An inspirational tool shed

All I have for today is one sketch from yesterday morning, when I checked out a P-Patch garden.  There are dozens of these community gardens all around the area.  When I found a map of them online, I decided to visit all of the north-end ones, as they often provide good sketch opportunities.

I managed to visit just one of them yesterday.  It's called the Haller Lake P-Patch ("P" for Picardo, the owners of the farmland donated to create the first one in Seattle).  It's on 1st Avenue just one block north of NE 130th, and there's a bonus church next door which I would also like to draw.  However, yesterday I spent so much time on my one P-Patch sketch that I decided to leave the church for another time (Truman was getting cranky, and I was getting tired).

One reason Tru was annoyed was because one of the gardeners kept coming over to pet him.  He tolerates pets from strangers, but you can tell he's a little dismayed about the whole thing.

I wound up drawing hardly any of the garden plots, because that tool shed caught my attention -- the various decorations on the wall and above the window were very attractive.  I took my time with this sketch, doing a careful pencil drawing first, as I wanted to get the placement of those decorations just right.  Then I finished with ink and took a photo, in case I ruined it when I added the watercolor.

When I added the watercolor, I also took more care and more time than I typically do, and was very happy with the result.  And for once, I didn't overdo the background (the small bit of garden on the left).  Whew!

I'm very glad that I forced myself to go slowly and take more time with this piece -- it was highly satisfying -- except for the fact that the spot I sat in was shady, and at 8am it was still quite cool there, and my hands stiffened up!

There are plenty of north-end P-Patches left to explore -- perhaps at a warmer time of day.