Saturday, March 29, 2008

My first Sketch Crawl!




And my first time at the Desert Botanical Gardens, though certainly not my last!  Fran and I already have planned to go again next week!  If you are in this area, you must visit this place!  It captures all the beauty of the desert in one place.  I wanted to move there!  Or have all that gorgeous landscape in my yard!   

Fran picked me up about 8:20.  We met the other Sketch Crawl participants at 9:00 and by the time we settled down for our first sketch, it was probably 9:30.  The weather was PERFECT!  We quickly found out how slow I paint compared to Fran!  She did two to my one!  Oh well... because I see and think in details, doing sketches where I don't detail everything is a stretch for me and a good exercise but I can't seem to do it quick regardless.  My first sketch is a plant that looks sorta' like a tree in a Dr. Seuss book!  It's a type of aloe from Africa and grows tall like a tree.  It has the most gorgeous 'bark', if you can call it that!
We had planned to meet everyone for lunch at 11:30 so we really only sketched for 2 hours and I only got two sketches done!  But I took a ton of photos!  I'm sharing some of my favorites of the plants as well as a couple of critters!  :)  We went to the Butterfly exhibit after lunch and decided that we need to do that first thing next time before it gets so crowded.  And, by the time we left, it was hot!  I hope you enjoy the photos and get a bit of a glimpse into our amazing day!






























 


















On the home front, Max has a stomach virus and I'm hoping he'll be well tomorrow and that Sam won't get it... or anyone else, for that matter!

7 comments:

Margaret Ann said...

Hey there Angie!...Sorry I was late and missed the early morning fun. What a great time we all had! I'm ready for an other trip as well! (I just posted a group photo on my blog if you are interested.) We stayed until about 5 o'clock...and it was really HOT by that time! Love your drawings and journalling on the page-really makes your art personal! Your photos are just magical...the wildlife captures!!!Oh My Gosh! Spectacular...:) Keep on sketching! Peg "aka Margaret" :)

Alanna Beckwith said...

Congrats on your first SketchCrawl! Thanks for visiting my blog...Yeah, I guess I do work fast....Some are quicker sketches than others...I usually add color later, though some I did on site. I have a short attention span when it comes to my sketches...I don't like to over work them, mainly cause I just get bored with it. Also I sketch with pen...no way to re do any lines...

Thanks again for stopping by Painted Cats!

Fran S said...

You did capture the rabbit! :) Great and awesome photos. I'll upload mine today and tomorrow. It was SO NICE to see you.

Margaret McCarthy Hunt said...

Beautiful pictures..lovely paintings...like the collage too.

Joanne Huffman said...

Beautiful photos, great sketches. You obviously had a great time.

Joanne

Connie said...

Your sketches are lovely Angie! I am a very slow sketcher too. ...and the butterflies! is that what you will be sketching next week? It's hot in Phoenix in March? Oh my!

Karen Owen said...

Your sketches are great, and what wonderful photos! I bet we'll be seeing some of those in your future paintings.

Karen