“Summer Thunder” at Kubota Garden

 

8/30/26 Taiko drumming event at Kubota Garden

Since notice was very short, I wasn’t sure how many sketchers would join me at Kubota Garden for “Summer Thunder,” a taiko drumming event that also featured dancing and storytelling. I was happy to find at least a few folks there!

As soon as I arrived, I realized I hadn’t been to the garden in quite a while; I think the last time was in 2022. It’s lovely year-round, but late summer is probably one of the best times to be at Kubota. Some Japanese maples were just beginning to hint at turning; in a couple of months, they’ll be gorgeous. I could have spent a long time trying to capture layers of foliage, but on this sunny afternoon I was more in the mood for the festive taiko event (top of post).

Eventually I took a walk through the maze of the garden. No matter how many times I’ve been there, I always get lost on its meandering paths. I don’t know where I was when I found a pine tree that was asking to be sketched (a good eavesdropping spot, too).

Perfect sketching day

Yesterday we celebrated Earth Day by joining Urban Sketchers worldwide 'There is no planet B to draw'.  Hashtag USk4Earth.  We visited the Kubota Japanese Garden south of Seattle. 

We were at least 21 people, including several first timers and April, visiting from Vancouver! 

I don't live far from the garden and have been there often.  I first chose a spot with two other sketchers with a view of a stone lantern and tiny waterfall from the pond.  This is in the new 100% cotton Hahnemühle watercolor sketchbook. I'm still deciding whether I like it. 

As I wandered slowly back to our throw down spot, I noticed this scene with the Terrace Overlook. I spent less than 10 minutes doing the ink sketch and colored it later. 

more photos

Sunny Kubota Garden

4/23/22 Kubota Garden

Terrace Overlook

Watching the weather forecast compulsively and scheduling on short notice are paying off as a spring strategy for USk Seattle: We were rewarded with sunny 60 degrees and a clear blue sky this afternoon at Kubota Garden!

Although I had been to Kubota with a Gage class last summer, I think I hadn’t been to the garden with USk since 2015. The Terrace Overlook had just been completed then. The year prior, we had sketched a team of Ishigaki (stone wall) builders at work on the terrace. It was good to be back with USk in all that lush greenery (especially since the last time I sketched there, I could use only graphite!).

Using my favorite CMYK primary triad, I started with a sketch from behind the Terrace Overlook (at right), where a Japanese maple made a lovely, warm blur between layers of green. 

Then for my second sketch, I walked down into the lower garden area where the beautifully top-lit round bushes caught my eye (top). For that one, I used more “realistic” hues. Looking at the two sketches together, I am encouraged to continue pushing myself toward using a primary triad, even if it’s not comfortable. I think the triad sketch is a lot more lively . . . what do you think?

Ahhhh . . . it was heavenly to sketch in the warm sunshine! I dare not say the “S” word out loud for fear of scaring it away again!

Dry Stone Wall

Last year, the Seattle Urban Sketchers Friday ad-hoc group visited Kubota Garden  to see stone masons Junji and Suminori Awata and Tetsuro Tanabe, a master stone splitter.  They came from Japan to build the 8-foot tall ishigaki or dry stone stacked rampart base for the new Terrace Overlook.

We returned today to see the result of the stonemasons' work.  The timber pavilion was built by local carpenters.  It overlooks the koi pond. 

 
Four of us sketched nearly this same view! 




I was delighted to meet Jennie, a visitor from Michigan via Australia!  She is living in Michigan not very far from where I grew up.  The Midwest Urban Sketchers group is quite spread out, so she sketches with the Melbourne Sketchers when she goes back to visit her home town in Australia!  We also welcomed Martha, a new local sketcher to join us.

Kubota's Terrace Overlook Completed

6/26/15 Kubota Garden Terrace Overlook

Nearly a year ago, the Friday sketchers met at Kubota Garden to sketch a team of rock wall-building masters and their students cutting stones for a structure that would become the garden’s Terrace Overlook. The overlook was dedicated in May, so it was time to return.

6/26/15 Sketched from the terrace.

