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.

the first street (or the last street, depending on your direction)

January 29, 2025January 29, 20252 Comments

Well this past week has been a big pile of pants, but we press on. Here are some more drawings of Davis from this long and wounding January; I am trying to post them all in themed batches where I can, the last one were all along one block of E Street in Old North Davis, and these ones are all along First Street (also known as 1st Street) in the downtown-to-campus corridor. First Street was named after William Randolph Hearst, a rich oligarch who had so much money he could do whatever he wanted, glad we don’t have those any more. I’m joking it wasn’t, and we definitely do. No, it was named after England’s World Cup Winning Hat-Trick Hero, and only surviving member of that famous team from ’66, Geoff Hurst. We don’t have those any more, English World Cup winners. I’m joking, it wasn’t, and we definitely don’t. I actually call this street ‘Last Street’, because I live in North Davis and coming from that direction, this is the last street in downtown. However we are so coming-off-the-freeway-centric aren’t we. What’s in a name? Don’t let’s get started on that. Ok, the sketch above, I was very pleased with how this turned out. I think this building is part of UC Davis called the Center for Child and Family Studies, they have a pre-school I think, my son went to another one in town. That was a long time ago now. I liked the light on the side of the building and the view down First Street, that is a very busy road. I used a bit of Buff Titanium for the side of the building; this is a new colour I got recently, Daniel Smith, I have seen it in other people’s palettes and wanted to give it a go. It’s a fantastic colour, very versatile and subtle, and handy for those warm washes on off-white buildings, mixed with a little orange or ochre. The sky was being very helpfully interesting to paint. It was cold, and I drew mostly at lunchtime (plus a little bit post-work) colouring in later for the most part.

This next one is a block or so up First Street towards downtown, a building I have not only sketched before (twice) but also held an exhibition at, one of those 2nd Friday Art About ones I used to do years ago, they were very nice in here. It’s a very sketchable shape, and I stood across the road in the shade, listening to an audiobook while I drew. It was ‘Guards! Guards!’ by Terry Pratchett, one of my favourite books when I was a teenager, and still a fantastic story. This month I have so far listened to four Terry Pratchett audiobooks, all recent productions excellently narrated (by Jon Culshaw, who does amazing character voices, with Peter Serafinowicz as Death and Bill Nighy as the Footnotes) in the ‘City Watch’ series. So far I’ve listened to ‘Guards! Guards!’, ‘Men At Arms’ (another which I fell in love with in the early 90s), ‘Feet Of Clay’ and ‘Jingo’. Next in that sequence is ‘The Fifth Elephant’ (which I remember being so-so about when I read it), then ‘Nights Watch’ (which I remember absolutely loving), then there’s ‘Thud!’ (which I was indifferent to, so we’ll see if a re-listen changes my mind) and ‘Snuff’ (which I never read; I’m still saving some Pratchett books for later in life). This year, 2025 (in case you need reminding), marks ten years since Terry Pratchett died. He was the author whose work I felt most closely connected with while growing up, and I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. I think about his illness, and about age, and how he handled it all and how he stood for people. He has missed a lot of how badly the world has gone. I will listen to those new audiobooks, which have many other narrators, in the run up to the anniversary, and read the old books too, although my own collection was left in England in my sister’s garage, and that garage was subsequently demolished when the neighbourhood was rebuilt, probably with my whole collection of Pratchett books inside it. Now is a good time to start rediscovering them all, but I will probably always leave one or two unread, because if I do that then he’s not really gone, is he.

And here are two buildings on First Street that I have not only drawn before, but in fact drew on the same day of the year eleven years previously. I drew both of these after work, finishing a little early to catch the fading light and the soft muted shadows. I coloured a lot of them in afterwards but I was keen to grab those shadows. The building above at 221 First Street was the ‘A.J. Plant Home’, according to the City of Davis historic pedestrian and bike tour which I have discussed in previous posts. Built in 1911 in the Dutch Colonial Style, it used to be a frat house but is now home of AGR Partners, some agricultural firm. Not ‘Alpha Gamma Rho’ which is a real fraternity somewhere else in Davis. I have drawn this building a number of times, the first was back in February 2010 though. What a time of my life that was. I didn’t expect that I would still be drawing that building in 2025. Below is the Delta Delta Delta (or ‘Tri-Delta’) sorority next door to the one above. Tri-Delta was the first sorority at UC Davis, with this chapter being founded in 1974. We didn’t have these types of things at university in London, so I never experienced that part of student life, but let’s be honest, I would never have been in a fraternity anyway. I’m just not that sort of personality, am I. There are people that are, and there are people that aren’t. It’s a nice looking little building this though, some of these places are big and a bit grotty looking (think beer-pong and robes for curtains), some of them a big and seem to be quite moneyed, and some look like this, quite nice and well-kept. It’s a different world to mine. I do occasionally get asked by people for prints when I’ve sketched these buildings, since they contain a lot of memories for people, though whenever I posted them on the old Society6 they would invariably be taken down at some point as some sort of violation of their terms, I assume because it has the frat house logo on it, and they don’t like that on a print you’re selling, even if the same frat house has asked me for it (and my own cut of the sale is very small compared to Society6). That particular print site ended up being useless anyway, screwing over its artists and taking more and more of a cut, so I took all my stuff off it. I did start a Redbubble site, though so far that’s proved worthless to me, so I’m not currently doing prints to order, certainly not of frat houses. But I’m still drawing them all, still documenting the whole of this city and this university in my sketchbook, and sharing them to look at here. More to come.

