Nearly Topped-Out Tulips on a Cold April Day

4/6/15 watercolor, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

If you live in Seattle, you can drive for an hour in any direction for a sketching adventure. Saturday I went south to sketch with Urban Sketchers Tacoma. Today I went north to sketch the tulip fields with the Anacortes Sketchers!

4/6/15 Sailor Doyou ink, Duke fude pen,
Canson XL 140 lb. paper

Usually at this time of April, the tulips are barely at their peak. (Two years ago when I sketched the tulips with the Anacortes Sketchers, it was two weeks later than this.) But they bloomed so early this year that many fields had already been topped, and the last of them were going to be topped this week. Despite the cold and gloom this morning, I knew it was my last chance. I wanted to get back home before rush hour, though, so I asked Michele if she wanted to meet me an hour earlier than the group. We managed to nab a couple of great parking spots facing the fields – and those spots came in very handy later for in-car sketching after we froze for the first couple of hours!

After a lunch break, Michele and I roamed around Christianson’s Nursery and came upon a couple of llamas and sheep. The llama we both chose to sketch had the worst underbite ever!

On my drive to the fields, I pulled over to catch a glimpse of a huge flock of snow geese that stops over in LaConner each year during their migration. I thought they had gone by now, so it was a special treat. From the distance, they looked like a field of white tulips.

4/6/15 watercolor, Strathmore 400 140 lb. paper

Workers top the remaining tulips in LaConner. We had to sketch fast before
the flowers disappeared!

Snow geese snacking during their migration.

Many thanks to the Anacortes Sketchers for hosting a great outing!