Month: November 2008

the sad songs of doom and gloom

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manhattan bridge
With the raining coming down in meows and woofs, I took the Subway to Brooklyn, down under manhattan bridge overpass (I believe this area of town is named after a disney movie but I forget which). Too rainy to sketch. I took a lot of lovely photos from the shores of the Hudson, looking across at the grey fog where Manhattan should be. On my way back to the Subway however I remembered my friend Simon, sketching in the downpour on the South Bank in London back in May, newyork2008062-blogand said to myself I could not leave without one sketch of these amazing views I may not see again for a long time. As I sat on my stool, the rain stopped, and I drew the Manhattan Bridge above – it really does make all the difference, actually sketching on location, than later on from a photo, and I’m please with the result (and yes I counted all the details as I was drawing them).

I went on the the Lower East Side. I got a big messy sandwich from “tiny’s giant sandwiches”, and ambled around in the fading light looking for some urban to sketch, and there was lots. It felt like I was in London again, in Holloway or Camden or Whitechapel, or maybe even Soho, with the narrow grid streets. Chose a street corner that is home to rosario’s pizza (my wife’s maiden name) and sketched in the dying light, the rain now passed but the streets still wet and shiny.
rosario's pizza

I walked around in the dark streets taking in New York City at night, this big far away place from the movies and the album tracks, and then got the Subway to Union Square area, stopping off in a cool art lamppost-nightstore and a great kid’s bookshop (to pick up a board book for my book-loving nine-month old; he’s very literate and loves a book he can really sink his two bottom teeth into). I was looking for Pete’s Tavern, apparently the oldest bar in the city, and I thought it might be good for some interior sketching. Fat chance. Sure, nice old place, and I got a Brooklyn Lager, but the bar area was very busy while all the tables were empty, reserved for some work thing happening later on. Annoying; my feet hurt. Pete was not amused by this (it’s for this reason I never reserve tables in pubs, I hate to be that person). So I sodded off, back to Long Island.

it’s no place for the old

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And so, New York City. Walked outside a packed Penn Station into billions of people and torrrential rain, rain so hard those tall buildings had no top or even middle. Hilarious, I didn’t care, I was in New York and New York is cool. It felt like London, only taller.

take the fifth

Walked down fifth a little bit, taking dark grey photos, running in and out of postcard shops, counting yellow taxis (not really counting, but you know, there were a lot). I just had to draw, it’s why I was there. So out came the little blue chair, underneath a narrow shelter by a coffee shop, right next to a hot dog stand (as New York as it comes). Below, a sketch made outside Long Beach station, before taking Long Island Railroad in to this rainy rainy metropolis.

long beach on a rainy day

over there between the land and the sky

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We went to the opposite end of the country this past weekend, to New York. I love New York. I want one for Christmas. I did a lot of sketching in the city, in rain and shine and falling leaves; those will come later. We stayed out in Long Beach, on Long Island.

windows vista

Above, the view from my sister-in-law’s apartment window, as viewed by max the cat.

Long Beach is really that – a very long beach. I was last here six years ago, at Christmas, when thick snowed piled in on Christmas day, and we were throwing snowballs on the beach on the 26th. looking out at the atlanticYou can hear that Long Island accent everywhere, dawgs and pawks and cawffee, it’s so cool (while in New York City, most accents I heard were actually British). It was cold, but not that cold, not yet – the fall leaves were deep red and bright yellow. But you know you’re not in California any more, when you see people wearing coats that look like sleeping bags with sleeves, and the heating in donut shops is slightly higher than the surface of venus. You need the cold sea air to cool you down.

I was watching the Godfather last night; I didn’t realise before, the Corleone’s lived in Long Beach, in the movie.

I do love to be beside the seaside. For us, it was always the North Sea, or the Channel, but here it’s the Ocean, be it the Pacific or the Atlantic – even their seas are bigger in America. It’s funny, but looking out at the Atlantic I felt more of a connection, that home was just over there across this watery desert, rather than on the other side of the world. Then I thought, you do a lot of thinking when looking at the sea. And then I thought about Seinfeld, how whenever he had to do some deep thinking (such as that one where he has to decide whether or not to give up making silly “hello” voices about his girlfriend’s belly-button), he’d come and look at the ocean. All this thinking was making my brain cells nervous, so I met the others, and went and had a burrito.

it’s all part of my autumn almanac

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fast mart

The afternoons are getting a little darker and a little cooler – I love this time of year, in any country. It makes me remember the various autumns in other years of my life – windy autumn days blowing up Highgate Hill, crisp October evenings waiting for a bus in High Barnet, massive purple skies and fireworks in Burnt Oak, mild golden mornings in Aix, pissing down grey afternoons in Belgium. And here in Davis, where until just last week summer was still going on, cool air starts coming into the Valley, rain begins to pour, my beloved jumpers/sweaters start to come out. I might even wear a scarf.

We’ve been living in Davis three years this week. This is the Fast Mart convenience store on the corner of B St and 2nd (sketched on the way to getting my haircut).

the day after the revolution

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all change

My new post on urban sketchers – that is turning into a great and very productive website.

Today is Guy Fawkes Night in Britain, but not here (and who would want to be seen to be associating with – palling around? – terrorists who target their own country, like Guy Fawkes, anyway..?). No, today is the day after the most important US election in recent memory. Oh yes, we happy, we happy! Can’t quite describe it. Best decision not only for America, but for the world.

