There’s a lot of beauty in rain, especially when you’re not out in it. Who doesn’t like the relaxing ambiance of being cooped up inside behind rain-battered windows? Or what about that moment of exhale when you make it to shelter after running through a downpour?

Artist Elizabeth Patterson captures the soothing nature of rain in vivid detail, but not with the medium you may think at first glance. Check out a few images from her Rainscapes series:

slider id='16130' name='Elizabeth Patterson’s ‘Rainscapes’: Colored Pencil Drawings That Look Like Photos'

Those look like photos, don’t they? Well, they’re not; they’re actually colored pencil drawings on canvas.

Patterson told Weather.com that she became inspired one day while looking out of her windshield during a rainstorm.

“A few drops turned into rivulets, blurring my vision,” Patterson said. “Then the wipers would completely change the image. It was a mesmerizing display of all the elements that stimulate my imagination.”

Patterson is a full-time artist based in L.A. She began drawing Rainscapes in 2006 and has since produced 107 scenes, Weather.com says. To create the rainy day masterpieces she begins by taking photos; she then chooses ones that inspires her and goes to work, often blending images.

“From the first stroke of pencil on paper, through the weeks of building layers of pencil to create the illusion of dimension, light reflection, distortion, motion…” Patterson said. “…I feel it, I hear it, I am in it."

While many of Patterson’s works have a photographic appearance, others lean more toward the abstract side. The collection is truly an amazing display of talent and detail.