This is Urban, who until his retirement this week was our computer guy at work. I took the opportunity to sketch him at his farewell lunch because I need practice drawing people on the spot, and also because this makes it literally an ‘Urban sketch’. Thought you’d like that. I drew it in my moleskine diary.
Speaking of Urban Sketchers…one month until the Portland Symposium…
Well that didn’t last long. England absolutely collapsed against Germany with a catalogue of textbook errors (or a textbook of catalogue errors). I don’t want to exaggerate, but that was the worst display I have ever seen any team play ever. They should just take the next World Cup off and think about what they’ve done. Ok, maybe a little exaggeration.
Much is being said about England’s ‘golden generation’ of stars failing to live up to their hype, ‘not as good as they think they are’, ‘over-paid’, ‘overconfident’. I can’t agree with too much of it, but some things were apparent. Rooney was non-existant and clearly unfit, Johnson was sluggish, Terry looked as though he’d never played the game before, Gerrard and Lampard looked like they were playing for two different teams (that’d be Liverpool and Chelsea, not England), and Fabio Capello appeared to be stuck on tactics that worked for him when he played Championship Manager Italia 95, but don’t work against those who play Football Manager 2010. The oft-criticized ‘long Premier League Season’, which is at least two whole games longer than in other countries, is always touted as a reason our players are so tired, but it doesn’t seem to have affected the Premier League’s foreign players such as Carlos Tevez or Tim Howard, who appear sprightly and well up for the big stage. That ‘goal that wasn’t’ was almost irrelevant after they were played off the park so completely. I’m not just gutted, I’m thoroughly disappointed. I am even annoyed about the red shorts.
That said, I am not ready to join the army of smirking and sarcastic told-you-sos who couldn’t wait to gleefully tweet and facebook-update about how England are disillusioned and deserve it because they are overpaid and overhyped (none of the other countries have those types of player, of course), and how England just fundamentally cannot win a World Cup so you chavs on your council estates waving your flags should get real, stop pretending they can. But what do they expect? Really? We’re cynical enough, don’t then tell us we can’t allow ourselves a few weeks of wild almost ritualistic hope. As Rooney would say, for fuck’s sake.
To cheer us all up, here are some facts you might like. England have won the World Cup more times than Germany (West Germany have won it three times, fair enough). Sunday’s win was only the second time the Germans have beaten England in the World Cup finals, the last being in 1970 (if you count the penalty shoot-outs as draws, which they technically are), finally matching England’s two wins over them. the last time they met in a finals, England won 1-0, in 2000. The last competitive match between the two nations, in the World Cup qualifier in 2001 in Munich , in your actual Germany, where England won 5-1 (Germany could only manage a paltry four on Sunday!). To all those who say the rivalry is one-sided and England simply can’t ever beat Germany, it’s not true. It’s just they are usually better than we are against all the other teams.
Truth is, of course England are capable of winning it – they have won it before, albeit a long time ago. Spain have never won it (in fact England have consistently done better at World Cups than Spain), but we don’t say the Spanish are fundamentally incapable . Same goes for the Dutch, even the Portuguese. No matter what Alexei Lalas says, it is fair enough for the English to believe it’s possible – they have what many other countries consider the best league in the world, and on paper we all know those players have the ability (ok, maybe not Heskey). I do question whether the players on the pitch really believed it. Italy won it four years ago without having the best team in the tournament. Greece and Denmark both won the Euros as the surprise package. If teams stop believing it can be done, we may as well just engrave Brazil’s name on the trophy and give it to them every four years.
The Monterey Peninsula is remarkably beautiful; we were there last summer. This is Point Pinos lighthouse, overlooking the Ocean and Monterey Bay at windswept Pacific Grove. It is the oldest lighthouse in continuous operation on the West Coast, dating back to 1855.
When I was younger, I thought it would be cool to live in a lighthouse. Not so much for the whole helping ships navigate the night thing, more because of that show ‘Round the Twist’, an Australian kids show where the family lived in a lighthouse and lots of strange things happened. At least, that’s how I remember it.
This drawing is a present for someone who really likes lighthouses.
Except for France (see previous). The World Cup is very exciting now! Apart from the Brazil – Portugal borefest, and for every finale of Slovakia – Italy, you get a finale of Chile – Spain. The second phase begins, with Landon ‘Groupwinner’ Donovan leading the USA against Ghana, and England facing their old nemesis: England v Germany, game on, it’s too early in the tournament but who cares, the World Cup begins (and probably ends) here.
Cartooned quickly in my football journal.
Poor France. Seriously, I feel for their fans. I haven’t always felt so. Back in 2002, I lived in the south of France when they were champions of the World, Europe and the Inner Solar System. Public opinion prior to the Japan/South korea World Cup was that you could have Pele, Maradona, Puskas, Cruyff, anyone out there and France would still win without breaking a sweat. The player’s faces were on every yoghurt carton, every soda bottle, every TV advert; Zidane was a god whose image was omnipresent; and that awfully catchy song by ancient Franco-Belgian pop star Johnny Halliday, “Allez les Bleus!” Such was Gallic confidence, you could buy their shirts with the second golden star already sewn on.
And then they went to the far east, and failed to score a single goal. They came home stunned; nobody could quite believe it. The bubble burst. Never again would the previously soccer-cynical French public let themselves get so carried away with expectation. Therefore, it was a bit of a surprise that they came within a headbutt of winning the trophy in 2006. Even more of a surprise, retrospectively at least, is that the manager that took them so close four years ago is the same one who is so universally reviled now, Raymond Domenech, who I attempted to draw above in my football journal.
