Memphis Botanic Garden

Memphis Urban Sketchers met at Memphis Botanic Gardens yesterday. Because of a rain out last month, Trollfest coincided with our morning there, and it ended up being fantastic. The garden is big enough for folks to spread out, so it wasn't too crowded. I headed straight for the iconic red bridge in the Japanese garden that generations of kids have had their photos made on (including my sister and me). I just filled my new Art Toolkit palette and put in a record number of greens: Sap green from both Sennelier (cooler and more opaque) and Windsor and Newton (warm and translucent), my favorite W&N green gold, a bright, cool Sennelier Pthalo light green, and a darker, less saturated granulating green from Daniel Smith called Green apatite. I'm always drawn to the trees, so I decided to lean into greens in the new palette more than any other color, and I had fun mixing them together and with ultramarine or burnt umber to get even more shades.

The festival brought food trucks, and I had a messy but delicious duck confit sandwich with mango chutney, and afterwards my friend Libby suggested a walk around the gardens. We did a wide loop, ending up back near the lake, when I spotted the Mississippi Wildlife Rehab set up, also there for the festival, with people holding hawks, snakes, and OWLS. It was utter magic to get to stand next to first an Eastern screech owl (so tiny!) and then a full grown barred owl. Both had lost sight in one eye and were unable to hunt and therefore not able to be released back into the wild. Their handlers spend time with them at the center and occasionally bring them out for educational events. I stood just watching for a while and eventually got out my sketchbook. I was standing up so kept it simple with just pen and ink, but what an immense treat to get to sketch them both close up. Owls are my favorite wildlife.

Libby had gone back to the lake to finish her sketch from earlier, and I rejoined her and did a watercolor of the second scene that had caught my eye that day. I loved the scraggly trees towering over the pavilion, looking the other way in the Japanese garden. I need to get back over here and draw more often. What a truly fantastic day.