The First Street Farmer’s Market, early mornings at the Benicia Bait and Tackle shop, and Christmas carolers at the Fischer-Hanlon House: These are scenes familiar to Benicians, and they can be seen in Leslie Swan’s second annual holiday calendar, “Benicia 2015.”

Swan has called Benicia home since 1988. Over the years she has seen Benicia’s Main Street evolve and grow, and that was her focus in her first calendar last year.

“Last year, I tried to pick places that are established and have been part of the community for a long time,” she said.

This time around, she’s chosen to depict familiar scenes and events that capture the spirit of Benicia.

A self-taught artist, Swan began drawing scenes from around town last year. After amassing illustrations of a number of quintessential small storefronts and events, she decided to put her work together in a calendar she sells privately and at Java Point Café downtown.

“Java Point is a fabulous supporter of Benicia artists,” said Swan, who added that the family-run business is her favorite place to sit and observe characters for her drawings.

She said she will need to sell all 1,200 copies of her calendar to recover the costs, and Java Point doesn’t take a commission. “They’ve been so great, handling local people’s artwork,” she said.

Swan said her bicycle rides were instrumental in selecting the images for the 2015 calendar. “I ride my bike around a lot, wanted to get iconic Benicia,” she said.

“One thing I’ve noticed lately about Benicia, and that I really like, is that more and more people are riding their bikes.

“Constance Beutel has been such an inspiration behind that. I drew her into the calendar. She’s pictured, with her famous basket, outside of The Benicia Herald office on the April drawing.”

Beutel, she said, inspired her to get a bicycle herself, and to add bicyclists in many of the scenes in the calendar. “I’m for promotion of bicycle riding in Benicia.”

Swan lives near the bait and tackle shop that operates at 509 Claverie Way. “That place hasn’t changed,” she said, adding that it’s popular among residents who fish.

Along those lines, she included more water scenes in the new calendar. “A lot of people live in Benicia because of the water,” she said.

She also drew the current exterior of Arts Benicia, because the nonprofit plans to change its external decor. “It’s been the face of Arts Benicia for so long, and this will be a documentation of how Arts Benicia was.”

Swan has ties to Arts Benicia: She recently began teaching an after-school art program at Mary Farmar Elementary School, for which Arts Benicia obtained a Community Sustainability Commission grant.

She returned to First Street, she said, to capture images of the Blue Goose and Honeysuckle Rose, paired because she likes their contrasting architectural styles.

And she illustrated Benicia City Hall, adding a postal carrier because the municipal building is the neighbor of the Benicia Post Office.

Her new calendar also portrays some of Benicia’s festivals.

“I always look forward to the fireworks on the Fourth of July. I love this tradition and the quaintness of the lights over the straits,” she said. Her drawing for the month of July shows fireworks filling the air as a freight ship floats slowly by on the water. In the picture is the name “Ryan,” a memorial for Ryan Stevens, 21, who died after being struck by a boat during the 2007 Benicia Waterfront Festival.

Other calendar months feature various scenes familiar to many Benicians.

“I see my neighbors at the farmers market each week in the summer,” she said about the August illustration.

Because she home-schooled her children, she and they spent plenty of time at Benicia Public Library, which she chose for the month of June.

“My kids practically grew up at the public library,” she said.

Swan said she tried to do one illustration a month in creating the new calendar. “I spend all year working on this. I don’t work quickly. I started near the beginning of the year,” she said.

She spends lots of time observing the subjects she plans to draw. If there is a tree in front of a building, “I feel like I know every branch of the tree,” she said.

Swan has been drawing since she was a child. She hasn’t taken art lessons, but she pursued her own folk-art style, with oil-based colored pencils as her favored medium.

She said drawing a subject also teaches her to see it more intently. She drew the boats of the Benicia Marina, and while “I have been there a million times … I never really looked at it,” she said. Now she knows exactly how the marina looks, she said.

Sometimes, after she produces an illustration, she sees mistakes. She forgot to add “New Era” to the front of The Benicia Herald building, for instance. She noticed it as the calendar was being printed, and thought, “Oh no! Oh, dear! Oh, well.”

Another error came about when she paired two popular Benicia pastimes — the Benicia Certified Farmers Market and dog walking. “Then I realized no dogs are allowed,” she said. Animals are in several other illustrations, too.

Her son, Ryan, has been watching her work on the calendar all year.

“At the risk of sounding cliché, it’s really a labor of love,” he said. “This calendar really exemplifies her love for, and commitment to, this community.”

Swan is sharing her love of art at home, too, where she and younger artists often gather. “I have a big porch, and we do artwork together,” she said.

The calendar is spiral bound and made of sturdy paper. Her use of the oil-based colored pencils gives each illustration a rich color.

“It’s something I really enjoy doing,” she said. “I hope lots of people can enjoy the calendar.”

Benicia 2015 calendars can be purchased at Java Point Café, 366 First St., or by contacting Leslie Swan at 707-747-6136.

Chloe Valdez contributed to this story.