San Luis Rey Mission

The Plein Air Artists of Riverside will be having a show on California Missions at the Banning Center for the Arts starting the later part of April 08. In preparing for the Mission show we are painting several S. Cal Missions. Yesterday a group of us went to San Luis Rey Mission near Oceanside, Ca. It is a beautiful Mission on the outside and very well preserved. I think we picked the wrong day to go. There were over 300 4th graders in attendance and they were everywhere. I wanted to paint a particular view but I was unable to set up my easel from the kids running around. I was afraid they would either knock me over or my painting! One kid used the F word while I was standing there. One of the other artists said she heard one of the adults using the F word also. I don't know where or what school these kids attend, but someone needs to get some help over there and soon. Anyway, I walked out into a field to get away from the kids and just as I finished setting up a security guard came out to tell me they would be bringing 6 school buses in and she was afraid my view would be taken away. So I looked farther down, grabbed my gear and set up again. As I started drawing my sketch in the first bus arrived. Yep, she parked it right in my view of the large tower that I wanted to paint. So I quickly redid my painting to start at the large part of the main building and continue down through the archways to the left. When I started painting the front of the building was in full sun and the beautiful shadows were in the archways which was my main focus. As I started putting in the darks I noticed the clouds coming from the ocean just over the top of the left side of the painting. By the time I got most of my darks and lights on the painting, the clouds began to move in faster and faster. I was painting as fast as I could, one I wanted to capture the light and two I wanted to make sure I got something before the next bus arrived. About this time it became really cold, the skies were dark and the light was gone, everything was the same color. I hurried to complete the painting of what I could remember, luckily I had enough done and starting packing it in. About this time my friend Luz called, said she was freezing and did I want to quit. I said yes, I had already started packing up. We all packed it in. We went to the gift shop to get our hat pin. We are trying to purchase a hat pin for all the different places we are painting. Some wear them on their PAAR caps. I have started putting mine on my carrier. As busy of a group that we are, some of the groups hats are getting quite full of pins. We then stopped by the museum show to see about returning as a group. The security guard said she thought we could buy passes to paint inside the mission as a group. Well we can, but it is $60.00 per person for the yearly fee. I think we will continue on and paint the outside of the Mission as it is free. I can't imagine being inside with 300 kids. At least on the outside we could walk far enough away! We then went to one of the local Mexican food places, had a bite to eat, laughed about the day and started our journey home. Since we had picked up some of the painters at the Riverside Art Museum we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to see our show that has just been hung. What a great show. I am so excited. Our reception is Feb. 7, 2008. Until next time, enjoy the painting. Terry