Sunday, September 18, 2011

The Great Moffett Paint Out Concludes

Diana Jaye and Susan Watson paint Shenandoah Plaza at historic Moffett Field.

Thanks to the president of the Moffett Historical Society and Museum, Herb Parsons, and board members Diana Parsons and Tom Spink, we were able to open the museum on this Sunday, in order to accommodate more artists for our Great Moffett Paint Out.

Usually the museum is like that movie: Never On A Sunday. But the artists needed our Facilities. And I don't mean our drinking fountain. So we made an exception.

We have (unofficially) decided to have an exhibit of the paintings in the next few months: date To Be Determined. We had 38 artists take part in the event. So we should have a wonderful variety.

Artist Sara Kahn at work under the trees by the control tower at Moffett Federal Airfield.

I learned something watching artists Diana Jaye and Susan Watson work: they set up their easels at about a 90 degree angle to the scene they were painting. I meant to ask them if there was a reason for that. To keep the easel out of the way of the scene?


Diana Jaye is well-known in the Bay Area: I bought one of her paintings at Viewpoint Gallery when I first returned to California. I found another one, from 1984, at an estate sale. It was of a house in Woodside, California, and when I asked Diana about it, she told me the name of the home's owner and remembered the day she painted it, twenty-seven years ago.


Susan Watson added a C-130 military cargo plane that was flying in and out of the field to her painting, though the plane was only on the horizon for a few seconds at a time. Several of us said, "Oh, you've added that C-130 to your picture," and she laughed and said; "Is that what it was?  A C-130?  I just thought it was a big gray plane! Maybe I should use that in the title."

We introduced the artists to Moffett and the museum (and C-130s), and we, in turn, were introduced to a group of talented artists. Many of them said they had always wanted to come on the old base to paint.

It was a happy mixture of life's colors. Thanks to NASA (the property's present landlord) and to all the rest who helped to make it happen.

Sunshine and shadow, green space and steel at the Great Moffett Paint Out.

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4 comments:

Thaddeus said...

Looks like a great event and great fun. Hope you will be posting some of the results. Congratulations, and keep fighting to save the building!

Robin Chapman said...

I will be asking the artists for jpegs this week so we can use one or more for the invitation to the exhibit opening. So that's a good idea: I can then show some of the paintings on my site too. We did have a little press coverage, so perhaps that will draw some attention to the potential loss of the iconic hangar. Most of all it was lots of fun. If you go to the Moffett Museum's Facebook page, one of the artists (John Decker who liked painting the museum's uniforms) has posted some of his work there.

linda said...

when and if any of these paintings go on sale (and are priced for someone living on a VA pension), i would be interested. my time at moffett was short but quite eventful!

Robin Chapman said...

When I get some scans I'll put them on the blog.