Bella Trattoria (Mission Inn Festival of Lights)
9 x 12 oil on canvas done in plein air by Terry d. Chacon

This festive spot of the Mission Inn Festival of Lights is on the north west corner of the Mission Inn. Bella Trattoria Mission Inn Hotel - Riverside California The new Bella Trattoria will tempt the palate with delicious Southern Italian Cuisine including brick oven baked pizzas, build your own pasta and pressed Panini sandwiches. Experience the flavors of Italy on their lovely patio dining.

We have eaten here many times and I can say the salads and pizza are some of the best around. I chose this area because of all the interaction with the people on the mall plaza, coming and going taking in the beautiful lights, plus one of my favorite places to eat. The entrance to the restaurant got brighter and brighter as the sky darkened. I especially love the huge nutcracker statues in each of the windows and the array of lights making up the outlines of nutcrackers that go all the way down the side wall. Every where you look is another painting, I now have 6 paintings of the festival of lights and hope to add more to the collection before the seasons end.

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon

(notes and giclee prints are available of the Mission Inn Festival of Lights collections, contact Terry for more info)

Season's Greetings

Press on the link below!

From: Terry d. Chacon

Night Painting Mission Inn Festival of Lights

Festival of Lights 2009 by Terry d. Chacon
(9 x 12 palate knife plein air painting in oil)

Wed. afternoon we gathered up our night time painting gear and off to the Mission Inn Festival of Lights for a night time painting session. This is becoming a tradition for our group, Plein Air Artists of Riverside. PAAR! Last year I really wanted to paint the horse drawn carriages so Pat and I set up around the back side of the magnificent Mission Inn. Mission Inn Hotel - Riverside California (press on the link to read more about this National Historic building in downtown Riverside, CA.)

We arrived early enough to sketch our scenes onto the canvas, then to wait for the darkness to appear and over 350 million lights to light up the Mission Inn. It is incredible to watch the light move into darkness and the fabulous light display develop right in front of you. I knew I wanted to paint the horses but they were no where to be found during my set up time. They started arriving around 6 pm so I decided to quickly add one in moving across in front of me while I painted.

After painting we took a walk to find our friend Geeta who was painting on the other side of the building. This place was just packed and very difficult to walk around. All the restaurants in the immediate area had 1 1/2 hours wait time. There were children in large groups, ice skaters at the ice rink, carolers lined the streets, cars jammed (they really do need some sort of police control for the cars), vendors with gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate, popcorn and all sorts of delights to keep you comforted as you walked the streets of Riverside and took in this glorious event. We decided to walk to a local Mexican Restaurant as finding another parking space would have been difficult. After our meal we treated ourselves to gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate before calling it a night. What a great evening and the weather was fabulous. I am hoping to go back this coming Sunday if our beautiful weather holds.

Stay tuned for another painting from the wonderful Mission Inn Festival of Lights. The Festival of Lights at the Historic Mission Inn in Riverside

Terry and PAAR group painting Mission Inn before dark in 2008. Hopefully I can get some photos for 2009.........

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon



Notes and prints from all of my Mission Inn paintings are available. You can look back to last year in Dec. to see the paintings from last year.

Palm Canyon Painting "Pathway to Another Time"

On Thursday a few of us from the Plein Air Artists of Riverside Plein Air Artists of Riverside - Members Gallery went to Palm Desert to visit a sick friend J. Jordan and to paint at Palm Canyon. On our arrival to J. Jordan's we were greeted by her care taker to find out that Jordan had passed away the night before. It was a very somber time to know we should have made the trip sooner. As a memorial to Jordan we continued our journey to paint in Palm Canyon and to say our good bye's to her.

This painting is in memory of J. Jordan. "Pathway to Another Time".


My two friends Joan Coffey and Pat Ford in Palm Canyon.
A beautiful restful place that everyone should see.
Indian Canyons - PalmSprings.com


Rest in peace J. Jordan.

Until next time, Enjoy the ART! Terry d. Chacon

Commissioned Pet Portraits

"Tyson" 24 x 30 Portrait Oil on Canvas by Terry d. Chacon



"Tyson and Debbie" 16 x 20 oil on canvas by Terry d. Chacon

Debbie contacted me at the Afghan Hound Nationals in Lancaster, PA to commission me to do some paintings of her Afghan Hounds. These are the first 2 completions in a series of paintings. "Tyson" was the #1 Afghan Hound in the USA last year, as you can see, he is not only a wonderful subject for an artist, but also a very beautiful representative of the Afghan Hound.

Congratulations Debbie and JW on his accomplishments and thank you for allowing me to immortalize your beautiful afghan hounds.

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon

PS: You too can have your wonderful pets immortalized by Terry. See more on my website under portraits. http://www.terrydchacon.com/ Contact her for information. shacone@aol.com Makes great Christmas gifts.

comments by email: Julie Bartley writes: "Love your new paintings...Tyson & Debbie are captured so perfectly!"

ada m. passaro writes: "For a gal that feels a little under the weather, you are certainly going great on all your new paintings"....ada

Rita Hendrix writes: "Just Beautiful Terry!!!"

Redlands Conservancy Award

9 x 12 oil on canvas "Zanja at Walnut" by Terry d. Chacon

Winner of the Redlands Conservancy Award at the Open Air Show at Redlands Art Association.

Redlands Art Association Art Center & Sales Gallery

9 x 12 oil on canvas board "Overlooking the Crowd" by Terry d. Chacon

Juried into the prestigious "Points of View/Modern Landscape" an exhibit of 2 dimensional paintings. The Southern California Artists Association exhibit opens Sat. Dec. 5, 2009 in Laguna Beach. Reception from 6 to 9 pm. 3251 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Open dates to view the exhibit through Dec. Check calendar on their website to make sure they are open. SCAA

Both of the paintings above were done in plein air using a palate knife. Plein air (painting on location capturing the light in a short amount of time)

Until next time, ENJOY THE ART! Terry d. Chacon