Dream to Reality

Padres Garden - 12x16 oil on canvas panel- ©TheresaGrilloLaird
$425 - Click here to purchase

When I was a little girl of seven and already knew what I wanted to do with my life, my mother gave me a Walter Foster art instruction book. I couldn't read well enough to follow the directions but I poured over the pictures. I spent a lot of time staring into a painting of a desert scene with cactus. The colors were bright but pale and a sharp edged brilliant light washed over the whole scene. But the picture in the booklet that always stopped me in my tracks was a painting of a mission building. My eyes wandered down a long corridor with arched openings. Flowers and a garden under a blue sky could be seen through the archways. Everything was bathed in warm colors and sunshine. I dreamed of walking the length of that shaded corridor with it's pots of flowers.

After so many years of dreaming, I finally made it to California four years ago. Chance landed me on the central coast. One day, my explorations brought me over the Santa Lucia Mountains and into a valley. The valley is called Valley of the Oaks and it had been chosen by the Padres as the site of the third mission in the path of missions that are such an integral part of California's history. 

As I learned more about the mission, I also learned that it's in very real danger of being closed to the public unless enough funds can be raised to do an extensive earthquake retro-fit of the structure.

The above painting, Padres Garden, is the third painting I've completed of San Antonio de Padua Mission and I'm offering giclee prints of it. Go to my print site to view the category Help Save this Mission. 25% of the purchase price of any mission print will be donated to the restoration efforts. Click here to read about the mission, and here to go to my print store.