Slowly scanning sketches. This one is from a Davis pizzeria / bar called Uncle Vito’s. I have sketched it a couple of times before (once every couple of years or so) and on one evening in early March I needed to come out and do some bar sketching. The beer is nice here, and not expensive. And tall, as you can see from my drink. I don’t really eat the food here though; I had a pizza once that was not really to my liking (it had Thai flavours, which in this case meant peanut sauce and beansprouts), and I have also had their garlic fries, which are delicious but come in an enormous pile, I think I had it in 2009 or so and am still feeling full up. Just beer it is then. The screens are blank, there might have been sports on them, basketball maybe, too late for American Football, too early for American Baseball, maybe it was American Soccer, or maybe it was like just the news or something. Or a movie. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter, stop wondering. The leg lamp-post, it’s from that Christmas movie, anyway the first time I went in there I though they had two of them, before realizing it’s just a mirror. Mirrors behind bars can be deceptive. For years I thought there was a mirror behind the bar at the Good Mixer in Camden Town, I never clocked that that was in fact another side to the bar. I never clocked that I had no reflection, or if I did I must look pretty different, Camden will do that to you. Anyway this most definitely isn’t Camden, it’s Davis.
petescully 
Your panoramic sketches are always great. I don’t get the whole cult of that Christmas movie. When I moved to the US, people couldn’t believe I’d never seen it. I finally forced myself to watch it this last Christmas and it was …. OK. I guess it’s a nostalgia thing and I’ve no memories or cultural legacy associated with it. At least now I understand the references to leg lamps.
Yeah I never got it either. I remember seeing bits of it as a kid, but it’s not really a big thing over there, like here. We have our own things though. Last year at our holiday party I put on the videos for Slade and Wizzard. Literally the most British things ever.
Oh and it’s a tradition in our house to watch Blackadder’s Christmas Carol every year, again something most Americans don’t really know.
Ha ha! So true about Slade and Wizzard. It’s not properly Christmas for we Brits until you’ve sung those loudly several times.
Hi :) how long does it take you to draw rhis and do you do it in one go or do you ‘fill in’ some later or else, if I may ask? I really like your sketches per se and for their motifs – and am envious of your Californian existence!
Best wishes from Brighton
Karin
Hi Karin, I can’t remember how long this took (I’ll say, about three beers, however long that is) but I did all this on site in one go. Often if it is a very detailed one I might add much of the colour later (like if the bar gets really noisy/busy, I’ll take it home and add paint there, if at all), but I had time on my hands (and elbow room…)
😊 thanks for the reply 🍺🍺🍺