the view from the fairmont

February 27, 2025February 27, 2025Leave a comment

For my birthday this year we went away to San Francisco for the weekend, the weather was sunny and super clear (if a bit cold), and we spent the day at the SFMOMA (Museum of Modern Art), which I have not visited for many years and is a great day looking at art (it’s huge). I miss going to huge museums, it is one of the things about London that I loved most. Well, the gift shops anyway. The shop at the SFMOMA is probably the best museum gift shop in the world. After we’d been in the gift shop for a while we drove up to the hotel, which is easily our favourite in the city, the Fairmont on Nob Hill. We’ve only stayed there once before, for our anniversary seven or eight years ago, so it’s a real special treat. The Fairmont is historic and very grand, in a classic sort of way rather than a Vegas sort of way. Presidents have stayed there (remember them?), and famously it is where Tony Bennett first sang about leaving his heart in San Francisco, presumably they didn’t have a lost-and-found back in those days. These days if he sang that, he’d have hundreds of comments online from Fox News viewers making up stories about people stealing your body parts here. Nob Hill is very steep, and it’s a big climb to get up here even in the car. We got to our room, thinking we’d drop our things off and go back out to wander about outside, but immediately we saw the view from the window and it was like BAM we ain’t leaving the room before dinner! See above and below. The view looked across a wide view from Russian Hill on the left to Telegraph Hill on the right, with Alcatraz right in front of us. Squeezing down each end of the window we could make out the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Pyramid, but I couldn’t squeeze those into my sketches. We relaxed in the room admiring the view and I sketched, as did my son (who’d forgotten his sketchbook but used my iPad). We were up on the twelfth floor, but being on Nob Hill our elevation was really high anyway. There was so much detail. I have dreamed of drawing this view, but there was so much detail there was no way I could do what I did with that sketch from the Hilton I did in 2021, which was a bit lower down (though included the building I was drawing from here). I did my best to keep up with the changing afternoon-evening light, and drew a few smaller sketches as well to show what the light was like. Here is Alcatraz. It always reminds me of the third X-Men movie.

I drew a couple of quick ones of Coit Tower as well, as the late afternoon turned into sunset, to show the magnificent colours as the light changed. It was last year I think (was it the year before?) that I went up to the top and did that long drawing. I’ve drawn a lot of this city now. I’m not done yet, but the plan was that we’d spend the night in the city, and then next day after my family drove back to Davis I’d go out and do a lot of drawing by myself and get the train home.

Dinner was at the famous Tonga Room, downstairs at the Fairmont, and that was great fun. I love that place. The cocktails ain’t cheap, nor is the food, but they were strong and the food was super filling, I could barely eat half of mine before I was full. No dessert for me. The band floating on the pool played great music, and every half hour the showers came on imitating a thunderstorm. I love the Tonga Room, though I wish the bathroom was not such a walk. The next morning we got room service breakfast, and sat looking out of the window until it was time to leave. Well I sketched of course. The light was very different again in the morning, the shadows creeping in a different direction, getting shorter rather than longer, and it was another clear day. Imagine if it had been foggy. So I drew the view below, mostly of the tall towers of Russian Hill. I’m very lucky to be able to come to this city and to a hotel like this with a view like that and draw it. Ever since I was a kid I loved to look out of a window and draw. I like being down there on the streets among it all, but it’s always special to look at it all from above.

I never spent the day out drawing. I was already sketched out, and feeling pretty tired. It was cold out, and the thought of getting the train back to Davis later on a Sunday evening with work the next day, well I didn’t fancy it, so I rode back in the car. As we waited I popped across the street and did a quick outline of the hotel, drawing it in later with the statue of Tony Bennett singing about leaving internal organs in San Francisco. I started idly wondering why it was called Nob Hill, but it was time to go home. A nice weekend in the city, and a big thanks to my lovely wife for arranging it.

BTW, I realize from looking at the blog post that the small size of the panoramic drawings do absolutely no justice to them whatsoever, but if you click on them it takes you to my Flickr page where you can see them a little bigger.

a new one just begun

February 18, 2025February 17, 20254 Comments

Every year I dread the birthday week; I don’t technically age any more than I do any other day, but that day does push me ever further into the next category in the local fun runs. I tend to draw a lot in the run up to my birthday, as if to take my mind off it; the run up to my birthday is about 365 days. Ok so now we are in February, and have things got better yet, globally? No they have gotten worse, way worse already than ever worried about, and the rest of this month, let alone the rest of this year, fills me with anxiety. Where do we even start? I marginally ease this despair by drawing the world around me; there are only so many buildings with trees in front of it in Davis, yeah? I sometimes think, with all these drawings recording this city over the course of the past nearly two decades (wow) are they something that will be looked at many years later or are they just things of the moment; I need to put a book together. That would take my mind off things, maybe. I see my work on all these drawings as part of a purpose, the idea that these all might be a book or series of books. Occasionally people do see my work on Instagram or here and are like, wow I used to live there, and it sparks memories, and that’s a great thing. When I see illustrations of London, if it is a place I know and connect with well, I look at it and it takes me to places in my mind. Anyway, above it was a day when I was out sick, felt bloody awful. It had been building since the weekend, felt physically wiped out, and on this day I’d been up all night with a headache. I managed to sleep half the day, had a remote work meeting, and tried to rest for a bit more but I needed some fresh air, so went for a walk, making it all the way down to 5th Street where I stopped and did a drawing. I coloured it in later. People were waiting at the bus stop, so I added those in, “why don’t you draw people in your sketches, don’t you think your drawings would be much better if there were people in it?” they say, forgetting the name of my last book; this will satisfy them for a minute. I have waited at that bus stop before, but not for a long time. The bus that would go along there is the one that took me home to our little apartment in south Davis, the area we lived in when we first moved to this city.

