once upon a time…

September 8, 2011September 8, 20113 Comments

It looks a bit like something you’d come across in a fairy-tale forest. This funny looking building is on G St in Davis, and it’s hard to believe I’ve never drawn it before, not from the front anyway. It could be straight out of Hansel and Gretel or something. I drew it one lunchtime last week, finishing off the colour at home. On the way home I left breadcrumbs so that I might find my way back. Always thought that was a bit silly, leaving a breadcrumb trail in a forest where 1) there are birds and mice and other animals who will eat the bread, 2) there are big bad wolves who colud follow the trail to find you, and 3) you’re in a forest with no food except bread, which you’re throwing all over the floor. Sure, there may be a cottage nearby made out of cadbury’s chocolate fingers or a family of bears who cook their porridge at three different temparatures and then decide to go for a walk (Goldilocks, it’s a sting, don’t fall for it girl!). Fairy tales are funny things. When I tell them to my son at bedtime, we always end with “and they all lived happily ever after,” followed by “except for the big bad wolf who had no head,” or “except for the poor giant who was fell from the falling beanstalk and couldn’t get back to his castle, and was left with nowhere to live.”

I think these are offices of some sort. There aren’t any wolves-in-granny’s-clothing here, nor amateur-architect-swine. Safely in the realm of the real world.

she may not look like much but she’s got it where it counts, kid

September 7, 2011September 7, 20113 Comments

I had wanted to draw this train engine, moored on the railroads near the Co-Op, during the last Davis sketchcrawl but it was not there. I went back a week later and there she was. I drew an engine like this (in brown pen on cream paper) as part of my Davis Moleskine (it may have been the same engine, I’m no trainspotter) but really wanted to show its bright, patriotic colours. I sat in the shade and sketched with my uniball signo un-151 pen, which actually does take a wash pretty well, but more importantly it draws like a dream.

Drawn on Strathmore hot press paper. Including colour (added later) it took about two hours, mostly in the on-site drawing. There is the penwork below.

cannery row in monterey in california

September 6, 20111 Comment

Cannery Row in Monterey is an interesting place to sketch, and I’ve had my eye on this building above for a few years now. This ramshackle former gallery sits right on the waterfront, grizzling in the Ocean fog, timbers presumably shivering. I got out one afternoon while other family members tried to take an afternoon nap (not an easy task given the noise of seagulls and traffic), and sketched down Cannery Row.

This end is closer to the Aquarium, and is a tourist-trap mecca. Signs everywhere offer quotes from Steinbeck to people who go, ah yeah, must read that book some day, get an idea of what it was like, and then never read it, because they don’t really need to know what it was like beyond what the signs in the street tell them (that would be me, then). I can imagine the smell and the noise and the seagulls following trawlers because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea, and I can say it probably isn’t too different from today, except the smell is more likely to be chipotle grilled popcorn or something. Still it’s fun, and not quite as trashy as Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf pier (popular with pelicans and parolees on the day I went there). I’ll keep going back.

Finally, of course, a fire hydrant. While sketching this, a group of young men stopped to look at my sketchbook, and one of them, a black lad decked out in hip-hop gear, was so impressed he said, “Man, you got a motherf*#*#r’s details, man!” I cracked up; that was hands down the best compliment I’ve ever received. Especially for drawing a fire hydrant! And so, I went and met the family for a cold ice cream and a hot brownie. I do love Monterey. We go there every year.

and i swear it is a new day

September 3, 20113 Comments

Old City Hall, yet again. Hot weather is still the name of the game in Davis, though summer is cresting. This was drawn on the last day of August. That’s always a strange time. As a kid it meant summer would soon come to an abrupt end, and school would begin. Now I work for a university in a university town, and though I work all summer it still feels like the days are counting down to when the great hordes will arrive. There are a lot of students here in the summer, with summer classes being so popular nowadays, but in a few weeks it will be Fall and the craziness begins. New students, returning students, returning faculty, bikes and new cyclists everywhere…

Drawn on Strathmore 8 x 10 inch hot press watercolour paper, with the uni-ball signo um-151 which, I am pleased to report, did pretty bloody well with the watercolour wash!

varsity blues

September 2, 20111 Comment

The Varsity Theatre in Davis, drawn last Friday evening after work. I had considered finishing this at home with some additional colour, but I got back and realised I quite like it like this. This place shows a lot of art-house and independent movies, though I’ve only been to see a film there the once (An Inconvenient Truth back in 2006). In fact it only reopened back in 2006 (I was working at the bookstore acros the street the day it opened), but the building dates back to 1950. It makes this place feel very ‘Hill Valley’; I fully expect that it will be showing Jaws 19 with a holographic shark some time in the next four years (but only if Jaws 19 is considered art-house, which is unlikely. More likely we’ll see a Jaws reboot before then – you heard it here first!). People always have great memories of cinemas. For me they are like Tardises, you step inside and suddenly space and time mean nothing, I can never fathom how so many big screens fit into what look like fairly smallish buildings. They are full of memories too; sweeping movie moments, first (or last) dates, that smell of popcorn. This place is no different, is a beloved Davis part of the Davis community. I should know, I’ve drawn it enough times.

under the sea

September 2, 2011Leave a comment

A few weeks ago we spent the weekend in Monterey, staying near Cannery Row. We like it down there – it’s a nice cool place to escape frm the central valley heat. The place we stayed at was a little noisy though, not just from traffic, but from seagulls, bloody seagulls all hours of the day and night. I love the sea, really really love it, I feel at home beside the big blue, but for the seagulls. Always folloiwng the trawler, thinking that sardines will be thrown into the sea, zut alors. Give me the things that swim below the waves. To see them, we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium.

