Very very early on a Sunday: Santa Clara Mission Cemetery

I was able to join a few sketchers/painters in South Bay for a paint out at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery a few weekends ago, thanks to my manager canceling my work trip the night before. I never really painted much around the area I live, so I was pleasantly surprised that this beautiful and serene location was only 10 mins away from my apartment. 

On my own I would probably never come by because it is not my normal painting subject, but it was a nice change of pace to wander around the old cemetery and capture details that normally went unseen.

This little bird stopped atop the angel right as I was about to finish the piece, so I promptly added it in. One of the nice things about having extra long exposure time...aka, painting instead of taking a photograph, you always get plenty of time for the key players to gather. 

As the sun hid underneath the clouds in the afternoon, I started looking for scenes with more structure to compensate for the lack of light/shadow. This is the front view to the Old Mausoleum. The rows of tombstones, trees, and distant mountains really make it a very orderly scene...as well as a systematic painting process.