A visit to Santa Paula

Let me share my 'adventure' in Santa Paula with you. It was mostly to accompany my hubby on his hour & a half drive to his client's place as well as be his navigator. I did look up on the town the night before we went so that I will roughly know what to do and expect.

Santa Paula is 45 minutes away from Los Angeles and it is located in Southern California's beautiful Heritage Valley. This area was firstly settled by the Chumash tribe of Native Americans around 10,000 years ago and it has a long history in oil and agriculture.

If you love old architecture, you will most probably love Santa Paula. There are many old buildings that are so beautiful!

Below, I share some of the photos I snapped with my iPhone4s. I didn't bring my Nikon out with me as my bag is already full with my sketching supplies and I'm on foot the whole day. Didn't want to overload my bag.

I stopped in my step to admire this clock. It is working! :)

Unitarian Universalist Church

 Beautiful murals abound in this town

 Santa Clara Valley Bank. I love the building!

The owner has Gone Fishing!

The Commerce Center 

 More murals :)

Oddfellows Clocktower 

Car Wash... look at the cute structure :)

This is a quiet, quaint little town. There is no hustle & bustle like in the big cities and sometimes, it is nice to take a step back and enjoy a town like this.

Eve

Santa Paula

Hubby had to go to his client's place in Santa Paula and I tagged along. Mostly to be his navigator, also because I wanted to take the opportunity to explore anywhere I can (especially since I don't have to drive.. haha) and practice sketching. I have seen so many blogs of people keeping art journals and how beautiful they are and am fascinated with sketching on location. Great opportunity to try :)

Hubby dropped me at McDonalds' before he went to his client's warehouse. I ordered a Mocha and sat outside where the children's playground is and 'officiated' my journal :) I always find it a bit scary to draw on the first page... a lot of pressure! What if I botched it up?

Do you like my funky colored nails? haha... I love the blue polish a lot and felt the mint colored one is too bright, so I paired them together to tone down the brightness of the mint. It's kinda funky and I'm enjoying it. 

After I sketched my mocha and journaled a little, I walked 0.6 miles to the Theater Center. There is a little park there with lots of shade and I found a spot where I could sit and sketch the Theater Center with a nice view. It was really peaceful sitting there and sketching. Santa Paula is a very quiet town and there were not many people walking about. 

As I sketched and painted, the wind started getting stronger. And it was c-o-l-d! I didn't expect Santa Paula to be so cold in summer.. haha... it was 19 degrees in the afternoon and when I was sitting under the shade, it felt much colder! I was shivering at one point. 

I will write more about Santa Paula in my next post :) 

Eve