This was the third time we’ve been. The first time was nice and relaxing, while the second time was less so (it was the addition of a constantly-running one-year-old, you see). This time was nicer; the one-year-old is now three, and a little more interested (but not as interested as he was in the trolley buses outside). I did what sketching I could (fish move pretty fast), and it was not easy in those large rooms with the deep sea tanks, it was dark and like drawing blind (and my green and blue microns were near invisible). That Ocean Sun Fish was an odd fish – absolutely huge, it was shaped more like an enormous chicken nugget than a fish.

The remnants of the old sardine canning industry can be seen here still, and there were lots of cool pipes and industrial features to draw. I love these sorts of things, they remind me of the game Mouse Trap. Thankfully, no little cage rattling down a pole, just a lot of people crowding in the gift shop.

toad you so

August 31, 2011August 31, 2011Leave a comment

This is my son’s Froggy lunchbag. He got it from his Nanny in London, and he really likes it. Me too – fun to draw! He doesn’t drink Croaka-Cola though, or Diet Croak, or 7-Hop or any other frog-related-joke-drink. I presume it’s a Frog, it may be a Toad. Here’s on, what happens if a Frog breaks down? He gets Toad. Hey, it aint easy being green.

not the nine o’clock brews

August 30, 2011August 30, 2011Leave a comment

I hadn’t been to Sudwerk in a long time, so last Friday night, after spending the very warm evening sketching downtown and eating a curry, I popped by for some beer, baseball and more sketching. The Giants actually won; they’ve been doing rather less than stellar lately. Sudwerk is a local brewery-restaurant, with really nice German style beers (I particularly like the Marzen), and these great big boiler things behind the bar. One day I’ll draw in colour, but I liked the black and white pen drawing effect, so kept the watercolours in my bag. It’s funny, Sudwerk was the place we came to for dinner the first time we ever visited Davis, when we drove over once back in 2005. I liked their beer then too, and we decided to stay. I don’t think I expected to be still here in Davis in 2011, but here we are!

After this, I wandered home and watched Porco Rosso (Miyazaki, never seen it, it was ok).

of the people, by the people, for the people

August 30, 2011August 30, 2011Leave a comment

Saturday was another hot day, but another day of sketching in Davis. We held the latest “Let’s Draw Davis” skecthcrawl, this time in old North Davis, outside the Co-Op on G Street. I don’t go to the Co-Op very often (I just don’t get over there, though I used to be a member) but I really like the place, and they have great seating outside for a group of sketchers to converge and start drawing Davis. I took as always the opportunity to draw some of the sketchers before moving on to the more architectural items. There were about twelve of us total, a pretty good showing for what was going to be a hot day (about half braved it all the way to the end, where we met for a cold drink and ice cream outside Dairy Queen, a block away). It was fun chatting to other sketchers about sketching, materials, techniques, and I was excited to report all about Lisbon.

The Davis Food Co-Op is one of those beloved local institutions, fully owned by its shoppers, having grown out of a living room in 1972. Being completely owned by its members, it is another example of the way the Davis community works together, promoting sustainability, healthy living and education. It started out of a living room in the early 1970s, and is now a full-service grocery store. To find out more about the Davis Food co-Op, check out the FAQs on their website.

On the right is the clock that sits outside. There’s fellow Davis sketcher Allan (Numenius) sitting in front, I caught him in the above sketch as well.

Below, the Davis Food Co-op Teaching Kitchen. They offer classes in cooking here to people of all ages (including young kids). It’s right across from the Co-Op on G Street. This in fact is the last page of my eighth watercolour moleskine (though I still have several sketches from that book yet to post). This moley took only two months to complete!! Sketching old north Davis is nice as the leaves start to change colour. It’s still the height of summer, but as we get into autumn it becomes gorgeous around here. Fall is the best season in Davis, with clear sunny days and crisper mornings, but on Saturday it was getting into the big nineties so after spending about an hour sketching below, we went to the Dairy Queen to cool off and check out each other’s sketchbooks. Another great sketching day!

The next Let’s Draw Davis day will be Saturday September 17, on the UC Davis campus. The next after that will be on October 15; I am starting to plan ahead, and I have started a new website for information about the sketchcrawls (it’s still pretty bare, and will be an information site, rather than overloaded with blog posts): http://letsdrawdavis.wordpress.com. Check it out, and I’ll see you at the next one!

Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/letsdrawdavis/

back over old ground

August 26, 2011August 27, 20111 Comment

This is a building I’ve drawn before (that’s a sentence I’ve said before), Davis Lock and Safe on 4th Street. I just had to draw it again. from a slightly different angle. I like this building. It’s small and simple, but has so much character.