Last month I took part in the Pence Gallery’s annual Garden Tour event in Davis. On the Garden Tour, local Davis gardeners open up their gardens to the ticket-paying public. All of the gardens are specially selected and are themselves works of art – gardening is a whole ‘nother world to me but when it’s taken seriosuly, you really see some amazing results. In each garden there was a Master Gardener, which is an actual person who specializes in helping people with their gardening issues, and to whom visitors could come for advice. Oh, and in each garden on the tour there is a local artists, painting (or in my case, drawing) the lovely gardens.  I was in the garden of the Reinerts just beyond the northern edge of Davis, and it was a delightful place. Lizards roamed the flowerbeds, hummingbirds flitted between the trees, bees buzzed high on nectar, and the flowers were colourful and fragrant.

Another artist was there for a while, so I sketched her painting with oil at her easel. A lot of people who I had met before came by and said hello, which was nice.
And finally I sketched the house while seated in the arbor, the reverse view from the top sketch. As I sketched, I listened to the Master Gardener advise people about their gardens and was just hugely impressed. Keeping a garden is an enormous amount of work, but really requires years of careful knowledge to get right, so I am just so impressed with gardeners right now.

Anyway…my sketches from the Garden Tour are currently on display at the Pence Gallery on D Street, Davis, in their silent auction so do pop by and see them if you’re in town!