Lunch with Theodore Wores

What a pleasure to learn more about Theodore Wores, California Impressionist painter (1859-1939) over my bag of almonds at the Triton Museum of Art’s Brown Bag Lunch series conducted by Deputy Director, Preston Metcalf today! The Triton has 47 of his paintings in their permanent collection, a generous gift from his wife, Caroline Bauer. A good number of these pieces were recently cleaned and restored and are included in this exhibit, Under the California Sun, which consists of landscapes painted in the San Francisco Bay Area and Yosemite. Many of his orchards were painted right here in Los Gatos and Saratoga and are so special to me as I grew up in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, surrounded by orchards. In fact, they are actually kicking off their annual Apple Blossom Festival today! Under the California Sun will continue at the Triton until July 29 when it will go on tour!

Theodore Wores – Spring Blossoms of California – Los Gatos – 1919 – oil on canvas.

Theodore Wores – Blossomtime, Saratoga, California – 1919 – oil on canvas.

Theodore Wores -Tree Blossoms – 1920 – oil on canvas

Theodore Wores – Road with Blossoming Trees – 1922 – oil on canvas.

Theodore Wores – Road by Blossoming Orchard – 1925 – oil on canvas

Theodore Wores – Spring Blosoms of Los Gatos – 1925- oil on canvas.

Theodore Wores – My Studio Garden in Saratoga, Ca. – 1926 – oil on canvas.

Theodore Wores – A Garden in Saratoga, California – 1927 – oil on canvas.

Want to see more Wores? The Triton has a batch of paintings he did in Spain that need the same loving (read professional and expensive) cleaning and restoration that these pieces had. They are gratefully seeking financial donations (to bridge the gap in grants)…just saying!

Paving Over Heart’s Delight

I keep an album of vintage postcards in my studio as evidence of what preceded the Silicon Valley. The mountain views of the Valley of Heart’s Delight are still recognizable of course but these fluffy blankets of blooms now lie like bits of lint intersected by highways and subdivisions. Our last remaining orchard in Los Gatos, the North 40, is now slated for development. It would be bulldozed already if there agreement on what combination of shops and restaurants and housing in required.  Maybe a remnant of the past makes for a better future.

Marie Cameron Studio Valley of Heart's Delight Album 2012

My album of old orchard postcards from the Valley of Heart’s Delight.

 

Marie Cameron Between the Tracks and the Highway 2012

An orphaned fruit tree caught between the tracks and the Highway 85  in Los Gatos.

Marie Cameron North 40 at Sunset 2012

Slated for development, North 40 along Highway 17 is the last remaining orchard in Los Gatos.