San Juan Capistrano

...is an easy train ride away from Los Angeles...but such a different world!  I've visited there several times lately, to sketch not just the beautiful, graceful Mission, but also the area around the train station, which feels like a quiet, unhurried small town...

These are the ruins of the "Great Stone Church" on a bright August day...built in Roman style, and only lasted a few years before tumbling in a major earthquake...I was transported to Italy that morning...

 One of the long corridors that line the central courtyard...






















A last quick sketch before leaving Mission San Juan Capistrano that afternoon...

Some quick vignettes at the Mission, and over lunch...

A last view of the the train station before leaving...

Sketching on the train..

And, then a return trip in September with my sketching friends Shiho Nakaza, John Banh and Chris Ruiz-Velasco...

Some thumbnails at the Mission mixing water-soluble chalk and gouache...
























...and watercolor...

A final sketch at the Mission...the mystery of the entrance...feeling a bit like a time portal somehow.  I was struck by the words of the doorway, "RESURGAM".  I had to look it up to discover it means "I shall rise again"...

Some last sketches that day, over lunch and waiting for the train to take us back to Los Angeles...