Plein Air @ Sunnyvale Heritage Park orchard Sunnyvale CA 加州風景寫生
Went to the Sunnyvale Heritage Park orchard, it is always fun to drive through the local streets, those are named with some of the greatest visual artists and musicians in history. Robbia, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Manet, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Rousseau, Sargent, Romberg; Mozart, Choppin, Puccini, Offenbach, etc.. What a great way to be inspired and review history.
Two years ago I painted here, while the workers were drying apricots. It looked like they were working on the apricots today. And I found out the barn was more appealing today after reading the sign on the wall:"
The Bianchi Bros. barn was constructed circa 1918 on Capitol Ave and Hostetter Road in San Jose and has been in continuous use since that time. It is a good example of the classic American barn with its unpretentious vernacular architecture. Barns are one of a rare handful of symbols that immediately evoke our national heritage and their honesty provides a strong regional identity to our agricultural past. In the tradition of all good barns, the Bianchi Bros. Barn is architecturally a perfect "form follows function model". It was built of local redwood by local craftsmen to fit the landscape and serve the family's orchard.
The Bianchi Ranch was purchased in 1939 by Santino and Domenic (Sonny and Dom) Bianchi who farmed French prune plums, walnut and cherry trees. The Bianchi Bros, noted for their time-saving and efficient inventions in fruit processing and drying, used the barn along with an attached dehydrator to process fruits for many orchards in the area. Their sister Clara donated the barn to the City of Sunnyvale in 2002 to recognize her brothers' place in the industry.
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It was a good exercise. Then I really wanted to buy some apricots, but the price was much higher than I expected. Inflation is crazy in Bay Area no, so had to walk away from the stand.... (July 7 2021)