Pat Ryll is certainly not the first artist to be inspired by Benicia’s waterfront vistas.

But Ryll’s new show, “Shoreline Inspiration,” the featured exhibit at the Benicia Plein Air Gallery beginning Jan. 8, is so full of vibrant watercolors and familiar scenes, it’s hard to imagine a more detailed — and loving — rendering of the city’s most picturesque places.

“One of the things that brought me to Benicia was the fact that the community was on the water,” Ryll said.

She said most of her paintings have three key elements: “Life, land and water for me all go together,” she said. And when she started putting together the new show, she realized this was the theme in the paintings that she already had ready.

The show will include 12 to 15 watercolors on the gallery’s feature wall, all plein air inspired, though some were painted from Ryll’s photographs.

“Some of them I was in ‘Carolyn’s Cove’ — I was sitting in Carolyn Plath’s back yard,” she said of the Herald contributor. “There are others where I was sitting in the middle of the alley to do my alley cottage.”

Ryll has invited art students from her Benicia Senior Center watercolor class to show their paintings at the reception for her show, which is scheduled for Jan. 10. Those will hang in the patio on panels.

“The seniors are very excited about the opportunity to show some of their work. It’s not for sale but to show,” she said. “Some of them are very good. They’re painting with a great deal of creativity and joy through their 70s and 80s.”

Ryll has been teaching watercolor painting at the center on the third Thursday of the month for two years. “This class, it makes me smile when I’m putting together some kind of lesson. I smile all the time I am there, and I catch myself smiling as I am driving away,” she said.

“It’s very inspirational for me to be there painting with 70- and 80-year-olds that find a great deal of laughter, lots of fun, wonderful camaraderie, great creativity,” she said.

Looking ahead to the rest of the new year, Ryll said she is challenging herself with different subject matter.

“There is a gentleman who is a supporter of the Plein Air Gallery, who raises, breeds and shows collies. He mentioned it to me, and I said, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t do dogs.’ When I hear myself say something about ‘I can’t do it,’ then that’s the thing I need to do,” she said.

“I try to stretch so I have something different to do each time,” she said.

“Gotta try to stretch both the creative side as well as the technical side.”

If You Go
“Shoreline Inspirations” will run from Jan. 8 to Feb. 1. An opening reception will take place Saturday, Jan. 10 from 2-4 p.m. at the Benicia Plein Air Gallery, 307 First St.