But I’m very unhappy about California voting Yes on Prop 8 – the proposition that bans gay marriages in the state constitution by ensuring that it can only be between a man and a woman. The way that campaign was run, as if by having gay marriage your kids were somehow in danger, was offensive beyond belief, and was heavily supported and funded by the Mormon church in Utah, out of the state (dudes, come on, not the ones to lecture californians about marriage).  I fail to see how two gay people being married hurts anybody else, or damages the sanctity of marriage, nor how it threatens the building blocks of society (it only really threatens the blockheads of society) – do they wish then to ban divorce? ‘Protect marriage’ they say – hey guess what folks, men can still marry women if gay marriage exists! Are they hoping then that children will not know about gay people at all now that they officially can’t get married? Are they hoping that by keeping homosexuals as second class citizens that children who may have grown up gay might now be saved? Are they hoping that gay people will now simply go away? Bigotry and discrimination. Why not go further and ban gay people from voting, in case their pro-gay votes damage the electoral system (please, no swing-state jokes)? Perhaps they are worried that if two men can marry each other, the system of marriage and its inherent tax and legal status benefits will be exploited to the point where it becomes a mockery. So, then, such scam or sham marriages never happen between a man and a woman? Complete lunacy.

And while out of state religious groups funded the Yes vote, it was not really about religion, or schools. A great many religious organizations opposed Prop 8, as did the California Teacher’s Association. Oh well, vote lost, now for the legal battles and appeals.

Maybe one day we’ll have a gay president. Hah, you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if we already have had one, at some point in history. Personally, I’d like to see an atheist president one day too. It’s funny, but in the system which cherishes separation of church and state, that option seems the most unlikely.

Anyway…the drawing, today, at the new shiny Silo bus terminal. That Sepia micron 05 again. I quite like it. Wonder how long it will last.

president obama!!!

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8:15pm: President Barack Obama! Phew, what a relief. And I happened to switch on FOX News (which i never do) at 8pm, at the moment they gave the announcement – I’m so glad I did, their announcement was very glum! “Barack Obama is President. It’s Over.” McCain is conceding as I write. And the crowd are booing as he says he congratulated Obama. Get over it, Republicans. Well done Obama! 

Now, please, let’s forget all this Joe the Plumber nonsense.

allez racing

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lewis hamilton

Wow, that was worth getting up on a Sunday for! But I felt really sorry for Felipe Massa. I watched the Brazilian GP silently; we don’t actually get the channel it was showing on, not properly, but you can see a not-too-bad picture. To compensate for no sound I had the CC on (closed captioning; is it still 888 on teletext back in the UK?). They do a hilariously bad job of transcribing the commentary (to be fair, it’s not an easy job). Cove Align On took some working out, as did Along Sew. Oh well, another F1 season over (another international sport nobody cares about here).

And another race finishes tomorrow, Election Day here in the US. Oh my, what a long, long election it has been. Our elections in the UK are nice and short, only about a month or so, without anywhere near as much of the trash talking rallies and for-show debates (where both candidates always say they won). Where punditry, which pretty much is the media over here, is usually restricted to smug Andrew Neill talking to smug Dianne Abbott and smug Michael Portillo, and an interview with a journalist means being utterly slaughtered by Paxman, not slightly embarassed by Katie Couric (can you imagine Sarah Palin talking to our Jeremy? Oh I can, and it is a LOT of fun: “Just answer the question, do you agree with the Bush Doctrine? Just answer the question! Answer it! Never mind Joe Six-pack or Bob the Builder or Ivor the Engine just answer the question Governor!” and so forth). And staying up all night watching the Swingometer, all those little constituencies, where red and blue mean the opposite of here, memories of Portillo’s not-so-smug face in ’97, Mandelson going all psycho in his ’01 Hartlepool victory speech, Major surprising everyone in ’92, Prescott punching an egg-throwing layabout (now I can imagine Palin doing that, actually), absolutely no political TV ads, except those special ones with the announcement in fron (warning you to switch over now to something more interesting), various Dimblebys confusing everyone, and the Prime Minister clearing his furniture out of No.10 the morning after defeat, none of that waiting around until January malarkey, get out of there now and don’t steal the towels. Oh I miss the British elections. I’ll make a point of going backnext time there is one, just for the fun of it (read about how I spent the last UK election here, here and here).

But tomorrow will be fun too (if the Republicans lose). Obama is preaching for change, while McCain is saying Country First and denouncing Bush (although Bush is a country member; I’m sure you will remember) (and that joke’s older than McCain). And Californians, please vote NO on Prop 8, save gay marriage, and save the state constitution from bigotry and discrimination. It has nothing to do with teaching schoolchildren about gay people, as the scaremongering ads say (like there is something wrong with teaching children that some people are gay, and not encouraging bigotry). Grrr! 

This started off being about Lewis Hamilton…

leafy mysteries

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Until they think warm days will never cease
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells

(John Keats, To Autumn)

D & 6th, davis

Drew this house – before the rains came, obviously – in Old North Davis, and it’s my first entry on the brand new Urban Sketchers website which officially launches today. Check it out! And, I am so honoured, the banner flag on the site for launch day is a photo of my own sketchbook, in SF.

Historic North Davis… a couple of blocks just north of 5th street, downtown, where the houses are old and the streets lined with trees and old america. It’s a historic area because it’s old, not because of any great historical event. Unless you count the 2000-01 tree stand-off against PG&E, where some residents, er, stood off against PG&E cutting down trees.  Hey, fair play to them. PG&E don’t live there. Don’t mess with Davis. And if they cut down the trees, I’d have nothing to put in the foreground of my drawings, would I.

I think it was Ali G who said, “you may take our trees, but you will never take our freedom!”