Permanente Creek was running, it is completely surrounded by impenetrable brush in this area, and you can only get a glimpse from the several pedestrian bridge crossings. The line of trees in the middle ground shelters the creek as it passes through the area. I did paint in a few more flowers than actually were there…something called ‘artistic license’.
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Besides the deer, a coyote passed by just as I was arriving but couldn’t catch it on camera. The wild turkeys were out gobbling around the valley…heard, but not seen, at least by me.
If you watched my time-lapse video The Painting of TwentyFive: Where Redwoods Thrive this painting just kinda fell into place and was also done in about 90 minutes. When I got home, though I didn’t like the foreground, so changed it some, and still not sure if I like it. Might be a little too ‘busy’. Anybody have an opinion?
Click this link for a map of all painting locations along with each painting.
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