What happened? I recall their pitiful display at Euro 2008, when he held a press conference not to explain the dismal defeats they had suffered, but to propose to his girlfriend. France had no confidence in him, and yet kept him on, knowing he’d be replaced after the World Cup with former player and favourite, Laurent Blanc. They scraped through a qualification play-off, thanks to a Thierry Henry handball, but in South Africa it all went ventre-up. Player revolts, Anelka being sent home, training ground bust-ups – other teams would give their right leg to play in this tournament and this is how they all behave? And then against host nation South Africa, Domenech refuses to shake the opposing manager’s hand. French football is in chaos. The French president himself is demanding answers from this shambles.
“Allez les bleus, en est tous ensemble,” sang Johnny Halliday, “allez les bleus, en est tous avec vous.” Not any more they’re not.
In Summer 2007 I found a pleasant spot by Putah Creek with a nice view of Mrak Hall, and drew it. In the foreground, across the green pea-soup of an early-Summer creek, two small green hillocks. I came back a year later to sketch the same spot; the hillocks were gone, razed to make way for the proposed King Hall law school extension. Fences were up, construction yet to begin. A year later I sketched there again, and the shell was up, the view of Mrak blocked. Another year has passed, and King Hall’s extension is almost complete. I drew the above picture on Friday lunchtime, while trying to avoid the England match, which I was recording to watch later (little did I know it was truly worth avoiding). I think it’s interesting to see how a view has altered over the few years that I’ve lived here.
The drawings from 2007-2009 are below.
The World Cup continues; France play embarassingly badly to lose to Mexico, Germany are beaten by Serbia, Spain lose to the Swiss; England on the other hand won a hard-earned point against a well-oiled team that knocked out the reigning African champions and beat West Germany in the World Cup finals much more recently than England did (in 1982). Well done England! It was an effortless display. You made no effort whatsover.
England’s 0-0 draw with Algeria was possibly the worst and least creative display I’ve ever seen from an England team (and boy have we seen some of those!!) And the thousands of loyal fans, very loyal fans, who travelled thousands of miles and spent thousands of pounds to be there for them and bring their band to play ‘the Great Escape’ loud enough to be faintly heard above the drone of the vuvuzelas, they deserved better. They are part of this experience and had a right to boo. I understand Rooney was pissed off at that, slagging the fans off on camera at the end of the match, but he and everyone else appeared too scared to get stuck in and prove why we should be crowned World Champions. Let’s face it, on the evidence we really do not, and I think a lot of the players think that as well. Algeria looked far more confident, imaginitive, skillful. We barely deserved the point.
Cameroon went out today after a thrilling match against Denmark, and they were much livelier than England. I did a few quick sketches during the match. I like Denmark, but I felt bad for Cameroon. And so as teams get eliminated, the World Cup continues…
Sacramento on a Tuesday. After watching Portugal draw with the Ivory Coast, I bussed across the Causeway to the capital city. The colourful and historic Crest theater on K street was just asking to be sketched. It’s a gorgeous building, opened in 1949 (though there was a theatre there since 1913) I’m not a big fan of downtown Sac, never really as busy as a downtown should be, the only bustle being the hum of the light rail and the shuffle of the panhandlers. It does give me some ‘urban’ to sketch though.
I prefer it in Midtown, further up the road. There is a little more character, and some pretty cool shops. There is a whole little arts district by the railroad tracks now called ‘MARRS’ (midtown art retail restaurant scene). I had to stop in the Streets of London pub on J Street to watch the Brazil vs North Korea match. It was a good one. I drew the middle picture at half-time. Brazil won 2-1. I had fish and chips. The chips were not good.
After some more sketching and shopping and strolling, I went to catch my bus by the Capitol building, the last subject of this triptych. This building is always in the news here, because of the state budget crisis. State workers in suits marched here and there past beggars and palm trees, not a furlough day for them today (though it was for me, hence my midweek sketching trip). And so back home.
I went sketching on a very warm Tuesday in Sacramento, the capital of California. After stopping by the Streets of London pub to watch Brazil play North Korea, I wandered up J Street to the art store, and sketched two of the magnificent old colourful buildings opposite. This stretch of J Street in Midtown Sac has some great old wooden houses, as colourful as any painted ladies you’d see in San Francisco. These two stand out, one pink, one blue. A girl and a boy. I decided against drawing the whole picture, and even colouring the whole picture, partially due to time restraints, partially due to stylistic choice. I like the result.
To celebrate the 2010 World Cup, we are eating and drinking things from (or at least associated with) all (or at least many) of the countries involved (though how involved Australia were in their 4-0 drubbing by Germany I don’t know). Above: Italian Soda. We have also had Baguette and Boursin (France), Burritos, Margaritas, Quesadillas (Mexico, but we don’t need a World Cup for all those!), and a bottle of Carlsberg Elephant (Denmark). England has been represented by that Trifle, of course, but I also had a can of Strongbow, and as for America, well we live there and I think we had McDonalds the other day. Many other world foods and drinks to check off the list (I’m particularly looking forward to the Swiss chocolate). The Italian soda though was very very good. I had another one today, while out sketching in Sacramento. It may be my new favourite drink on a hot day.
Tomorrow we’ll have South African curry, with a nice South African wine. I do love a curry. I just need to get some vuvuzelas to blast all through dinner, and it’ll be complete.
petescully 