A Visit to St. Mary's College

St. Mary's Chapel, ink & watercolor

 I visited St. Mary's College to see a landscape painting and drawing show in their Museum of Art. The shows were great and afterwards I tried sketching a couple different views of their chapel.

The side of the chapel, ink & watercolor

I struggled with both sketches: I was sitting on a picnic bench that was popular with wasps and they kept landing on my bright yellow Lamy Safari fountain pen. The light changed and the shadows that attracted me initially were gone when I was ready to paint. I accidentally splattered some red in the sky... But any time spent sketching is good time, even if the results aren't the best.

Art show trip to St. Mary's in Moraga

At one of our member's urging, we got out to St. Mary's to see an art show. This was so unique, over 100 works, I think, on display, collected by a man named Roger Epperson. He was an East Bay Regional Park ranger who spent many years collecting art at antique stores, galleries, garage and rummage sales, and more recently, online. 

He collected works by many well-known and not-so-well-known painters. You can read a little more about who here 

There was also a wonderful exhibit of a local painter & pen/pencil artist Richard Gayton. His "exquisite and meticulous" drawings were all done within one square mile in the Mt. Diablo area.

We were very inspired by all this wonderful art, so had to sit down and do our own sketches, basking in the warm sun at St. Mary's.

St. Mary's College in Moraga

Susan, sketching in the shade of an Italian Cypress at St. Mary's College