A couple of days before, I was already not feeling that well and ended up going home early. After walking downtown to eat something, I found myself needing a rest at Central Park, so I got my sketchbook out and drew the big frat house on the corner. Drawn this a few times, so I didn’t draw it all, left details out and did not start colouring it in. This is enough, all that’s needed. At least I’m drawing. Often times this might be as far as I can get (due to time) and then I’m like, yep finish this one at home.

The next day, already feeling sick, I had to stay home in the morning because a new bed was being delivered to my house. My body said I needed to rest, but any chance of lying in bed was off the table. I had to take my old bed out (not easy at all, no idea how the guys who brought it in managed to do it) and then bring the new one in and put it together. After I was done, I went to work as there is a lot to do. I stopped off for some lunch on the way in, and then did a quick sketch nearby of The Barn, sketching for about ten minutes half-heartedly, not really having any energy at all. So this is kept like this, I don’t really need another sketch of this building, and this is more an illustration of how I was feeling physically.

And finally, end of the week, felt a lot better by then (maybe the new bed is helping with the sleep) and it was Friday afternoon, everything was done so I finished an hour early and walked downtown for a birthday milkshake. The new year diet never happened, but it’s 2025, comfort milkshakes are gonna happen, while milkshakes are still available. Still wasn’t feeling too well, but definitely better, and that milkshake had my name on it. Before heading home I walked over to D Street and liked the way the just-after-5pm light was hitting the Pence Gallery. The days are getting a little longer. Each day feels like a million years. I drew and added only a few colours and the shadows, this is all it needed. Another year over.

a peak under the hood

February 16, 2025Leave a comment

I thought it was time I should show my current palette. I have a new smaller sketchbook (a Seawhite of Brighton A6 size that I got in London) for when I need just a pocket-sized sketchbook with me, so I opened it by drawing what paints I am currently using. I don’t use the Seawhites as much any more because (a) they aren’t really as good for watercolours as the watercolour Moleskines I use, and (b) I have to get them when I’m in London, but they are really good for penwork (less so fountain pen, I find, better withe the uni-ball signo pens I prefer). Anyway. You can see from the image above that there are faint lines across it, courtesy of my Epson scanner which has been doing this lately. Not the screen, not the software, just the scanner after many, many scans I guess. Shame as it is fast and quiet, although I’ve never been happy with the quality compared to my old HP. Both were all-in-one printer/scanners. So this week I decided to buy a new flatbed scanner, to deal with this issue. It’s a bit more mobile and light, and has to be connected with a cable and not over wifi, because I decided not to get a more expensive one in case it turned out to be not really better at all. I also stuck with Epson because I am used to the software, even though it’s not really perfect. I should rescan this, along with other recent sketches where I notice it, but that’s time-consuming; I hate scanning. I did scan the guide (below) with the new scanner, worth pointing out that this was added to the inner cover and that paper never takes watercolour all that well in the Seawhites, so the odd texture is what it looks like, annoyingly. Paper makes a big, big difference. Doesn’t matter, this isn’t my usual paper and it’s just a rough guide for myself to remember what I’m using. I do forget the names of paints a lot. I am not, alas, one of those urban sketchers that enthuses regularly about their paints, I wish I were sometimes but I just make do. I have some nice colours though, and I am so pleased I finally got that Buff Titanium colour by Daniel Smith that I’ve seen in many other urban sketchers’ palettes over the years, it’s well nice for those slightly off-white houses and objects, it’s like a missing link in my paintset. Those QOR ones I have in there, actually those are just small blobs from the tubes, they can be pretty powerful paints and I like to use those as just a palette of three by themselves, that’s fun. The box itself is a Winsor and Newton ‘Complete Pocket Set’ size box which I find to be perfect; those come with about 16 half pans but there’s room for a lot more and I cram them in. I like the small size and the little fold out plastic thing on the bottom to hook under my thumb. This is my third one of these since 2007, and I just got this one in November because I broke the little thumb-handle on my other one, and then while trying to balance it I dropped it onto the pavement and broke the lid, which was a pain (I was carrying it round with elastic bands holding it together). This size has worked best for me over the years though, especially in a tight space like a bar or standing on a narrow sidewalk. Anyway. The list of all the paints is below, and I’m not explaining how I use them, because I just hit and hope most of the time. Still it’s always fun to take a look inside a paintbox…

Most of these are Winsor and Newton, mostly in the ‘Cotman’ range but a few in the ‘Artist’ range, mostly half-pan but a few tube. The rest are Daniel Smith (indiciated as ‘DS’) mostly from a tube, one or two might be half-pan, and there’s those three QOR ones too. Also, the ‘bronze’ is a metallic Winsor and Newton watercolour, it’s much shinier in real life than on the screen.

