San Juan Bautista Mission and State Park, San Juan Bautista. Thursday, June 25, 2015.

As swallows faithfully return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in Orange County every year, so do the SCVWS Paintsites regulars faithfully return to Mission San Juan Bautista every year.  (The good thing about us is that we're not nearly as messy as swallows and we actually spend money in some of the town's funky & fun little restaurants.)    If we keep doing this for enough years perhaps somebody, someday, will write a song about us too.  
   
Back to reality:  The day wasn't nearly as hot as we feared it might be, there was a strong breeze which helped keep us cool, and there were plenty of shady places (in the Mission arcade or under some of the many trees around the Plaza) to set-up and paint.   Conveniently located picnic table provided just the right place for lunch and a critique where we heard some exciting news.   (You'll have to scroll to the end of the posting to find just what that was.) 

For additional information about the Mission, see: http://www.oldmissionsjb.org/
For the adjacent State Historic Park, see: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=563

Upcoming Paintsites:

• Thursday, July 2, 2015: Foothill College Bamboo Garden, Los Altos Hills.
• Thursday, July 9, 2015: Emma Prusch Farm Park, San Jose.
• Thursday, July 16, 2015:  Picchetti Ranch Preserve, Cupertino.   Either Sit & Paint or Hike & Sketch.
• Saturday, July 18, 2015:  Esther Clark Park, Palo Alto - Special start and end times - 8:00 - 9:30 AM to accommodate artists who plan to attend "1 Model, 3 Fabulous Artists, 3 Points of View" paintout at the nearby Los Altos Hills Town Hall.
• Thursday, July 23, 2015:  Japanese Friendship Garden, San Jose.
• Thursday, July 30, 2015:  Moss Landing - another long drive: paint all morning, lunch together, paint some more after lunch, drive home elated with your day's work.

For additional information and details, see the SCVWS website or the July Newsletter.


The long arcade fronting the Plaza (anybody ready for some serious perspective work?), the Mission church facade and bell tower were popular subjects:

Alan set up in front of the Plaza Hotel, across the street from the Mission and the Plaza, where he had plenty of curious tourists stop to admire his work.

Alan's painting of the arcade across the Plaza with the roof of the church and bell tower just visible.

Mitsi set up near the entrance to the Mission and the Plaza.  She was easily the most popular artist there --- a UPS truck even stopped and the driver hopped out to see what she was painting!   (Note her plastic trash bag blowing in the wind.)

Mitsi's painting looking down the arcade.  

Setting up in the tiled arcade was another option ...

Candy looking down the arcade with its many arches.

Candy's unfinished painting of the arcade and its many, many arches.

New member Christine also set-up in the arcade ...

and painted this wonderfully detailed and interesting composition.

Brad's painting of the arcade with Mitsi in the left foreground.

The imposing Mission church, the bell tower, the charming little garden in front of the church, and a seemingly insignificant gate attracted the most attention....

Broncha approached the Mission church front and center.

Broncha's unfinished painting of the Mission church.

Candy's first painting was of the church and bell tower.  (The bells are deceptively difficult to paint - these are perfect.)

Jenny and Mary, her dear friend visiting from England.

Jenny added a touch of mystery with the little gate leading to the Cemetery in her painting of the Mission church and bell tower.

Mary first attended a Paintsite paintout while visiting Jenny in 2007.   Hopefully she'll make it a regular part of future visits so we can boast that we have an Internationally recognized artist painting with us.

Lisha set up very near Jenny and Mary and decided on a similar composition.

Lisha's painting of a corner of the church, the bell tower and the cemetery gate.

 

Marilyn set up just slightly more off-center than Lisha, Jenny and Mary.

Marilyn's completed painting of just a bit of the arcade, the church, the bell tower and the cemetery gate.

Beyond the Mission and the State Park, looking in any direction, are golden hills and the lush green crops or the rich fallow brown fields which ...

... Mary R. captured with such perfection.

John, our motivator for this trip (or maybe he should be considered the instigator), was unable to join us but submitted a painting he'd recently done there on a "scouting" trip.

John's painting of the garden in the interior of the Mission (reached thru the Gift Shop).

 

Nora also found her way thru the Gift Shop into the enclosed garden for this painting.

Lunch:   We all bring lots of art supplies and equipment to these paintouts but sometimes I think we bring even more stuff for lunch --- which is OK because sometimes we spend more time eating, talking and laughing than we do painting.

After lunch, we held our "critique" where Mitsi definitely had the last laugh.  When I asked where her painting was, she said she couldn't put it out for display.   My comment was something like "Oh, that bad huh?"  A pause then Mitsi said "No.  I sold it.".    She hadn't even had time to photograph it before he happy art patron took it away.   Luckily for us, he came back to the Plaza (with the painting) to see what the rest of us had been up to.  He not only let us photograph the painting but posed with Mitsi and his new artwork.   This sort of experience --- meeting enthusiastic and appreciative art lovers, strangers at that, --- is one of the real bonuses of plein air painting and something in which the whole group can share.

Mitsi, the much pleased new owner, and his (formerly her) painting.