Saturday, April 17, 2010

Peacocks, palms and magnolias - Kew Gardens in April

These are couple of sketches involving trees from our visit to Kew Gardens on Monday. Of course it was nice and warm with blue skies over the weekend. So I dressed accordingly for Monday which was grey and cloudy with a wind with a nasty nip!  Which meant it was a tad chilly unless you were walking briskly

So I sketched in The Temperate House while "he who must not be bored while I sketch" read a biography of the Rolling Stones.  This palm was rather big,

 The Temperate House
11" x 15", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in large Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

We did a quick tour up to see the bluebells - which of course weeren't out because the winter had been so cold and everything seems to be delayed.  So we then set off at a brisk walk to the Magnolias but got distracted by a male peacock doing that thing blokes do when they want a bit of attention.


 

Having admired the magnolias we settled for a piece of cake and a nice cup of tea at the Orangery Cafe.  It was great to be able to finally experience the sun making a reappearance while sat on the terrace without the usual omnipresent Yummy Mummies of Kew with their small children racing up and down.  I sketched a fir tree and tried to work out how to distinguish the colour from the underside of the parasol.

 Outside the Orangery
11" x 8", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in large Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell


6 comments:

  1. Wind or no wind, that must have been a delightful day, Katherine. Super sketches, I'd particularly love that one with the umbrella. Lovely composition, colour and mood.

    You always do a great job capturing the big picture, looking up from ground level. You make it look far easier than it is, in my experience.

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  2. Ditto Robyn's comments.....The sketch outside the orangery is wonderful!

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  3. Super sketches Katherine - I hope the bluebells will be out in May, when our family wedding is. Love that swanky peacock! Can't get into sketchercise at the moment - it's 'undergoing maintenance' - I hope they're not starting to shut down sites already!

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  4. Sketchercise is working again.

    However I think I need to make a note of the email addresses and set up a back up site in case we get "hiccups" while Ning realises quite how many groups are now leaving!

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  5. The photos are lovely as well as that sketch with the umbrella.
    What a grand peacock...and what a great sketch he might make as well!

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