Top row: Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, Turquoise, Cerulean Blue, Hookers Green Light, Viridian, Sap Green, Phthalo Yellow Green (DS)

Second Row: Purple Lake, Permanent Rose, Quinacridone Rose (DS), Winsor Red, Orange, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Lemon Yellow

Bottom Left Corner (clockwise): Lamp Black, Buff Titanium, Chinese White, Payne’s Grey Middle Bottom: Bronze (Metallic W+N), Ultramarine (QOR), Quinacridone Magenta (QOR), Nickel Azo Yellow (QOR)

Bottom Right (Clockwise): Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Transparent Red Oxide (DS)

opening reception of ‘Visual Journals 2010-2024’

February 15, 20253 Comments

Recently I was invited to the opening reception of an interesting exhibition called ‘Visual Journals: 2010-2024’, curated by Prof. Tim McNeil of the UC Davis Design Department. The exhibition is at the UC Davis Design Museum, but the reception was in the lobby of the International Center, where some of the work is also displayed. It shows many of the visual journals created by students who went on Study Abroad trips to Europe, a course called ‘Design In Europe’, visiting historic cities and interesting museums, sketching and writing and collecting ideas. Even as I write it, I wish I was doing that myself. The books are displayed in cases so can’t be flicked through, but there were photos of many of the students holding their work and what I could see was already an inspiration (and I get inspired by wondering what is on all of the pages I cannot see, knowing they are filled with experiences and ideas). Tim McNeil (sketched above) spoke about putting the project together, and there were students and alumni and organizers who had been with them all on these trips over the years. There was nice food and I spoke to a few familiar faces I’d not seen in a while.

Here’s an article about the exhibit in the L&S magazine: lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu/arts-humanities/new-exhibition-visual-journals-puts-design-thinking-display-10-years-students

Above, a sketch of some books in the cabinet, and below, some people sketching. I had not done much people sketching in 2025 by this point so it was fun to loosen up. It was at the end of my work day so nice to relax a little. Yes, the more I think about it, the more I would like to just right now get up and take a sketchbook trip across Europe, connect with my old continent again, now that this one is starting to feel so uncomfortable (though this lot in charge are doing their best to make everywhere feel horrible). Sometimes it’s good to get out there and look for the good things. One of the reasons I advocate so much for Study Abroad is because this is how so many young people are able to connect with different ways of thinking and seeing the world, that this here isn’t all it really is. I was so pleased to get to travel when I was young, and independently of my family too, it opened up my brain a little bit more even when I wouldn’t realize it, even when my little brain would rebel and be insular, it still took it all in and had its effect and we all need a bit of that. Going with a sketchbook helps you sit (or stand) and really look at it all, and then when you get back, you see everything else that little bit differently.

I haven’t had time yet to go to the main exhibition itself, but will do so soon; it’s open at the UC Davis Design Museum in Cruess Hall between Jan 21-April 25, 12pm-4pm. See arts.ucdavis.edu/seasonal-event/visual-journals-2010-2024 for details. And get out sketching yourselves!

a new path on campus

February 11, 20251 Comment

Nearly done posting all the sketches from January. If you thought January was long and awful, wait ’til you meet February! Every day brings a new level of ‘things can only get shitter’. It is our jobs to ensure that they do not. My sketchbook is filling up fast. Escaping into the pages is my way of making sense of the world around me, or running away maybe, so I am not drawn into looking at the unreliable narrator in my jacket pocket. We all try to get on with it as best we can. Here are a few more from January, there are some more after that and then we have February to come, unless there is an executive order banning sketchblogs. Even as I say it, it sounds ridiculous and therefore more probable. Ok, above is a bit of construction outside the Jungerman Annex at UC Davis, the little bit stuck onto (though not connected by any door) Jungerman Hall, the big building that hosts the Crocker Nuclear Lab, which has been undergoing major seismic renovations as well as a nice paint job lately. This is a new path being built to the rear entrance of the Annex, providing better ADA access to that space. The light at the end of the day looked really nice as I passed by on my way out of work so I drew it. I am particularly excited for this path actually because I was the one who suggested it be built. I am looking forward to walking up it for the first time, I promise not to just cut across the grass. We get a lot of turkeys around here, you see a lot of them in the morning outside our building, and then they all come over to this patch of grass under the tall pine trees (I think they are pines, we have established that I draw a lot of trees but have zero capacity to remember their names; I’m like that with people too, but I don’t like drawing them). Anyway, first sketch of the new path, a little bit of progress; may we all build better paths to get through this mud.

