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Tuesday, March 19, UW Quad

Saturday, December 15, 2018

Joy to the World at Swansons

Holiday cheer and good will filled the aisles at Swansons Nursery as Urban Sketchers entered the premises to sketch seasonal flora and fauna.
Pick a Perfect Tree at Swansons
The morning was chilly and dry, comfortable enough to weave indoors and outdoors.  Exhilarated by the aroma of pine in the air, I followed the scent to a covered area filled with Christmas trees strung from rafters.  Like picking a perfect tree to chop in a forest, I chose to draw one 6-7 footer and ignored all others.  The Olympic Mountain Range emerged in the background and silhouettes of huge evergreens contrasted against the sky.  Perspective progression of  posts in the barn staging area added some depth to the composition.
Poinsettia heaven
The staff at Swansons are masters at staging eye-catching displays. Made cohesive with a color palette of red, green and cream, poinsettias and house plants nestle together on a metal table.  Poinsettia baskets suspended from the ceiling look like living chandeliers. Tiered tables with multiples of same size plants create visual impact, almost saying, take me home! 
String a tree with moody blue
I returned to the Christmas tree pavilion mainly to warm up and find a quiet spot.  Instead I found two children running and  screeching with joy through the maze of trees.  They probably didn’t notice the variety of display configurations. Some trees are strung up, some are leaning against the wall and some are bound. I think they were just experiencing wild holiday spirit among the trees thanks to Swansons policy of family fun.  Waves of cascading blue light cover the trees beyond Swansons Christmas tree barn. Solid blocks of ultramarine blue lights are a trendy, very cool and mysterious look.

After the throw down, I had lunch with a couple of sketchers in the nursery cafe.  I highly recommend the butternut squash soup, a yummy ending to the holiday Urban Sketch at Swansons.

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