Sissinghurst Castle Garden in August

We paid a visit to Sissinghurst Castle Garden in Kent on a warm afternoon  in late August. Everything was set off by the brilliant blue skies.

I'm posting sketches in reverse order - because I like the one I finished last the best.  This is a coloured pencil sketch of the Rose Garden in the afternoon - with a contre jour aspect to the sunlight.  The colour was touched in while I was there and then I completed this part of the sketch at home.

You can see the very fast pen and ink sketch done in the garden below the colour sketch.

Sissinghurst Rose Garden - an afternoon in August
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I was sketching very much "contre jour" so I was keen to get down the areas of darkest tone and the outlines of the shapes of the plants and flowers.

The original very fast sketch in pen and sepia ink on Moleskine Sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is the sketch I did as we sat and ate our lunch before going into the garden.

The entrance to Sissinghurst Castle Garden 27 August 2013
pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8" x 10"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

You can see a lot more sketches of Sissinghurst on this blog - click Sissinghurst

It's amazing how many overseas visitors this garden gets.  I lost count of the languages I heard.