Time for an update on the Chemistry Building at UC Davis, since I can’t help but keep drawing it. If you’ve been following you may remember that they are building a great big wing on the side of the building, and in my last sketches it had been covered in some kind of lurid green plastic, before starting to morph into an orderly orange. As you can see from above it was completely orange, and the window spaces were covered in woodchip boards. Some vertical strips of shiny metal were also appearing, as this building reached a new stage in its long metamorphosis. I feel like I’m a nature documentary commentator, watching this building grow from a cocoon. It’s nature’s way.

Years ago, I posted a series of sketches showing part of what used to be this view in four different seasons of the year, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, with trees being the indicator of change, and the gleaming white building standing ever-present and unyielding in the background. You can see that here: https://petescully.com/2017/01/13/to-everything-turn-turn-turn/. I’m still here drawing. Those trees are gone now, and the building has changed. Things have to keep changing, to give me something to draw. As you can see above, the orange has given way to a new black skin, like a leather jacket, replete with shiny metal studs and more long metal strips. I observed this from a different angle, outside the old Hog Barn building. Below, you can see where I sketched the building again this week, stood in a different place near the Bike Barn, and by now the building has gone full Fonzie. Those metal spots look like stars. It’s a shame it won’t stay like this, but it would look out of place; Rock Hall is nearby and this would be the heavy metal wing. As you can see, it now has glass windows installed. I wish we could get a new building for our department, I’d help design it, and then spend most days sketching it until it was ready. This one is nearly ready. It needs to hurry up, I’m running out of angles to draw it from.