Mary's Market

What a surprising treat it is to find Mary's Market for the first time.  Officially it's Mary's Market and Canyon Cafe.  It feels like a mountain get-away when it's actually only a few blocks from the city center of Sierra Madre, CA.  The old area is in a canyon up a narrow street, lined by stone walls and stairs leading to rustic homes.  There is even a creek shaded by many old trees.  Years ago they used to dam up the creek at the foot bridge to make a swimming pool, which I hear was very cold.  Mary's is the only business in the canyon so it's the meeting spot for all the neighborhood.  Since I found Mary's Market we've enjoyed going for breakfast or lunch about once a week.  We've been entertained by stories with each visit...the Indian legend, the cement trucks...

Of course the area is known by artists who love to paint there.  It was the location for a recent paint-out and I was looking forward to it.  In the morning there was a lot of dappled shade from the sycamore trees to deal with.  I'll share my watercolor here as well as a photo from a brighter day of Mary's, the interior I shot on my first visit, and a recent view of the creek which doesn't have much water at this time of year.  I'm sure I'll be painting many more views at Mary's.