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.

A Visit from a Seattle Urban Sketcher

My new sketching friend Kate Buike joined us on Friday from Seattle. We spent three days sketching together at the Don Getz workshop early in the summer and had a great time. She and I tried to set a "meet up" in Mukilteo when the Urban Sketchers were meeting at the Lighthouse, but I had the times wrong (of course) and would have showed up WAY after they left!

Anyway, she made her way over on the ferry to join us at Cultus Bay Nursery and we had a good day sketching. Next time the Seattle Sketchers are in the north end I plan to join them over there. Here is her art of the day . . .

At Cultus Bay Nursery

A trickling fountain in the sun, an apple tree espalier, cement frogs and croaking frogs, a greeter cat, and best of all a visit from my new Seattle Urban Sketcher friend Kate, who came to join in the fun. A great day with, once again, a bit of a sunburn. 

Cultus Bay Nursery

The Sketchers scattered around the gardens and among the plants might just have well been beautiful flowers themselves. In the case of the sketchers we were troping toward the shade. And the shade was so gracious, surrounded by such plants and trees! It was hard to focus on any one thing. Who was the fairest of them all? I finally found myself drawn to the area between the little garden house and the sleeping porch, two wonderfully interesting buildings seemingly growing from the land. I really couldn't do them justice, but as usual I had a wonderfully relaxing afternoon doodling amongst the flowers, both human and botanical. 

Cultus Bay Nursery

Yesterday it rained so hard, it felt that autumn was quickly descending after such a warm and sunny summer.  Worried sketching today would be dampened by rain & coolness ...  but my goodness it was incredibly warm, sunny and beautiful at Cultus Bay Nursery!  I love wandering around and seeing the beautiful established gardens as well as the generous garden of plants in their pots ready for take-home.  What to sketch? First, I did a quick botanical study of fuschias.

And then I decided to paint a loosey-goosey spontaneous grab-the-sensation-of-the-moment kind of sketch, capturing the feel of the back path along the row of hydrangeas.  This is very different than my normal style, but what fun!  Thank you, Mary, for inviting us to Sketch at your nursery.

Cultus Bay Nursery

So many sketching inspirations at the wonderful Cultus Bay Nursery......

Cultus Bay Nursery

Cultus Bay Nursery was humming with activity: birds, gardeners, customers, sketchers and the cat Iggy. With it's fresh gardens, animals and sheds, it  was a delightful place for an afternoon of drawing with our old friend, the Sun.

Sunny Day Sketching

Colorful Cart and Cultus Bay Nursery.

A little bit of Spoiled Dog Winery, sometimes it was sunny,

sometimes it was rainy....fabulous wine!

Sketchers!

Cultus Bay Nursery

Sketching is a fantastic way to get to know the island's nooks and crannies. Cultus Bay Nursery was a sweet treat for this recently gardenless gardener. The Spanish lavender was attracting bees like crazy; a hummingbird roared by repeatedly; I learned that you can put swallow boxes out and they will be nested in! Also, a quick sketch of fellow Sketcher, Sherryl.

Ferdinand

One of our blog followers came all the way from Sequim to join us for sketching at Cultus Bay Garden on Friday! We really enjoyed having Priscilla Patterson and her husband join us for the afternoon and she did some fabulous sketches, including this one.  She was lucky enough to catch the resident long-horned cow at siesta. Everyone said it looked just like Ferdinand the Bull, but I suspect "he" might be "she", as I remember hearing about some calves in past years. Lets face it, a set of horn like that will make any girl look a little butch.

By Priscilla Patterson

One of the many interesting things about Priscilla is that she is an aviation artist! Check out  her blog: http://www.priscillamessnerpatterson.blogspot.com/

A beautiful day in a beautiful spot

 At Cultus Bay Nursery among the spring plants and flowers, listening to all the singing birds, communing with Iggy the cat and sketching. I staked out a spot in front a charmingly rustic potting shed made from lattice. Inside I spied some Bleeding Hearts and outside some blue (Lobelia??) I don't know, but the lilacs trees were blooming. It was a great day, fun to see the Sketchers again and great to get a little sunburn.

Cultus Bay Nursery/ Pat Brookes

I was a late arrival last Wednesday and have only one painting to show.

Cultus Bay Nursery - Sketcher's Heaven

Cultus Bay Nursery was such a wonderful place to sketch.  It was our first day sketching outside - warm, new blossoms, and beauty everywhere.  It was so hard to return to work - I just wanted to sketch all day!!

Here's part of the fabulous apple tree espalier in the middle of the garden.

Betty and I both zoomed in on the beautiful grape hyacinth grouped in blue nursery containers.

And... I managed to capture Jan sketching before she left.

Glorious couple of hours.  Thanks Cultus Bay Nursery!

Sketching Week...

Taking a break at Cultus Bay, looking at sketches

Cultus Bay Nursery was so beautiful in the sun

for our Wednesday sketch!

There is something very satisfying about round shapes.

Golf balls, Lincolnware eggs and other round things...

Cultus Bay Nursery

Happily, the clouds moved out allowing the sun to shine. We sat outside and soaked it up, along with the beautiful setting. Mary Fisher's nursery is full of the promise of summer with beautiful young plants and fun sculpture.

Lovely Day at Cultus Bay

What a spectacularly beautiful day for sketching outside at Cultus Bay Nursery. So many subjects to choose. A cow with a calf, sheep, an orchard, not to mention all kinds of nooks and crannys with lots of character.

Later in the day we headed to Langley for more sketching and wine. These blossoms were outside the window.