Leslie Landers

Stanford University’s campus is beautiful and the chapel is a jewel on the main quad. This watercolor was a fun opportunity to work with Interference Copper from Daniel Smith Watercolor. It’s part of their line of luminescent watercolors.

My life lately has been full of physical therapy. I’m working to get back to 100% after a late summer injury. Just this week, I’ve started going on walks … outside and everything! For now, it’s just a loop around my block under my husband’s supervision.

Today, I noticed a neighbor’s rhododendron was blooming. I think of rhododendron blooms as a spring confection so it was a delight to see these second blooms. Early this spring, I was able to spend several days painting in a beautiful private garden in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Their Rhododendrons were in full bloom. So … I pulled out a photo.

When I was up in Lake Tahoe at the beginning of September, I managed a pretty spectacular fall on scree covered granite. The results include scrapes and scratches, 2 ankle fractures, a broken tibia and a sprained wrist. There is good news though:

#1 – This is only temporary and it looks like I won’t need surgery as was originally thought.

#2 – My husband is amazingly helpful and my wrist sprain is on my non-dominant hand.

#3 – I’ve been receiving some stunning flower bouquets and I’m painting them.

The paintings I did on this trip to Lake Tahoe are divided in my mind into two chunks. The paintings I did before I broke my ankle in 2 places (and leg) and those I did after.

The  painting above is an “after” painting. If I had to be stuck on a porch, the one I was on at my friend’s house in South Lake Tahoe was pretty much perfect with shade and a view through a trees of a meadow. The lake is just behind the trees in the distance.

I painted this at the peak of the Silicon Valley morning rush at Vasona Lake and Park. This is such a mellow place 0f reflections and waterfowl, it was impossible to think that I was only a few hundred yards from the bumper to bumper traffic.

I recently had a wonderful and very productive (3 painting) day at Guglielmo Vineyards in Morgan Hill. It’s a place I’ve enjoyed painting before and wonderful to take in the changing light from morning through the end of the day. I’ll be signing and varnishing a small 8″ x 10″ oil painting and putting it in my section of finished oil paintings.  Here I’m sharing the other two.

Dancing Vines:  This 16″ x 20″ is large for me as a pleinair piece. It was very fun to use a big brush and to intentionally create out of my comfort zone.

Vineyard Path:  I started this one late in the day and had to move to complete it in the diminishing light. It’s a 9 x 12 painting.

I’ll need to get back to Guglielmo to paint bare vines this winter. They have some lovely old growth sections with beautiful gnarled grapevines that will be fun to capture after the leaves go. And … their petite sarah is pretty wonderful too!