Secret Cultus Bay Nursery Garden

The sunshine on Friday surprised us. But we reveled in it! We were headed outdoors to the Cultus Bay nursery, and the sunshine and clear sky was very welcome. Going into the nursery is like a trip into a Secret Garden of your fantasy. Tucked into every corner is something wonderful. My favorite view is the old farmhouse just outside, glimped through an arbor covered with flowering vines. Got there early, staked out my spot, no chit-chat, focused effort. Finished a Tommy Kane-style "Long Drawing" in 2 1/2 hours! Whew!

This journal page is a little after the fact. I try to post these together (since my journal page is usually on on the back of my sketch page), but, since I was down in Tacoma attending the fond farewell party for a beautiful, truly crow-spirited Warrior Woman (who left us all WAY too soon), I am late getting the two together. So anyway, here are the two pages for my day in the Secret Garden.

Greenbank Farm

This is my first Sketcher's post!  I found a sunny bench in the Master Gardener's area at the Greenbank Farm with a view of a lush rose arbor.  At home I finished with white acrylic to add some highlights, as the Titanium white watercolor wasn't enough.  

Happy Solstice One and All!

Okay, so I'm on a postathon today. This is the last for today. Emily Feffer and I decided we needed to celebrate the Solstice in a beautiful place. On Whidbey there are so many....but we chose Ebey's Bluff. Oh my! The day was indescribably perfect. We walked 4 miles (I know because my fitbit told me so), lounged around in the weeds and sketched, talked to happy hikers, visited Ebey's home, and felt like exceptionally lucky people. If there really is reincarnation I seriously want to be reincarnated to Whidbey Island. What a Paradise!!! Here's to a Summer of walking and sketching.

Trip to Willapa Bay on Long Beach Peninsula

While spending a particularly soulful and nostalgic few days in my old stomping grounds, Long Beach WA, I managed to get in a few sketches. One from the deck of our hosts and good friends Renee and Brian O'Connor (check out www.willapabaytile.com for a visual feast of Renee's phenomenal tiles), one at the port in Ilwaco (where we bought crab for a fabulous crab feed), and one from Oysterville (where we added oysters to the feast). Faye and Truman Castle joined us and our time there was filled with art, music, poetry, food, wine, beach walks, and sunshine. A perfect getaway. 

Greenbank Farms

Another beautiful sunny day. This time at Greenbank Farms. Somehow I missed out on the eating part of this sketching day! That's not like me. I was eager to try out my new sketching chair which I bought on the way to Greenbank. And the sun was shining. And I was a little late and eager to sketch. For some reason I didn't get them in, but under that green umbrella there are a whole bunch of sketchers sketching, eating, and drinking wine. Use your imagination. 

Sketching at Greenbank Farm

When we first got there I thought it was a bit chilly to sketch outside, so I chose to sit inside the Whidbey Pies Cafe. Beside it was lunch time, and, well, you know. So, because I felt guilty for taking up a table during their rush hour, I ordered a fabulous lunch and enjoyed every bite. Oh, and got this sketch inked. The color came at home. I loved the outfit my waitress was wearing. She looked like a gypsy. 

Pat's garden..

Left hand endeavors

  Left hand attempt....not ambidextrous

Cynthia Winzenried , Pat's Garden

Tokitae

We have a new ferry!  She's beautiful!  And her name is lovely ... Tokitae.  She has been given the original name of the beautiful young female Orca who was heartbreakingly removed from the Sound in a roundup decades ago and has been performing at Sea World in Florida.  She is a member of our local pod.  May she be returned to her homeland and family!  

I got there too late to see the ceremony ... bummer! ... but I did get to witness a performance by the Shifty Sailors.  And shifty they are!  They sing, play accordion, and rotate amongst themselves constantly such that I couldn't keep them straight.  This is a composite of six of the Shifty Sailors ... not a great sketch but they promised to invite me to future gigs!  Thank you, Vern Olsen, Ted Ravetz, Wylie Vracin, Bob Wagner, Charlie Drummond, and Dave Haworth.   I so appreciate your work for heightening awareness of the whales as well as teaching our community about our own nautical history!  Thank you, too, for gifting me with your cd of whale songs.  

