Back Sketching at The Allan Garden

It's still cold outside in Toronto but at least we have the Allan Garden to be surrounded by plants. A group of us went there to sketch and were welcome by the beautiful smell of the flowers for the spring show. I spend most of my time in one area, interacting with the other sketchers and working on my plant sketching skills. It's a little overwhelming because there are so many plants and it's hard to know where to start and how much details to put in. It's still a fun exercise and I can already see improvements compared to my previous sketch from there. I'll probably go back and sketch there again.

Below are some of the sketches from the group using various mediums.

A page from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook - Aloe Vera plant

When I signed up for the Sketchbook Project back in October 2013, I didn't read the details closely and chose the NorthEast tour which includes stops at Brooklyn, NYC, Philadelphia, Portland, and Toronto for my sketchbook.  I was anticipating I will have the full year to finish and submit it for the tour.

Fast forward to mid December 2013, I got a reminder email from the Sketchbook Project, so I decided to read more into the details, and was surprised to find out that if I have signed for a tour, then the deadline to finish is January 14th, 2014!  So during the Christmas holidays, I quickly came up with a theme for my sketchbook and everyone/everything within sight that fits the theme became my sketch target.

Here's a page of my Aloe Vera plant sketched last night.  I am trying to sketch everything first before adding any description, so keep a close eye out for my future post on the finished sketchbook with the stories behind every sketch!