Tag Archives: let’s draw davis

let’s draw the market

Join us for another sketchcrawl in Davis California! I’ve not had as much time lately to organize these as often as I would have liked, but the sun is out and the birds are singing, and so there’s no excuse not to do some urban sketching. This time we will meet at the Farmer’s Market (meet at the corner of 3rd and C) at 10:30am, and sketch the market and the are around before meeting up again at 3:00pm by the Carousel in Central Park to check out each others sketchbooks.

WHEN: Saturday May 18, 2013
START: 10:30am Farmer’s Market (3rd and C)
FINISH: 3:00pm Central Park, by Carousel

This event is free and open to anyone who likes sketching. It’s fun to meet other sketchers, and urban sketching is a great way to look at the town where we live.

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another sketchcrawl in the arboretum

let’s draw springtime in davis

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Join us for another sketchcrawl in Davis, California! It’s Spring, the blossom is out, and it’s time to head back to the UC Davis Arboretum (http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/). We’ll meet at 11:00am at the Arboretum Terrace, which is a little garden area next to Whole Foods, at Davis Commons (the corner of 1st st and Richards). From there we will go to the Arboretum proper, either in a group or individually as you prefer, and sketch all afternoon, meeting up again at 3:00pm at the Wyatt Deck, on the south side of Lake Spafford.

This sketchcrawl is free and open to anyone with an interest in sketching. Feel free to spread the word! All you need is something to draw with and something to draw on.

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Hope to see you there!

worldwide sketchcrawl 38…

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Januarys are busy, and this week has been busy, busy, busy. Busy weekend too, what with a super-hero themed kids birthday party to prepare for, but yesterday I stopped and took part in the 38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl here in Davis California. We met outside the Pence Gallery on D St at midday, and immediately set about sketching the fabulous Antiques Plus antiques store. I drew using my dark brown uni-ball signo um-151 pen, and had intended to colour this, but you know how it is, there are sketchers to talk to, and I sketch more slowly when I chat! But it is great fun all the same. There were about eighteen of us in all, some new faces and some regular sketchers.

The courtyards and alleys between E and D Streets are very cute and with the trees so leafless, full of interesting shadows.

It was a mild sunny day, warm in the sun but nippy in the shade. At the end of the sketchcrawl, we met up at De Vere’s Irish pub to warm up and chill out, and checked out each others sketchbooks. I have wanted to sketch this bookshelf for a while so took the opportunity to get stuck in, wearing down the brown micron. It was very nice to meet some new sketchers, catch up with sketchers I haven’t seen in a while, and to see the regular faces too, all with great and stylistically varied sketchbooks. I definitely picked up a few tips.

Check out the rest of the world’s results from the 38th Worldwide Sketchcrawl on the SKETCHCRAWL FORUM!

autumn at the art center

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(click on the image for a larger version)

Last Sunday was the November “Let’s Draw Davis” sketchcrawl, in the conveniently-located-across-the-street-from-me Community Park. Since it had been prophesied to be a cold day, only a few of us showed up, greeted by crisp autumn sunshine and blazing fall colours. after a very quick ‘people’ sketch or two I set to work on a panorama. The previous Friday evening I had attended a fun event at the Davis Art Center called the ‘Arty Party’, in which there was lots of drawing, some drinking and eating, and I even won a game of Pictionary, a game I’ve not played in a couple of decades, surprisingly. It was nice to get out and be social and talk to people about art, and in fact they will be selling some cards of my drawings in their annual Holiday Sale (Nov 30-Dec 2), including a recent one of the Art Center. I was talking about how I’d never drawn the building before, because it wasn’t an easy one to draw – trees in the way, lots of angles, it had always seemed very difficult. And then almost as soon as I had said it, I said to myself, difficult, huh? Really? So I determined to give it another go. I liked my first version – it says ‘Davis Art Center’ on it – but really wanted the panoramic version in my Moleskine sketchbook. I stood in the sunshine for just over two hours (my wife even came by and brought me a sandwich!) and sketched away. I started in the middle and worked my way outwards.