The Tokitae

Sorry this has to be in 2 pieces ... my scanner doesn't have a large enough bed to do the sketch in one piece.  Maybe I can learn how to stitch in Photoshop.  Anyway, this was a beautiful day to open a new boat to the public.  Just wish I had more time to sketch her wheelhouse, ceremony, and crowds.   Thank you, ferry people, for allowing me to hang out and sketch this one!

The Shifty Sailors

Earth Sanctuary

Prayer Flags and Ferns at the Earth Sanctuary

What an amazing rock we live on.  What an amazing contemplative generous thoughtful place the Earth Sanctuary is.  I went and wandered and only did one sketch because I just needed to absorb being there!  I'm inspired & shall return!

@ the EARTH SANCTUARY

I can't wait for the end of this tent caterpillar cycle so I can go back to here to sketch again WITHOUT the creeping, crawling, pooping, chewing ickiness of the orange fuzzies. Yes, I know they are part of the wonder and beauty of nature the Sanctuary is celebrating, but eeeeeuuuuuwww!

Earth Sanctuary

Friday was beautiful and warm, despite the rain (of caterpillars).  I wore a big brimmed hat to deter the creatures, but they loved my paint palette and water dish.  I could imagine them swinging off the trees to the small watering hole I use to moisten my paints.  Ugh!  They were even hard to pick off my pants because of all their little feet holding on and saying NOoooo, don't dump me!
One can't help the feeling of sacredness while standing within the stones.  Prayers come naturally for peace and friendship.

"The Cottonwood Stone Circle, built in 2006,  measures 40 feet in diameter,  was originally made with 12 standing stones 11' high.  More inner stones have been added since and are arranged to artistically complement the symmetry and formal geometry of the 12 stones.   Inspired by the Callanish Stone Circle in Scotland, a line of standing stones was added  on the West and the East and two outlier stones were placed to dramatize the North-South orientation of the stone circle."

Solidarity Bunny

Finally got a chance to try my (left) hand at sketching with the non-dominant hand. This is a ceramic bunny who lives on Robin Kinney Robin's kitchen table. I'm not sure what his dominant paw is, but I'd guess its on a back leg. All this got me to wondering what percentage of people are left- handed. The answer is (sort of) 10%, but it's more complicated than you think. 

Sketching in Pat's Garden

A beautiful afternoon of sketching, treats and friendship in Pat's Yard with my "Pocket Pallette", a small Altoids tin with 4 colors and a flat waterbrush. Experimenting for my upcoming June 21 workshop at the Cole Gallery in Edmonds, "Studio inYour Pocket"

http://coleartstudio.com/workshops-artclasses/

Left handed sketch, freeing to just play!

                                                  Followup with right hand, more relaxed and simple!
                                                  Good lesson for me!

Sketching in Pat's Garden

Staring over and through a garden into the deep woods does not make for the most bright and colorful drawing. In fact, using my left to sketch gave it a quality that makes the whole thing sort of border-line scary. Like this car door is a portal into the woods of our childhood nightmares. EEee-uuuww!

Lefty Day with the Sketchers

One of my current goals is to sketch LOOSER.  Try using a generous-sized water color brush with your non-dominant hand.  You CAN NOT noodle!  Fabulous exercise.  Yes, I tried it in solidarity with our wing-clipped Paula (in hat).  What more fun can a sketcher have but to be amongst ourselves, in perfect PNW weather, in a beautiful garden (Thanks, Pat!), and to top it off with a challenge.  Next, we'll have to tie one hand behind our backs!

Pat's Clematis - Lefty

Paula Pugh the Wounded Bird

Natalie Olsen, "The Gnat in The Hat"

Left hand painting in the garden

Lots of fun enjoying the weather (warm once again) in our garden.  Sketchers, thank you for all the goodies you brought to help us enjoy the weather and each others company while we sketched with our non-dominant hand.  So difficult at first, but I think the brain can be trained.  Here are dominant and non-dominant sketches from Friday.

Sedum table and chair EDIM sketch
challenge

View from under the Birch tree

Left handed