I love the idea of an arbor with vines – grape especially – to hide from the hot sun. This is up at the local botanical garden, and every year the vine is pruned back, and every year it returns with leaves and grapes and a place to rest.
Tag: botanical garden
In the Garden
From a photo I took not too long ago – a bit of the local botanical gardens. There is a path in there somewhere, but it got lost! Direct watercolor is not easy to do.
Aftermath of a Broken Wrist
I suppose I should also include the finger . . .
Hobbling around on a broken lower limb makes sense if activity levels are lowered, but a broken wrist? Yep. I didn’t go out scrambling on the trails nearby for the simple fact that I am right-handed, and if I started to take a tumble, the right hand is the dominant one. Four weeks, five weeks later, a rather sedentary lifestyle, and I am sore as hell after going out to the local botanical garden, looking for the flowers I have been missing on my usual weekly jaunts.
Gardens change every day, and certainly after 5 weeks, a lot. Spring is now in bloom and I was so happy to see so many flowers, wild and domestic, native and foreign. A lot of work has been done, too, in the garden itself. A new gate on one side. Cleared brush and hillsides. New plants, new labels. Sheer heaven!
Yesterday I felt like a drunk all day, tottering around on extremely sore legs. Oh, well! A bit better today. And, a few flower photos, too. 
First Daffodils
These are some of the first daffodils in the botanical garden. I don’t know if I will be able to see too many more as there is rain predicted over the next two weeks. When this happens, the gardens close down to keep erosion on the hilltop and trails to a minimum.
Under the Pines
Yesterday morning I met up with a friend, to chat, drink coffee, and sketch in the local botanical gardens. The day was warm and sunny, and before you knew it, 2.5 hours had passed. She did some wonderful pictures of cacti and tree branches, using only colors from a very tiny paint box! Me, I need pen and ink to feel confident enough – I am still trying to make watercolors look like watercolors, instead of ink with colors. I do like the ink-and-color thing, but I know I want to master solid colors. So, after inking on site, I went home and filled in some colors, and more ink, and more colors, until I hope I got what looks like dappled light on rocks and cacti beneath some pines.
Being curious as to whether or not there is decent light / dark, I thought I would convert it to black and white to see. Results are below. I may go in and paint the bushes behind the rocks a bit darker in the center an to the right.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 