Removed from the daily hustle and bustle of the Cesar Chavez Student Center, the Art Gallery on the building's terrace level gives students a tranquil getaway in its newest exhibit, Water+Color.

"I wanted to have something more traditional -- for the younger community, watercolor is dying out, so we're trying to bring it back to the student level," said Paige Wheeler, 23, exhibit curator and an SF State art history graduate.

Water+Color opened Sept. 9, offering the student body a more customary form of painting, as well as free food, live music and a chance to meet the artists.

The exhibit showcases 27 of the top paintings submitted to the National Watercolor Society for its annual All Members Show. The number of submissions often exceeds 600 and only about 100 are chosen for the show.

Within the showcased pieces, students could find a diverse selection of paintings in subject matter and style. The paintings included landscapes, portraits of animals and even a few abstract pieces.

A few paintings were done in the California Style, a watercolor technique noted among artists and unheard of by viewers. That style's signature is marked by a bright color palette and loose, flowing brush strokes, Wheeler said. The pieces done in this manner are similar to those done in an impressionist style, only seemingly unstructured.

One such piece, a landscape by renowned artist Tom Fong entitled "After the Storm," displays a sunset over the ocean in the California Style. He completed the painting in 30 minutes using only a flat two-inch brush to make wide, broad stokes across the paper in bright colors, and credit cards to scrape the paint to give the piece sharp, solid lines.

A few paintings to the right, hangs "No Overhead Casting," Ron Miller's breathtakingly detailed piece. Painted against a taupe background, Miller's signature color, the pier becomes the center of attention capturing everything -- right down to last barnacle.

"It's my favorite," said Ryan Calkins, 25, a business management major. "I have a lot of respect for that painting. I'm in awe with all the detail."

The peeling paint can be seen almost chipping off the building's beams, and in the window hang advisory notices that can be read with ease.

Enough students to fill a large classroom came to view and discuss the art with their friends, many visiting the gallery for the first time.

"I've never been up to this [gallery], it's nice to see a lot of variety," said 19-year-old Dani Padgett, an art major.

Others simply stumbled upon it, like Chiara Morales, 21, a design and industry major. "I just walked in -- I was looking for the human resources building and I found it, but I came back because it grabbed my attention," she said.

Water+Color can be viewed Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will stay until Oct. 15, when a new exhibit will open at the gallery.