I didn’t end up doing any more sketches on the sketchcrawl (I popped back home to call my Mum in England and have a cup of tea), but met with the group at the library afterwards, where we all showed off our sketches. In the end I think about eight people came, which was pretty good for a cold day (though it wasn’t cold, really California, really..). Next one will be in mid-December, when it might really be cold…let’s keep drawing Davis!

Finally, here is the drawing of Davis Art Center I started on location before I went to Portland (and finished when I got back), showing the main entrance and part of a sculpture in the foreground. I love this place, they do a lot of good for our artistic community in Davis, and long may they do so.

let’s draw davis community park

widescreen e-street

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On Sunday, about seventeen sketchers of Davis (and surrounding areas) got together again for another urban sketch crawl, this time downtown at the E St Plaza. I must admit I didn’t do quite so much ‘crawling’ this time, and spent most of the day in the same spot, sketching people in the morning (see below) and spending over a couple of hours in the afternoon stood up drawing the above panorama, a two-page spread in my Moleskine. You can see a larger version on my Flickr site, and below is a detail. This was drawn in uni-ball signo um-151 pen.

I wanted to sketch the sketchers, needing to practise some people drawing. Amazingly I was able to get a quick sketch of my four-year-old son, when he stood still for a few minutes to draw a rocketship (mostly it was all about the sprinting about). On the right is Syd, another of the sketchers.

And here are two more sketchers, Emily and Scott.

Next Let’s Draw Davis sketchcrawl will be in November, date to be announced soon…

september sketchcrawl at the silo

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Yesterday we the sketchers of Davis met at the UC Davis Silo, my usual everyday sketching spot, for the latest ‘Let’s Draw Davis!’ sketchcrawl. There were about thirteen of us all in all, familiar faces and new sketchers also. I love meeting new fellow urban sketchers, but it is especially fun seeing people draw the same things that I sketch on my everyday lunchtimes, in new and different ways. I started by spending a long time drawing this wing of the Silo in brown pen. My son was there sketching with me in the morning; he’s a sketchcrawl veteran now. It was another warm day, so it was nice to sit in the shade. UC Davis is quiet this weekend, but this week thousands of students will return or start their new journeys in Davis, and the craziness begins. I can’t wait of course, being a busy and exciting period of work for me, but at the same time it’s nice to savour the quiet moments when I can.

There’s also a lot of last-minute construction work going on on campus too, it seems. This work machine was parked near the Silo and just begged to be sketched. I drew this in micron pen and coloured it in watercolour. I don’t know what ‘MF’ stands for but I can hazard a guess (it reminded me of “TFU” in the robot wars episode of Spaced).

My last one of the day was a fairly quick one of the back of Hart Hall, and I decided to make it a bit livelier by splattering paint all over the page for a bit of texture. After this we all met in the shade outside Shields Library and looked at each other’s sketchbooks, and talked about pens and paper and methods, which is always fun. The next one will be in October, on the date of the worldwide sketchcrawl; details to come at some point soon!

let’s draw america’s coolest campus!

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I wasn’t able to schedule an August sketchcrawl (and boy, was it hot this month!), but Let’s Draw Davis in September instead! This time we will meet on the very calm and quiet UC Davis campus – calm and quiet, before the thousnads of students return shortly afterwards! UC Davis was recently ranked ‘the coolest school in America’, and how much cooler would it be if we all sketched it? A lot cooler!

We will meet at the Silo, in the middle of campus. The Silo itself probably won’t be open for food, being the weekend, so you may want to bring a packed lunch. It’s an interesting area to draw, and we can meet at the tables bewteen the main building and the Bike Barn. From there we will sketch around campus, on your own or in groups, before reconvening outside the main doors of Shields Library (or just inside if it’s too hot) to check out each other’s sketchbooks.

START: 11:00am, @the UC Davis Silo (map)

FINISH: 3:00pm, outside Shields Library (map)

If you can’t find your way around campus, I recommend visiting the UC Davis website where they have an excellent online campus map: http://campusmap.ucdavis.edu/. Why not check out the UC Davis Virtual Tour as well?

As always, everyone is welcome to join in, regardless of sketching ability. All you need is something to draw with and something to draw on, and once you start looking you’ll be amazed at what you find.

Hope to see you there!

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