Art Adventure Time 3: Here Thar Be Dragons!

 Due to me forgetting I had a deadline to meet this week (duh RaChil, tighten up) I did not finish a tutorial for today but will have something extra special in store for you on Thursday, so stay tuned! Regularly scheduled programing will return next week. 

I finally got around to editing the pictures/finishing my art journaling for this A.A.T., so I figured it would be perfect to hold you until Thursday! Enjoy

What a beautiful specimen of Japanese water dragon! I believe I shall call this beauty Gideon. I spotted Gideon swimming around a murky pond surrounded by sun bleached cat tales and sun-warmed rocks!

He was not what I expected going to see a place I thought would just be filled with trees and plants, my local Arboretum!

I did research on nature-y places in my town and found out about the Arboretum. And by "did research" I mean asked my friend at work for recommendations. She had a few good suggestions, but she said most of them were more of a spring or summer place. Well it was the beginning of March and still pretty chill outside, but I was tired of being cooped up in the cold this far into the year. So I decided to go anyway! (I will need a second trip though, to see it in all its glory!)

Head on shot of Gideon, I believe he lives in that small cave under the rock behind him.

Right when you walk in Gideon greets you from his pond, inviting you to wander around on the many different pathways. A flash of red caught my eye and I ran right over to a small lake (slightly bigger than Gideon's pond) with a wonderful red bridge that led over to a proportional island. (aka teeny-tiny island)

I was unable to get any good pictures of the koi in this lake, but I did find another occupant! He was quite a wonderful model.

After hanging out with the turtle for a little bit I found a nice shady bench off to the side and ate a turkey sandwich and an orange. Then I walked through the swamp, but nothing at all was alive in there and they even had it drained for the winter. I am bound and determined to see some swampy and carnivorous plants so I have to return! (I was also denied seeing carnivorous plants last A.A.T. as well!)

That was fine, I still had plenty of the Arboretum to explore, like the Asian section! It was my favorite section due to it not relying mostly on plants that hadn't survived the harsh winter to be awesome.

This is one of my favorite pictures I took. I think all of the parts garden work together so nicely!

Giant Zen Garden! How can you not love that!? You can't tell cause of how bright it is, but it had been freshly raked. I only wish they let visitors rake it, It would be amazingly peaceful I bet!

Another thing to look forward to when coming back, this section was full of bare cherry trees! That means cherry blossoms! Mmmm I can't wait.

 There was this really beautiful gazebo. I would love to do a photo shoot here. It's deliciously roman and I dig beautifully carved columns.

A few of the bigger flower bushes has survived and had a few flowers already I guess you could call them, early bloomers!

After finding the flowers I had pretty much finished exploring the Arboretum, so it was time to head home and get to art journaling!

The supplies I had brought along to work with, but never gotten to were my watercolor pencils and a black pen for outlining. Gideon really reminded me of a Gyarados so I framed my page with a gigantic, twisting dragon-type! And of course, I had to doodle that bridge! Now I just have to fill in the journaling!

I didn't know arboretums could be so pretty. I remember watching That 70's show as a kid and Donna and Eric went on a date to the Arboretum and Eric hated it "it was just trees, who wants to go look at trees for a few hours." It was nice to be pleasantly surprised.


Til Next Time!