Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Part 2

 After sketching in the very hot Aquatic Room I needed to cool off. I skipped lunch and just noshed on some almonds. The cafe was too far to bother walking over. I'd rather be sketching. The plan was to go outside to sketch next. While I was waiting for my friend in the center of the lobby area I decided to do a quick sketch of some of the leaves. There are plants from all over and I remembered to take note of what I was sketching. These leaves belong to a ceriman plant. It is sometimes called a Swiss cheese plant because of the holes in the leaves. They grow mostly in Mexico and Guatemala and produce a large fruit. 

When Suzala was ready we bundled up to head outside. It was windy and not too warm, but the sun kept us from being too cold. I did end up wearing my fingerless gloves by the end of the sketch, but my hat and scarf remained in my backpack. I started with the conservatory and those big windows. I was working in a small sketchbook that is about 3 1/2 x 5 1/2. It was a reasonable size just in case I got cold. But I kept sketching and was comfortable enough to expand the sketch onto the other side of the page. This was done directly in watercolor (quicker than sketching it in pen or ink first). I was able to fit in a bit of the buildings surrounding the garden.

We headed back inside for show and tell but had about 10 minutes before that was starting so we headed into the Desert House which had loads of cacti. I tucked myself into a corner and sketched the cactus that was closest to me. 10 minutes was just barely enough time to capture something.

On our way out of the garden we stopped to check out what was in bloom. Brooklyn is a bit warmer than where we live on Long Island. There were lots of daffodils, hellebores, crocus, etc in bloom. Some of the magnolia trees were starting to bloom and there were some cherry trees with tiny blossoms too. 

I guess Spring is here!

Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Part 1

 The Brooklyn Botanic Garden was our sketching location on Saturday. It was sunny but windy, but we were hoping that by the afternoon we would be able to sit outside to sketch. My friend, Suzala and I started out in the Aquatic House where there is an orchid collection as well and a variety of tropical wet-environment plants from around the world. I remembered from previous visits that several of the rooms inside the conservancy greenhouse are very warm, so I dressed in layers. I ended up sitting there in a tank top and I was still too warm. Between the radiators making the room warm and the sun shining through the windows I was sitting by, I felt like I was definitely in the tropics.

Some of the orchid blooms were nearly up on the ceiling and were attached to grids and then hanging. They looked really pretty displayed like that.

Here is my painting and the actual view.

Suzala was painting water lilies in a large planter.