The sneezing starts slowly for me each year, and this week it is starting to ramp up. There is always a nice period before the sneezing begins however when I can enjoy the sudden colourful bloom of Spring in relative peace, thinking “you know what, this year I’m just not going to sneeze, everything’s going to be fine.” By the darling buds of May though I’ve turned into Rentaghost’s Nadia Popov. Also, the “are you taking anything for it?” conversation is even more boring than saying “bless you” after every sneeze and then laughing after the fourth, so when people ask me what I’m taking I say “sneezing powder”. I have seen a lot of floral sketching recently in my Urban Sketching Community’s online feeds, inspiring me to draw more flowers myself; my sudden upsurge in walking everywhere and seeing so many colourful gardens, parks and pathways made me really see this year that Spring is actually quite visually beautiful. So, out comes the sketchbook. Now I wish I knew the names of all the plants, and thankfully the Arboretum does label most of them, but I’m a little bit plant-clueless. All the more reason to sit and really look at them, see how they work.
The walk to Northstar Park in the north part of Davis has a lot of beautiful flowers.
And here in the Arboretum, I took a stroll through the Acacia Grove, drawing in pencil this time.
Finally, a tree stump. It was too interesting to leave out. Happy bloomin’ Spring to you!
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petescully 
These are great! I cannot draw flowers at all. I end up just doing abstracted versions of plant forms. I love the tree stump portrait.
I’m not usually a plant sketcher but I really like it when I do, it’s completely different to buildings and so on. I’ve seen some really good flower sketches lately of all different styles, so I’m feeling a bit inspired.
Lovely nature sketches! I empathize… I start sneezing in February with the trees, so I’m usually done by April or May. I’m down to a sniffle or two now. Gesundheit!
– Tina
Yeah I’m usually mid-Spring before it really hits me in Davis. London too, May and early June are the worst. I’ve only ever had one year without it, when I lived in Provence, for some reason it just didn’t get me. Should have stayed there!
Your drawings of flowers have now inspired me more to start drawing them. Thanks for the post.
Great time of year in Davis for it!
Many plants are pollinated by insects, but a substantial percentage rely on artists sneezing. Fact.
“That’s Fake Nose.”
Busted!