I've had guests from England staying with me for the last few days and it has been fun to share some southern California experiences with them: bonfire and hot dogs at the beach, sunsets over the ocean, surfing, shopping and people watching at Laguna Beach, eating where the locals go, and a visit to the Mission in San Juan Capistrano.

This Lily is from one of the Mission's fountains.

Now the guests have gone it is time to wash and put away the sheets and towels, put the furniture back in place, and return to painting.

Road Trip 6

This is the final post about my recent road trip. This post backtracks a little and deals with a reoccurring site we saw on the coastal portion, California Missions.

Read about the California Missions here and here.

Because of our schedule, we weren't always able to go into the Mission because we arrived outside of their visiting hours. However sometime we could get pictures of the gardens through the locked gates.

Mission San Jose de Guadalupe.

Mission Santa Cruz.

Mission San Juan Bautisa.

Father Serra who founded many of the missions.

Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo.

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.

Mission La Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima.

Displays showing how the rooms would have looked during the Mission era.

Adobe bricks.

How the bricks are made.

MIssion Santa Barbara.

Chalk artwork in front of the church.

Father Serra again.

Distance to the next missions.

Mission San Buenaventura.

For a review of my visit to Mission San Juan Capistrano see here and here.

Mission Accomplished.

I have finally finished my painting from a plein air class at the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. I thought I had finished it but after living with the painting for a few days I decided to change some areas which just didn't look right.

'Mission Fountain' 5" x 7" Oil on Canvas.

On a Mission 3

In spring, the central courtyard is full of beautiful and varied colour, and textures.

When I was at the Mission painting one Saturday, there were two bridal parties taking advantage of the lovely backdrop.

Against the flowers, the koi hold their own colour-wise.

There's a beautiful scene in every direction.

The Mission's vegetable garden.

One of the residents enjoying the sunshine.

Out of the central courtyard, walking towards the exit, there is still plenty of colour and visual interest to take in.

I hope you've enjoyed this virtual visit to the Mission and hope you'll get an opportunity to visit it in person one day.