Camellia House

 On one of the bitterly cold days recently my friend and I met at the Planting Fields Arboretum and headed over to their camellia house. I hold what I believe is one of the largest collections of camellias in the world. It is beautiful to see them when they are in bloom. They will only be in bloom for a few more weeks, so I'm glad we got over there when we did.

30 Day Challenge - Day 15

For Day 15 of the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" Challenge hosted by Leslie Saeta, I did another painting at the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay. The arboretum has this wonderful greenhouse filled with camellias...just one prettier than the next. Now is peak season for them to bloom. This is looking toward one of the greenhouse exits. Check the link to see the work done by the other participating artists in the challenge.

Planting Fields Arboretum Return - Part I

On Sunday my friend, Susan and I returned to the Planting Fields Arboretum for another day of sketching. It had snowed lightly (again) on Long Island so we needed an indoor location. And the warmth of the greenhouse there was too good to pass up.

The arboretum has a main room to the greenhouse and then several smaller rooms that branch out off the main area. This room was filled with lots of bromeliads and tropical plants. I am not knowledgeable about the names of the plants. They are clustered so close together it is difficult to sketch them and differentiate the leaves of one from another. You may notice a stamp in the lower right corner...more on that in a minute.

I then headed into the main building. In honor of Spring the room was decorated with many different  flowers like daffodils, tulips, and hydrangeas. They were odd colors to find among the other tropical plants and the arrangements were a little contrived, but I didn't mind. They looked pretty along the steps coming down from the entrance.

While I was painting a woman was there with a young boy. They were looking for a stamp location in the room. Apparently there is a stamping section in each room of this greenhouse for kids. The kids receive a pamphlet about the plants in the different rooms and then get to hunt for the stamp for that room and use it in their booklet. I've been there many times and never knew about the stamps. I did go back and find a bromeliad stamp to go with the first painting. There was a hibiscus stamp for the main room, but I wasn't impressed with that one and didn't have any room for it on my sketch anyway. lol

After lunch we headed over to the camellia house across the arboretum. They have a wonderful collection of camellias that grow in the greenhouse and bloom starting in February. They were well past their peak, but I found a spot to sketch a few with the stone fountain behind them.

Don't forget...tomorrow IFJM starts. I will make sure to provide a link so you can visit there after you visit here tomorrow.

Camellias

Last week I took a drive over to the Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay (see post below). Every year from February to mid-March the camellias in the Camellia House near the main house that is part of the estate are in bloom. It is a beautiful sight and I was afraid I had missed it. With all the snow we had this winter I kept putting off going because I figured the grounds there would be messy with snow, ice, and mud. And then I went away to South Carolina for a workshop. I decided to chance it and go see if they were still in bloom. Of course it wasn't as dramatic as some years because many of the trees had already lost their blooms, but there were definitely enough trees in bloom to make me happy.

The day was sunny but cold. At the Camellia House the sun was shining through the glass windows of the greenhouse and it was warm enough that they had the doors open for ventilation. It was perfect for sketching!!! I sketched two to a page, directly in watercolors...no pencil lines first. It was a nice quiet day during the week so there were no crowds to get in my way, and the few people who were walking around were very polite and loved my sketches.