Sketching OUT/LOUD at Seattle's Chinese Garden

We chose the Chinese Gardens for our April outing for a couple of reasons. It's been on our wish list for a couple of years, awaiting further development. Also it seemed a perfect combination of structure and landscape to participate in Sketch Out/Loud 2015 (SKOL), a month-long celebration of landscape architecture introduced by Richard Alomar, an urban sketcher and landscape architect in New York City.

I did a little research about SKOL2015 and the Chinese Gardens, so I had my hashtag and mental preparation. When I sat down to sketch, however, I forgot all about the landscape aspect and just honed in on the main gate to the courtyard.

It was a lovely day and the shadows were strong, nice for value range and strong contrasts. My first piece started as a thumbnail, but I just don't have the hang of simple thumbnails.

 

The few peonies that were still in bloom were lovely. Would love to see the whole garden in bloom. 

 

My last piece I used a bamboo pen -- pretty much the same as using a twig. I thought it fit the subject matter.