I spent a few days last week at my friend Ruthie’s house in the Pisgah Mountains near Brevard, NC, and had a chance to sketch part of her beautiful and expansive garden. Our pal Judy had flown in from Florida to join us, and we enjoyed four days of girlfriend time – laughing, talking, eating, and exploring the area.
Ruthie’s garden was filled with perennial flowers, fruit trees, ornamental bushes, and quirky garden sculptures. There was so much to draw! With all that beauty around me, what did I pick for my first sketch? Not what you might expect: a cute wall-mounted shelf that had been re-purposed as a glove-drying rack.
I thought it was a clever way to dry wet, dirty gardening gloves, and I was drawn to the patterns and colors on the gloves.
Next, I sketched some climbing roses, lavender, and milkweed that was sending up a flower and just starting to bloom.
I wanted something vertical on the left-hand side of the page to balance out the obelisk and roses on the right. I had my choice of a tree, bird bath, bird feeder, or garden sculpture. The sculpture, with its glass orb in the center, won the competition, so I stood in the sunshine and drew it quickly in place.
While I was drawing, Ruthie wandered around the garden, patiently watering all the rock-bordered flower beds. With her striped shirt and battered raffia cowboy hat, she provided me with the perfect subject to fill the horizontal area at the bottom of my page.
It was so relaxing, wandering around the garden on a spectacularly beautiful spring day, sketchbook in hand, drawing, painting, and chatting with my friends.
We saw lots of impressive sights during our four days in the Blue Ridge Mountains (waterfalls, art galleries, a natural stone slide, the Blue Ridge Parkway, rare white squirrels and blue ghost fireflies, and the Biltmore Estate), but one of my favorite things about the trip was the morning we spent in that peaceful garden, listening to the birds and the wind in the trees, not thinking about my to-do lists or obligations, but being 100% present and in the moment.
Thank you, Ruthie (and husband Sully), for sharing your very special corner of the world with me.
One Comment
I love it, an inspiration!