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![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/640px-Mission_San_Jose_Fremont_CA.jpg?resize=500%2C254\")
<\/a>Missions<\/strong> As the fourteenth mission built in California, the site had been inhabited by the native Ohlone Indians for centuries. Built on a slope overlooking the plain on the east side of San Francisco Bay, the area was very fertile for agriculture, and the wild game plentiful. The adobe church<\/a> was destroyed in an 1868 earthquake but in the early 1980\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s was restored as it appeared in the 1830s.<\/p>\n Creeks<\/strong> Click on the below thumbnails for larger pictures***<\/em><\/p>\n Trees<\/strong> Bubbles<\/strong> Click on the below thumbnails for larger pictures***<\/em><\/p>\n Painting<\/strong> After I got home, although I painted the brightly lit bank and flowers as it was, I had to tone it down as it detracted from the trees.<\/p>\n Click this link for a map of all painting locations along with each painting.<\/a> ***Email subscribers may not see all pictures. Just click on the title for a link to the online version.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Continuing the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCreeks and Rivers of Silicon Valley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 year long quest. Subscribe to this blog by entering your email in the right sidebar>>>>> Missions Mission San Jose, founded in June 1797, is in Fremont California. Since most mission towns in California grew up around the mission, I could never figure out how the mission ended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,21,4,2],"tags":[190,34,96,95,191,94,93,45,189,32,24],"class_list":["post-2872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-creeks-and-rivers-of-silicon-valley","category-landscape","category-plein-air","tag-art","tag-creeks","tag-eucalyptus","tag-fremont","tag-landscape","tag-mission-creek","tag-mission-san-jose","tag-painting","tag-plein-air","tag-santa-clara-valley","tag-silicon-valley"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gXkU-Kk","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMission San Jose<\/a>, founded in June 1797, is in Fremont California. Since most mission towns in California grew up around the mission, I could never figure out how the mission ended up in another city, and not San Jose. The answer is rather simple: both the mission and the pueblo (city) were named in honor of St Joseph, and there was no other connection. <\/p>\n
\nMission San Jose was built close to a spring fed creek which runs year round. You’ll never guess the name of the creek\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6yep, Mission Creek.<\/a> It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s headwaters is a spring located on the north slope of Mount Alison, flows out of the hills past the mission, through the town of Fremont, and feeds Lake Elizabeth in Fremont\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Central Park. From there it feeds Laguna Creek and on to San Francisco Bay. Over the decades suburban sprawl had greatly damaged the creek, and Joyce Blueford along with groups of private and civil groups has in recent years restored some sections<\/a>. The part I saw today looked pretty good.<\/p>\n![\"Along](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_3903.jpg?w=246&h=185\" "\\"Along")
<\/a> ![\"Along](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_3913.jpg?w=246&h=185\" "\\"Along")
<\/a>
\nAs Mission Creek passes through Fremont, in places, large stands of Eucalyptus trees<\/a> line it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s banks. Just about every artist I know enjoys painting Eucalyptus with its varied bark color which reflects a lot of the local reflected color, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s large, distinctive shape and hanging branches. <\/p>\n
\nCalifornia, however, has had a love hate relationship with the Eucalyptus. Before 1850 there were no Eucalyptus trees in California. They were imported from Australia. Being fast growing, a number of enthusiasts convinced farmers to plant millions of the trees in the early 1900\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in a get rich quick scheme to sell the lumber. It soon grew into a speculative bubble in eucalyptus timber. The bubble burst in 1913 when many discovered what others had long known: that the wood cracked, warped, and twisted as it dried and is basically useless for building. Many investors were ruined. Some now call it the worlds largest weed. More history can be found here<\/a> and here<\/a>. <\/p>\n![\"Mission](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_3915.jpg?w=177&h=236\" "\\"Mission")
<\/a> ![\"My](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_3919.jpg?w=315&h=236\" "\\"My")
<\/a>
\nI painted along Mission Creek Drive right in the middle of Fremont suburbia about a mile downstream from the mission. (It would have been nice to paint the creek by the mission, but it is separated by numerous buildings and there just were no good viewpoints.) The flat area in the middle ground is Mission Creek trail. Mission San Jose High School is in the background. Flowers were growing along the bank which were backlight by the morning sun and just glowed. The creek was running very well, and I certainly enjoyed the gurgling and babbling while painting.<\/p>\n![\"Missions,Creeks,Trees,Bubbles](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.donaldneff.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/IMG_3927origEw.jpg?resize=500%2C406\")
<\/a> Missions,Creeks,Trees,Bubbles & Painting, 8×10, oil on board[\/caption<\/p>\n
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\nClick on this link for a Pinterest catalog of all paintings so far.<\/a><\/p>\n
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