This is another lunchtime sketch, over at the Native American Student Success Center, near the Quad. This is in the old University House building, one of the oldest on campus. It feels like a turbulent time for universities, as a big research institution we are very much in shock at the actions of this new lot in charge and their attacks on the national research infrastructure. Not to mention all the other attacks on everything else, our very principles of community, our support for diversity, inclusiveness. I will not be abandoning our principles. I had a headache while I drew this, at least I think I did; it’s hard to remember. I’ve not been feeling too well the past couple of weeks, headaches and exhaustedness, general fatigue, and I’m sure the state of the world is having an effect. At least when I drew this I felt a bit of calm, and there was a table and some shade to sit in, and it’s a very nice little building this. The Native American Student Success Center (NASSC) focuses on creating a sense of belonging for Native American students in a culturally appropriate way, encompassing students, staff, faculty and alumni. I really like their hummingbird logo. The land upon which UC Davis is built is traditional Patwin land, and has been for thousands of years. There are three federally recognized Patwin tribes: Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Indian Community, Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation, and Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation. It is important that we recognize this, and we do see a lot more Land Acknowledgement statements on campus.

Nearby the University House is this big old tree, that might be one of the more interesting trees on campus. It has a huge bulbous growth in the middle and the limbs lurch away from it like the tentacles of some giant monster freeing itself from the depths. I am still determined to draw as many trees in Davis as I can, and while I have surely sketched this before I’ve never just focused on it. May you live your life in peace, old tree, please don’t break and fall upon me. So, we carry on down new paths, and if they lead to the wrong places, then we build paths to the right places.

the grand opening of the all new G Street…

February 7, 20251 Comment

Last week when we were still in the grips of the very dry January I went downtown at lunchtime to attend the opening ceremony of the newly refurbished and redeveloped G Street, or at least the block of G Street between 2nd and 3rd. It’s pedestrianized with new seating areas (well, big blocks of coloured wood and some metal round picnic tables, I didn’t really notice a lot more than that), more accessible sidewalks, albeit with metal fencing dividing areas off for some reason. People were gathered and there was music being played, food being passed around by Woodstock’s pizza, and the midday January sun was bright. It is always exciting to see some new work, some new ideas in place in the city. If you go by comments on that paragon of local opinion, Nextdoor, you will see opinion very split, mostly between “waste of money” and “now I can’t park right outside the place I’m going” to “hate it” and “it will be full of homeless hassling people”. Oh, Nextdoor, what are you like. Most of that website seems to be “what was that bang?” or people posting actual videos of kids who rang their doorbell (and people replying that you should have a ‘pew-pew’ for the next time a kid rings your doorbell – seriously?). My reaction is usually to go against the general moaning, and give the new ideas a chance, so I watched the ceremony and sketched with a reasonably positive outlook. I have enjoyed that, since the pandemic when all the restaurants were forced outside (remember that, folks!) G Street has become a popular little hub on a weekend. Not that I go there much myself. However I couldn’t entirely disagree with the comments of disappointment. Looking around at the changes, I was less than whelmed, I’m not much into sitting at uncomfortable looking boxes in the direct Davis sunlight. It is a project in progress, that is what they said, “This is not the Final Version”, and no doubt it will progress as the needs of the local businesses and restaurants and their customers dictate, we will see. Things don’t always work out as intended. More pedestrianized public space is good in my opinion, but only if people use it. I drew the mayor and other local civic leaders talking with their backs to the sun while photographers and media folk pointed their cameras towards the sun. I went across to stand in the shade and draw the musicians, a woman playing a keyboard and a man with a hand-drum. It was very nice. There was also a middle-aged man in a black jacket wearing what looked like boxer shorts and a jester hat dancing about and being ‘zany’. I liked drawing people in quick pencil, this was a nice break from all the pen drawings of houses and streets that have been getting me through this awful January as we slip into the worst version of the timeline. If G Street provides a place of gathering where I can go and sketch people then that’s good I suppose, though I have to want to get up and be around loads of people, which isn’t much the case these days.

I was about to sketch the scene from the other side of the road when a young man in a tall hat came up and asked if I was ‘Mr Scully’, which I am. He was another local artist Evan Lilley, and was setting up his home-made easel/art box to do some drawing of people at the event. In his tall hat, I knew I would need to sketch him. I have actually seen his work before, as he had an exhibition recently (which I did not get to see) with highly detailed and realistic paintings of the interiors of local bars, such as the Davis Beer Shoppe. As you know I’ve drawn so many of the local bars over the years so was very excited to see that and meet the artist in person. Apparently he does a Drawing Club at one of the local places Dunloe Brewing, I should go to some time. I asked if I could draw him sketching at his easel, I only had five minutes or so before needing to head back to the office, so I drew him in that bright sunshine.

I will go over to G Street from time to time to check it out a bit more and see if the space works for me, but we will see. I don’t really go out much anyway these days except to wander about looking for something to fill my sketchbook with, and I mostly like to draw the changes in the city, though preferably in a bit more shade. Once the leaves come back on the trees I’m sure it will feel a bit cooler. Maybe I should finally do another sketchcrawl down here, it’s been a while since I organized one, I’ve been shy.