old north, E street

January 28, 2025February 1, 2025Leave a comment

January is flying by. That is, if that flight is a plane going to the other side of the world which is delayed and redirected to the wrong airport and you lose all your luggage and there’s no legroom and people in front of you keep reclining their seats the whole way even during dinner and you have to sit next to someone who watches movies on their iPad without headphones and there’s non-stop turbulence. Januarys are gonna January, but do they have to January like this January? It goes on and on and on, and then when you think it might be done, it goes on even more. This particular January feels like it will go on for about four years (if we are lucky), but I keep telling myself, these times too will pass. They will get worse, and we will look back on them like some sort of golden age. This January has been horrible for California, with the absolutely devastating wildfires in and around Los Angeles, I’m in shock thinking about it. We have had no big fires up this way thankfully, but this has been the driest January I remember. It’s been cold but not too cold, and we have also had a lot of wind but nothing like what was down there. The rain may finally come next weekend, but after the fires it brings threats of landslides. All these thoughts do make me appreciate places as they are, and I have spent a lot of this month burying my head in the sketchbook to make sense of the world, and going around Davis to catch up on drawing it all. The older houses around the Old North Davis neighbourhood in particular. As mentioned in previous posts, I have long been a fan of John Lofland’s book about the area and sometimes carry it with me as a guide to the historic buildings, especially if I need context for drawing them. The house above, which is on the corner of 5th and E Streets, is one I have drawn a number of times over the years. I like triangle shapes, and sometimes there are nice shadows from the very tall white-barked trees. According to Lofland the house itself is known as the Tingus Home and was built in 1936, for George and Constance Tingus. It’s across from the Fire Station, and traffic from the busy 5th Street rushes by. I remember many years ago I sold a print of a sketch I did of this building to a local company who had done some work not on this house but on the red-bricked one next door, which was visible in the drawing. It’s in this one too, but it definitely deserves it’s own drawing; see below. It’s known as the Granucci home and was also built in 1936 (for J.F. and Annie Granucci), but in a more distinctive brick which is not very common for houses here.

It’s lovely, but the sketch is a little inaccurate; I drew it over a couple of days, doing outlines on site across the street and adding in details and colour after (it was cold, I was losing light; I spent more time outside on the one above) but I failed to spot that the roof is not actually that big. The tall part is from another building at the back of the original small house, which you can see if you look at the picture above. My poor eyesight didn’t catch it, and I didn’t notice when adding colour from the photo I took. I had already scanned and posted it to Flickr before I saw the mistake. So in my sketchbook, I tried to correct it by adding a more distinctive line between the roof roofs, though it didn’t exactly line up. I never re-scanned it so that version stays in the book for now.

This is the third one along this block of E Street, and while I drew from across the road because I liked the shape of the big tree and the shadows it cast, the house itself is an artistic wonderland. I would love to draw that all some day (I am not inclined to be sketching over people’s fences), but it’s a really nice yard to walk past. It does appear in Lofland’s book, not named, and the old photo looks a little different to this. I love the red paint of the building now.

Finally, the same block but the other side of the street, this old house was known as the ‘Arnold Home’, as according to Lofland’s book, it was the house of a Math professor Hubert Arnold for half a century, and he collected over many decades an incredible collection of artistic ceramics which were then donated to the Crocker Museum in Sacramento.

I’ve a load of drawings from this January to post. Constantly drawing in my spare time, continuing my quest to document the landscape of this city where I have ended up spending the last nearly twenty years of my life, is my attempt at keeping myself away from the despair of January and all its news. At least it’s sunny.