Mobile Botanical Gardens

What a wonderful day of painting I have had! For the first time, I was able to meet with the plein air group in this area. We painted at Mobile Botanical Gardens and we could not have ordered a more gorgeous day! The azaleas were all in bloom, everything smelled wonderful, and the weather was spendid. Here's a little bit of the beauty I encountered on first arriving.

A half dozen or so met to paint and we got busy. Here is my first watercolor painting.



And this is the area I was in.


After seeing another artist doing a close-up of these amazing azaleas, I decided to give it a try, even knowing I couldn't come close to how good hers was. Here is the result.

This is the azalea I painted.

Though I know my paintings don't do justice to the beauty I stared at for hours, I had such a good time. I was able to lose myself in the artwork for a few hours. I will do more painting en plein air.
I believe this will qualify for EDM #193 Draw a closeup part of something, and EDM #136 Draw or paint something that's alive.