Chapel Tower w/flags

Today is October 7. 2007 and 2 weeks away from the Redland's University Centennial. I woke up and the sun was shining, the sky was really blue. My son Matthew is here visiting from Monterrey and he and his dad went out golfing. They left around 6 a.m. I fell back asleep and woke up after 8. I jumped up, hurried to get everything ready and was at the University a little past 9 a.m. I wanted to get a painting done before my guys called me that they were home from golf, so I figured I had a couple of hours. I drove around the campus and notice how beautiful the full length column flags were against the crisp blue natural sky on the Chapel Tower. It was begging me to paint. I know I have done the tower twice before, but never had I actually noticed this corner view from the administration building up on the hill looking across the campus with the beautiful San Bernardino mountains in the back ground. The only difference in the flag view and the view I was seeing was the mountains in the flags have snow on them. This is beautiful in the winter time and I need to go paint this view after a snow fall. I set up and began to paint. At first I could not get the mountains the right color and I kept working. They were rosy color against the blue mountains in the background and they also had some gold color in them. I scraped the paint off once and started over and finally got the result I wanted. After finishing the painting and feeling quite satisfied, Matthew called and said they were home. I said I will be there in 5 minutes I am just finishing up. I finished up the clock on the tower and started to pack up. Low and behold when I went to grab the painting off the easel it fell hitting the easel in several spots but I saved it from hitting the ground. Well the 5 minutes turned into 30 minutes, but I manged to save the painting. On my way home, my friend Pat called to see if I had any paintings in the Stage Coach days in Banning. She said they had called her to come pick hers up as the wind was blowing so bad the tents were unstable and flying everywhere. When I got home, my friend Ada called, said she heard I was out painting and she said in Riverside the wind was blowing just terrible. I could not believe how beautiful it was in Redlands. No wind to be found. Often time when the wind is blowing in surrounding areas we are just as calm as can be. I think it is these beautiful mountains that surround the community. Enjoy the painting and the beautiful Redlands view, I know I enjoyed creating it. Terry