Our “Friday Sketchers” subgroup of Seattle Urban Sketchers met at Bellevue Botanical Garden. After weeks of hot, dry weather, today was cool, gray and felt like it might rain. Fortunately, the only precipitation we experienced was being doused by the sprinklers. Tina commented that it felt odd to be wearing fleece in August!
I’d been there a year ago or so and knew exactly what I wanted to sketch first: what I call the Hobbit door. The garden was originally a house and grounds belonging to a family. This door was to have led to a root cellar but I was told it proved too damp. The door is about 3 feet high and is down the hill, some distance from the home (which is now the Visitor’s Center).
I still had about an hour, so I went back up to the visitor center to sketch the water wise garden and its structure. I also added Tina as she sketched the flowers on a bush.
There were only 3 of us today: Gordon, Tina and me. I don’t know the stone sculpture’s name and he didn’t volunteer it!
Sketches
While waiting for paint to dry, which always tries my patience, I took a photo of my kit.
Staff helped me identify this plant. It is Acanthus Spinosus, common name Bears Breeches. I want one! The gardener/botanist told me to be careful as it is aggressive. I thought, “good…. let it fight it out with the blackberries and I hope it wins!”. If I can find one, I plan to put it along my backyard fence where blackberries try to crawl through. It can take sun and shade and she told me it blooms well in to the autumn.
Red Harp Arts 