I found the same spot where I sketched last time (see last year’s sketch at bottom of page), which was mercifully shady on this warm morning. Starkly beautiful, the platform is made of boulders that were hand-chiseled and assembled with a dry-stone stacking method – nothing gluing them together – which is a 10,000-year-old Japanese technique. I remember the clinking of their chisels as the craftsmen worked, amazed that every stone would be cut by hand. In my sketch from last year, a crane was on the premises moving some of the largest foundational boulders. Although you can’t see it in my sketches, the terrace looks over a large koi pond below.

For my second sketch, I walked over to the Terrace Overlook itself, sat in its shade and sketched a small sculpture of stacked stones that welcomes visitors there. Even a gardener’s noisy mower nearby couldn’t spoil the serenity. 

Sketched 8/8/14

Ishi-gaki at Kubota Gardens

While we visited Kubota Gardens for the stonework, I also took the opportunity to wander through the garden. I always enjoy Kubota garden because its intimate paths and spaces always give me the sense of discovering something new.

This time through, I was entranced by a small clearing dominated by a stone retaining wall and a row of towering blue spruce. Visitors mostly entered the space through a small two post gate.

I particularly enjoyed the composition of the gravel clearing surrounded by neatly trimmed shrubs and hedges transitioning into the more wild landscape beyond. This is the sort of balance between detail and generality that makes Japanese gardens so unique.

I was also amazed to discover that this clearing was mere feet from the front entrance. It is amazing how a great garden can surprise you every time you visit it.

If you get the opportunity, I would encourage you to visit Kubota Gardens before August 20th and admire the construction work. It is a truly unique experience that will only be in Seattle for a limited time.

The Plants Can Wait: “Rock, People, Chisels” at Kubota Garden

8/8/14 Stonemasons at work under the guidance of master masons from Japan.

Scheduling today’s Friday ad hoc sketch outing at Kubota Garden was prompted by an event Kate saw on the garden’s website: “Rock, People, Chisels,” an Ishigaki (stone wall) workshop. I didn’t pay much attention to that event because I knew from a previous visit years ago that the garden itself would be a delight to sketch, and any additional event would be frosting on the cake. As it turned out, I spent the whole time on the “frosting” and decided that the “cake” – the 20 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens – could wait for a future visit.

As soon as we walked onto the property, I realized something big was going on: A huge yellow crane no different from the kind I’ve been sketching at construction sites rose ominously above the gardens. I soon understood that the “rocks” these people were chiseling were actually huge boulders – 500 tons of granite that would be cut and turned into an 8-foot wall built with a 10,000-year-old dry-stone stacking method. Fifteen stonemasons had traveled from all over the country and Japan to work on the project with Junji and Suminori Awata, 14^th and 15^th generation stonemasons and masters of their craft. They use the same techniques that were used to build Japanese castles before the 16^th century. The wall they are building will become Kubota Garden’s Terrace Overlook.

All of that is very interesting, but as soon as I saw the stonemason team at work, I took a “sketch-first,-ask-questions-later” approach. (I learned what they were doing afterwards during a break.) Despite the constant clink-clink-clinking of chisel on stone and the swirls of dust set off by masons blowing excess debris through a straw, I was sucked in immediately by their activity. As their painstaking work continued, a master would occasionally come by to make suggestions or demonstrate a technique.

8/8/14 A crane moves granite boulders around.

Eventually the crane started rotating into action, moving boulders around, so for my second sketch, I walked around the pond to the opposite side of the site. My sketch viewpoint is just a short distance from the view in the architect’s conceptual image below, which shows what the completed terrace will look like next spring.

We had a great turnout of sketchers on this gorgeous day, including several new faces!

Architectural rendering of the completed terrace.

Welcome to several new sketchers!

Kubota Gardens Enchantment

Friday's Ad Hoc sketchers met at Kubota Gardens, ostensibly to view the construction project of many large pieces of granite being chiseled by Parks Department workers.  While some folks stayed right there and made excellent sketches of those workers,  I did a 180 and walked over to this stunning grove of golden locust trees.  I don't believe I have eve seen such huge trees.  In front of the big trees was a younger tree whose limbs appeared to be dancing.  Enchanting, especially with the "music" of many tapping chisels!