Midtown Mooching

February 5, 20252 Comments

We don’t have a Midtown in Davis, so to get my Midtown kicks I had to go to Sacramento, the state’s capital city fifteen miles away. It’s been a couple of years since I sketched around Midtown, but I always enjoy wandering about those streets looking at all the big old houses. It’s not like they have as many shops as they used to; the fantastic University Arts store closed recently, and that was always a big draw for me. The record shop called The Beat closed years ago, though there is a small record shop in Midtown which I did visit. We did come to Midtown before Christmas to have a couple of cocktails at the Jungle Bird, a little tiki bar we like that does a festive ‘Jingle Bird’ theme in December. On this one Saturday though, I was itching to get out of Davis and draw, so found myself in Midtown at the Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park. It’s been years since I went there, although I have never wandered into the actual Sutter’s Fort itself; I thought about it though, and it’s the fort that counts. I repeated that joke to myself several times wondering if it would ever be the right time to say that to anyone, but it never will be. It evolved into a joke that went, “someone gave me a calculator shaped like a castle for my birthday; wasn’t much of a gift but it’s the fort that counts.” I think that sounded alright, but it doesn’t really work out here, where they don’t pronounce ‘fort’ and ‘thought’ as the exact same sound like we do in London. If I said that I’d probably be accused again of ‘British humour’ (sorry, ‘humor’), “I don’t like Briddish humor, it’s all Monty Pythaan.” People have actually said that to me, as if British humour or comedy is a genre. I will confess though we are the best (or worst) at puns and I will go to extreme lengths to get one in. Alas I let the ‘fort’ jokes go, at some point you have to realize they make pretty crap puns anyway. I sketched the scene above while listening to another Terry Pratchett audiobook, Feet of Clay (I have listened to five in the past month, really spending down those Audible credits). The building opposite is the State Indian Museum, and the church tower on the left is a place I have drawn several times (early 2007 was the first!) and always forget the name of. St. Francis of Assisi, that’s the one. It was the first place I drew in Midtown Sacramento and I was well pleased with how it turned out. I was going to colour in all the trees but stopped at the pool, because I liked the way the colour of the water stood out, and so I just added the shades; this is all it needs.

I wandered Midtown looking for big old houses to sketch, these ones were on L Street and I sat on my little stool across and drew. I decided to bring my stool out, I don’t usually take it with me these days, as I prefer to stand and sketch, but I knew I’d want to sit and I’m glad I did. There were a lot of details and the shades and colours were very inviting; I wanted to get a feel for what a sunny early-afternoon in Midtown in January felt like. I used to come to Midtown years ago for the occasional Saturday sketching day, my wife would drop me off (as she did on this day) and I’d get the bus back in the evening, or the train, to Davis. It got me out of the house on a Saturday. The first year here I worked in Saturdays at the Avid Reader, as well as a couple of evenings a week doing their book-keeping, on top of my full-time job. I had nothing else to do, so I worked and got to known the downtown. When I quit the Saturday shifts to get some free time back, I had a bit more time to sketch on the weekends. I didn’t know Midtown at all, but my wife had heard it was interesting and had a good record shop and an art shop, as well as a British themed pub called ‘the Streets of London’ (British isn’t a genre of pub I said), but they served London Pride and had football shirts and scarves up on the wall near the dartboard, so it was close enough. She was studying for a master’s at the time so getting me out gave her some study time, and this was around the time I started sketching way more than ever before, 2006-2007, mostly in WH Smith sketchbooks from the UK then (British isn’t a genre of sketchbook) but I got my first watercolour Moleskine in 2007 and still use them today. An exciting time of discovery in a new place, I guess. Long time ago now but my eyes are still wide open looking for things to draw.

I mooched around a bit more. Do they say ‘mooch’ over here? To mooch means to wander about casually, like we would go for a mooch around the shops. I think when they say it here it means something else (begging?). I like a bit of an old mooch. British vocabulary isn’t a genre. The area of Midtown centred on Capitol Avenue is called the ‘Capitol Mansions’ district and there are some amazing old houses down here, big ones too, on tree-lined streets. This building above is a law firm I think, but I was just impressed by its size as I walked down the street. It doesn’t look that big on my page but it felt grand, and that tree was thick and mighty. The city of trees, Sacramento is sometimes called. River City too, and Sac-o-Tomatoes. Big tomato farming industry in this area, you see the trucks on the freeway filled to the brim with tomatoes. I was starting to get hungry as I sketched now so I ended up adding the colour afterwards on this one.

This was another impressive house that is very typical of the type you get in Midtown, and it was colourful too but I did not paint it. In fact with this one I did only draw the outlines while there, and drew the rest in later, as I was pretty hungry. I ended up not really eating much, except for a big slice of cake at the Dessert Diner on J Street. That is a place to visit if you are ever in Midtown, they do delicious cakes.

