And so we move on towards the end of 2025 in Davis California. That was a long year wasn’t it. Don’t go back and tell them, 2026 is not any better. All you can do is what you can. I do my job, spend time with my family, and draw lots and lots of things. Sometimes I run. Last November I ran my second 10k and nailed it, getting my personal best time, ten minutes faster than the year before (my watch broke 17 seconds into the run so I had no idea of my pace, so I just ran faster and it worked). Then I went to work, and made a big teaching budget presentation to our faculty. In my post-run confidence I decided that day to run a half marathon by the next November. That would be this coming November, 2026. I have done a 10k since, and a 7k, and a 5k, and lots of running and then not running. And right now, three months away from the half marathon I told myself I would do when I’m 50, it’s more of a ‘having-a-laugh’ marathon. No way do I feel ready yet. Sure I can work at it still, and it’s a great goal. But mentally, I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m more on the ‘having-a-laugh’ side right now than in the ‘do it!’ camp. I will decide in a month. Still if there are any marathons for sketching, well I’m right there, because that I can do. The sketch above was on the first day of November, a bright day where I stood next to the Dresbach-Hunt-Boyer Mansion (I can never remember the order of the names) and drew the side of Mishka’s and the Varsity. I liked this sketch a lot, though I only coloured in a little bit, including that shadow, which I was very pleased about because I used a little burnt sienna in the mix with ultramarine, which I had seen someone do at the symposium and I’d never done, and it created quite a warm feeling to the shade. Look at me, mixing paints to find nice tones. While carry lots of paints around I have never been one of those people who gets super into paints and mixes, I am all about doing the drawing and colouring it in. After coming back from Toulouse now I am thinking about doing more paint stuff, maybe even getting better brushes, but that would mean looking after them, not putting them in my pencil case where the bristles get caught in the zip, that sort of thing. I always think, I’m not a good enough painter to deserve a good brush. Story of my life.
This one was drawn in the Arboretum, and that is a turkey in the foreground, that was just passing by with its turkey friends. We have so many in Davis, they just wander about. “Don’t people eat them? They would eat them here!” say people back in London, to which I say “No they don’t, obviously” and “No they wouldn’t, obviously”. This one was just minding its own business, digging up worms or whatever, and I drew the tress and Lake Spafford behind. I like the Arboretum, sometimes I get bored of sketching all the trees and then I remember, no I love sketching trees. Not so much all the foliage, but that’s like saying you like sketching people, just not the faces, or the feet or hands or clothes. Wait, I do say all that. I like drawing hair, and beards, and glasses are a big help so I don’t have to worry about messing up the eyes.
This is Bizarro World on E street, which I have drawn a few times before, because it is right there and I come down this way a lot. It’s a good comic store. They rent movies too but I have not done that. They have games too, and action figures, and cards, all that fun stuff. Second hand sci-fi and fantasy books too. When I was reading comics a lot I would go in there more, I’ve not been reading many comics for a while now though. I like drawing sketches like this, not always completing the colour, but really focusing on the perspective, especially as it goes down the alleyway.
Speaking of shops in Davis, here is one of my favourites, Soccer and Lifestyle. To my massive surprise, I was passing down 2nd Street one day and it was GONE. Now this was one of the first shops I ever went into in Davis, on that day in Fall 2005 when my wife was interviewing at UC Davis and I was walking about the downtown, seeing if this was somewhere I’d want to live or not. A lot hinged on that, if I had said “nah, Davis is too far away, too flat, and the downtown shops are rubbish” we would probably not have come here, well maybe. As it was, I went to the Avid Reader bookshop, Bogey’s Books (which is where Bizarro World now is), and Soccer and Lifestyle, which clinched the deal for me. The fact Davis had a shop dedicated to selling football shorts, my obsession? I chatted with the owner, who complained about Kappa not supplying in the US (Spurs were Kappa at the time, before Puma, Under Armour and now Nike), and I decided I really liked this shop and Davis was alright, as it goes. Well we ended up moving here and the rest is biography. So when I saw the shop was empty I panicked. (Would we have to move to a city closer to where football shirts were sold?) But I read the sign that said they had moved to 3rd Street, just a block away, phew. I do really like their new location. In fact I sketched it inside during the World Cup in June. The last kit I got there was the 2026 Japan away kit, that one is lovely. Anyway I drew this one shortly after the new location opened, it’s right next to Dunloe Brewing, which is where the old bike shop used to be, B&L? I forget the name now. I probably drew that. Just past that is Zia’s I have drawn that place a couple of times. I have this idea of making a book of all the shops in downtown Davis, mixed in with sketches of the people that run them or at least work there, that would be a really fun project and way to connect downtown. Everything changes.
And finally this is another panorama, down on the corner of 2nd and G Streets. I have drawn panoramas here before, but this one was done during one of our Let’s Draw Davis sketchcrawls, we had a good crowd with us that day. I used that tree with its reddish bark as the anchor in the middle for this sketch, and let the world unfold around it. You can see some sketchers there on the left. The trees were already quite autumnal, it happens a little later here than in some other places. On the left corner is Froggy’s / Tommy J’s, I have not been in there for ages but I remember they have delicious chicken burgers in there, I mean really nice. There is a sign to the right of the centre there that tells a little bit of history. This part of Davis is the oldest part of town, and used to have a kind of gateway arch here many decades ago.
November 2025 was actually 20 years since I moved to Davis (November 5th actually). I already commemorated that at the time with the following two posts:
Check back soon for December…
petescully 