In early July I started going out with the East Bay Landscape painters. They meet on Monday afternoons in local spots near me. We painted two times at Blake Garden in Kensington (Berkeley). It is the site of the president of U.C. Berkeley’s home should he/she choose to live there. Mostly the Spanish style home is used for university functions, I think. The garden, however, is open to the public and is lovingly maintained by mostly volunteers. It has a spectacular view of the bay, but I chose to paint the flamboyant flower garden. I worked on it two times at the garden and at home.  The marina painting was a real stretch for me, but I got a huge boost from one of our members. She had started her painting and I loved her composition – so I copied it. I also liked the bold water color she had chosen – so I copied it, too. You can see her version on their website. I also watched as she used a simple plastic ruler to paint the masts – so I went home and found a ruler and copied her some more. And I learned soooo much. I look forward to more painting with this group.