This is Rocket Records on 24th Street, a nice little record shop I have been to once before. Not as big as The Beat was but they have a lot of good stuff; I picked up a copy of Paul McCartney’s Ram album, which I had never owned before. I was pleased to find it wasn’t in the ‘British Music’ section, which didn’t exist, because British isn’t a genre of music. I am really enjoying my record player, since I got the new one in September, and now visiting record shops is becoming a thing again both for me and my son who is also now getting into vinyl. I had to sketch the store of course. I had also just visited the camera store nearby, Mike’s Camera. I had also got my son a film camera for the birthday; vinyl records, film cameras, we are going proper retro on this timeline. Next thing you know we’ll be voting in people who, ok not going there, my headache this past two weeks is only getting worse. It was getting well into the afternoon now in Midtown, and after a mooch around the record shop I walked down J street, copy of Ram under my arm, and went to rest my legs at the pub formerly called ‘Streets of London’. Now called ‘Streets’, they ditched the British theme years ago, so no more London Pride on tap (they served it too cold anyway), and a huge screen showing a very loud Football game on the TV, well I say a Football game, it was mostly just adverts during the game, very loud. I don’t know about you but I often think, let’s go to the pub and sit listening to very loud adverts for car insurance. Anyway once the legs were rested it was time to walk all the way over to the Amtrak station and go home.

downtown all the days

February 3, 20252 Comments

Davis isn’t that big. I admit that I get bored sometimes, but I’d get bored in the biggest city in the world. Well maybe there would be a bit more to do in London or New York, but I feel restless wherever I am, always thinking about places far away that would be good to explore and sketch, wander about the streets like I’m a character in that book instead of this one. For the rest of the year though, here I am still drawing this town. ‘City’, it is a city, and the campus is technically not part of the city but its own thing. I go downtown because we at least have a downtown, with shops and things to look at. Imagine not having a downtown? Imagine not having Newsbeat, the Avid Reader, Soccer and Lifestyle, Avid and Co, Armadillo, Logos’, the Paint Chip, the Davis Beer Shoppe, the Artery, Bizarro World, Zia’s, Mishka’s, the Varsity, the Pence, all those bars, bike shops and barber shops? And other places I have not mentioned. I don’t even go into some of those that often. Sophia’s? I love that place, imagine my life without getting Sophia’s thai food to cheer me up. And don’t get me started on Baskin’ Robbins and their massive calorific milkshakes that I love. As for the Farmer’s Market. We have a downtown, it’s had its ups and downs, and I worry about it turning more and more into a food court, but we have one, even if I get a little bored it’s better than not having one at all. So, I still keep drawing it, drawing the changes, drawing the things that stay the same. I don’t think I ever drew Jack in the Box on G Street, did I? Well I have now. I stood outside the place that used to be Little Prague years ago but is now Parkside I think (I have not been in there for a very long time; not as interesting to sketch any more) and looked across. I don’t go there much, almost never. It was a good spot years ago, if I’d been to Little Prague, to grab a chicken sandwich after a couple of beers. I just didn’t like going through the door itself. As you enter, this loud air conditioning would blast you with cold air and noise just while you passed through the doorway, and it always set off something in my possibly neurodivergent brain (that’s what they say nowadays, and I’m realizing there are some things that add up) that made me very uncomfortable; I can’t use the hand dryers in a bathroom because of the noise, the echo, and the fact it draws massive attention to myself (also because I’m worried the sound would have a similar effect on other people in there), and going through the doorway of Jack in the Box gave me that same sensation. It’s just how the building is designed I suppose, but I wouldn’t get that going into the McDonald’s or indeed any other shop downtown, so I’d avoid going there. Shame though because they do really nice sandwiches.

I’m batching all the January drawings into just a few posts rather than loads of individual posts, so that each sketch doesn’t feel self-conscious being by itself. I do have a few more downtown drawings from the opening of the newly refurbished section of G Street, but I will show those separately because thematically they don’t fit in with these ones, mostly being in pencil and a lot looser, with more people. I found myself deliberately not drawing people through much of January. Usually because people were not always walking past, mostly because I just didn’t want to see people. After the election, maybe I was feeling like so many of us were, isolated, empty, but also like I just didn’t want to be around people that much. Except I kind of did; I don’t know. The mind is complicated, so I just dive into my sketchbook to deal with it. Now it’s the start of February and let’s face it, it’s not getting any better any time soon. We will need art, expression, togetherness, community. I’ve sketched the building above several times over the years, in various iterations, but now it is a place of art called the ‘Secret Spot’. I have not been inside yet, but people tell me it is fun, and I just started following them on (whichever social media is still ok this week). I’ve not organized a Let’s Draw Davis sketchcrawl since October. I had meant to kickstart my own involvement again and do one in January, but I have been feeling very shy lately, and not quite up for art with others or for getting people together to sketch like I always enjoyed. I am planning to go to Poland this summer for the Urban Sketching Symposium, but I’m also thinking that it’s been six years since my last one, and they are so overwhelming, and I am worried about that feeling of being a bit lost. If the people from the early days are there though, it might feel like going home, being among familiar faces. But when I feel shy, it’s hard sometimes to push myself out of it, and I end up just wandering off by myself and drawing a street corner.

Here’s a street corner, at 2nd and F. It’s a big Starbucks now, because why have a useful shop when you can have a corporate coffee chain. I’ve never liked Starbucks, because I don’t drink coffee. Nor do I like queues much. They don’t actually have anything else I like, sometimes the pastries are ok but I don’t like going in and lining up for ages for a crummy pastry that’s got no flavour, doing that thing where you pay and then have to wait for the pastry while other people get coffees and papa chinos or whatever that take a lot longer to make. I still have some credit on a couple of gift cards in my bag, I keep them in case I’m at an airport and really need an overpriced croissant in twenty minute’s time. This spot used to be a very cool store full of hiking gear and backpacks, I loved going in there. Alas business was not good and they closed, and eventually they let Starbucks move from across F street to this spot because it’s bigger, even taking over some space next door for a few extra seats and some toilets. I suppose it’s popular, people love Starbucks, you love it too don’t you, you love it for its familiarity, it feels like the other Starbucks everywhere and that is a comfort. I prefer Mishka’s over the road because they do nice smoothies and the snacks are better. No, I won’t have the tea at Starbucks, I drink my tea at home where I can make it properly. I’ve had a crap cup of tea at Starbucks once, and that’s once enough. I liked to draw this corner though, with the little view up F, and the sunlight, and oh look there are some people, how did they get into my drawing? Shoo, shoo! Well it was a nice day, they wanted to sit outside. And there’s a ‘Spin’ e-bike, actually parked in a proper space and not just blocking the whole sidewalk like they usually do. At least there is a fire hydrant, I like those.

As for things I have drawn before, this house on the corner of 3rd and D has popped up many times, with that same big red and white ‘RENTALS AVAILABLE’ sign tastefully plastered over it. Well it stands out. You should see the buildings on the other side of the crossing. It’s such an attractive little house to draw though, as you know I like shapes and trees, simple things really. There was a car parked for a while but it moved while I sketched, so I quickly drew the bit where the car was, and thankfully no other car parked there until I was pretty much done. I stood outside Cafe Bernardo’s, I have not eaten there in at least a decade, probably much longer. No reason why, it’s just that you blink and suddenly it’s 2025 and officially an oligarchy. I should eat there sometime, I remember the food was very good, but at lunchtime, Raisin’ Cane’s fried chicken calls to me from around the corner and tastes so good. Anyway not content with drawing just one face of this building, I came back after work one day, having finished early from a meeting, and drew the side of it from D Street. That funny bird man sculpture is just about visible in each. There were cars in front, and the reflection of the light on the blue one made me really wish I’d waited until that one had buggered off too, but it’s ok. I just liked the soft shadow of the lamp-post. I actually ended up coloring it in later because I was losing my light, and getting so tired of January already. The rain started a couple of days ago now, and so that long dry January is done with. Time to keep my head for the rest of the year. I have a few more January sketches to post though, some from campus, and then maybe I’ll draw something else in February.

the north in january

February 1, 2025February 1, 2025Leave a comment

Today is February 1st, and outside it is pouring with rain. After a long dry January, maybe the driest I remember in a while, it finally started raining yesterday with the first ‘atmospheric river’ of the year. I’m finding it difficult to handle the overwhelming barrage coming out of the new guy in charge over there, and to mitigate the levels of stress and mental despair I plunge into the sketchbook and keep drawing the world, keep documenting the place, it’s one little thing I can control. This month I have drawn almost every day (there were three days in which I didn’t draw, but I had usually drawn more the day before to make up for it, and I need a rest sometimes, plus I do have a busy full-time job, though as I’ve shown in the past, I tend to draw the most when I am busiest, usually in January, to offset the energy). To continue showing my sketches from around Davis in batches, all of these are from north Davis, not necessarily the Old North, but all above 5th Street. Above is a church I have drawn before numerous times, Newman Chapel, on the corner of 5th and C. I’ve not drawn it from this exact angle before. It was the end of the day and the sun was getting real low, but I drew furiously because what else am I going to do but draw furiously as the sun goes down. You’ll notice the date was January 20th, and I wasn’t going to sit in front of the TV. I did have to colour most of it in at home though, losing my light fast.

I’m not religious, but I like to draw a church. I don’t need to say “I’m not religious but…” in front of a sentence like that, because who cares, but end up doing so anyway. It’s like when football fans want to say something nice about another club, like “I’m not a Spurs fan, but that stadium is great,” or “I’m not an Arsenal fan, but I bloody love Ian Wright”, or “I’m not a PSG fan, but I will admit I really wish I had their kit from 1994, don’t tell my friends from Marseille”. It’s not the same thing as when people say “I’m not a racist, but…”, or “I’m not homophobic, but…” because that means they will usually turn out to be a racist or a homophobe. When I say, “I’m not religious, but…” it’s usually to say that I like drawing churches, and especially cathedrals. I’m not going to say, “I’m not religious, but…” and then follow it with a sentence that says the opposite, espousing scriptures and deities and son on. But I do really love a cathedral, the bigger and more stony the better. I was pleased to hear Notre Dame in Paris has reopened years after that dreadful fire. I have been considering getting myself the Notre Dame Lego set as a birthday present to myself, but looking at all the very tiny pieces, I suspect it might take me six years to build that too. It would look great on display though. I have this dream to visit all the major cathedrals of Europe in one long trip. Start in the north, end in the south, or maybe start in Rome, end in Scotland. Wait, Scotland doesn’t have cathedrals, I learned that on my trip to Edinburgh and Glasgow when I called Glasgow Cathedral a cathedral. Yes, it will say ‘cathedral’ but since the Church of Scotland is no longer governed by bishops, they technically don’t have cathedrals. Fine. It’s a bit like how Westminster Abbey is not actually an Abbey (it’s a ‘Royal Peculiar’), but it’s fine, Big Ben’s Big Ben, whatever. (And it’s the bloody Gulf of Mexico, shut up). I loved the architecture of the Scottish Cathedrals / High Kirks, and then down in Toledo, the massive beauty of their cathedral, one of the best I’ve ever seen, then all the big Gothic medieval masterpieces in France, the grandness of those in Rome, and of course the onion-domed cake of St. Basil’s in Moscow which let’s face it, I will probably never get to see. Until this trip, which will need to be funded by a massive arts grant or a lottery win, I will be content to just draw the churches in Davis, like this one on 8th Street, the Davis Lutheran church. I’ve sketched it before, and I pass by it many times on bike rides home. On this day it was very windy, and I stood opposite with my paints fixed to the seat of my bike with a rubber band, trying to stop the bike from being blown over. A few close calls. The wind was so strong I did wonder; I’m not religious but is someone up above trying to wind me up? I went for a beer downtown after this. There are still a few churches and religious buildings in Davis I’ve not yet drawn, I’ll get around to them all some day.

We have a lot of really nice houses in north Davis, not all of them in the Old North blocks with a history paragraph in John Lofland’s book, but I pass by and think, I’d love to sketch that some day. The one above is a big house on Oak that I ride past and admire, it’s the sort of house I think I always wanted to live in. These days I do worry about the trees around the houses in my neighbourhood, after those big storms dropped so many a couple of years ago (especially on our street) and along Oak there were quite a number of huge limbs that dropped as well. The houses are very individual, with lovely character and yards. Ours is much smaller, with no real yard. Never mind all the cathedrals of Europe, my task feels like just drawing all the houses of Davis, like a one-man Google Street-View with a sketchbook. I’m really just drawing my own world, the world I pass through every day, so that when I inevitably start to forget this will be a reminder. I have been thinking about this a lot, aging and the mind, and recently have been contacted by dementia care homes in the UK asking about drawings of the local area, because the images do inspire older people’s memories. I have my own memories for each of the sketches I do in Davis, but as I’ve said many times before, I only see the surface, others will see their own stories. The time when I had that show at the Pence and a lady was looking at my drawing of the Mustard Seed restaurant, and telling me that what she remembers was that in the 60s that was her friend’s house and they would stay up late playing cards. I loved that; I just liked the shape of the building and the red British phone box in front. I feel like I’m illustrating stories that already exist but might not have been told; it’s hard to explain.

The little house above was drawn on one weekend afternoon when I went out to explore the Old North with Lofland’s book, so that I could draw buildings about which I at least had the start of a story. Lofland’s book ‘Old North Davis’ is brilliant for that. However this house on F Street, again I’ve passed a million times, is not mentioned in there so I don’t know if it has a name, like the ‘Greeble’s Home’ or something. What a sketchable house it is though, those long triangles and the framing of those two trees (both leaning slightly away from it, which is good if there’s a storm). It was late afternoon, so that 4pm sunlight was doing its thing. However I didn’t draw there for too long, as my legs were starting to feel a bit tired, so I drew just the outlines and then went and added all the details and colours while sat more comfortably.

Finally, the last sketch of January drawn on the North Davis Greenbelt. I have walked/run past this a great many times, but never climbed the small rise in the grass for the slightly better view. I thought of drawing the paths and trees, but settled to just sketch the little colourful house over there. It was a day when I was working from home (while most of my coworkers have a hybrid schedule, typically I am in the office every day, but every couple of weeks I will take a work-from-home day especially if I have a lot of remote meetings or workshops). It was mid-afternoon and I had a bit of time before a campus-wide webinar about the future of graduate study, so went for a walk along the Greenbelt, thinking that I really need to kickstart my running schedule again (it has been 2.5 months since my 10k now, but the weight of the world needs counterbalancing with the weight of my, well, me, so I’ve been not exercising and eating lots of junk food, for the sake of the world). I’ll start next week, or maybe after my birthday. So I did a sketch stood up on the grass, and then walked back home in time for the webinar. It was interesting, but not one I needed to take notes for, so I just coloured this in while listening to the speakers. Multi-tasking. Anyway, as I write on this Saturday morning, the first of February, the rain is pouring down outside, and I haven’t looked at any news yet to see what other stupid thing has been said or done today. I think I will just listen to the rain, it has been a long time.