who washes the washmen

August 10, 20091 Comment

Number 19 of 30. This is the bathroom. I do only ever take showers, and showers are very nice. Especially when it is hot, there’s nothing like the energy of a shower. But I love baths. Or, rather, used to love them, when I could actually be bothered to take them. It’s probably because I grew up with a bath, and showers were something you only saw at swimming pools. Plus, when I was a kid, I hated washing my hair, because I hated water getting in my eyes. It was the absolute worst part of the day, for all involved. I could not bear it. They may as well have been pouring hydrochloric acid, rather than warm water and shampoo. And conditioner! Hah, I never understood why I needed conditioner, I kept my hair short. They did get me one of those things that go on your head to stop the water getting in your eyes, a foam circle that made me look like the planet Saturn. Hey, it worked. But even as I got older and washed my hair myself, I developed ways to avoid the shower head. I would fill the sink with water and dunk my head into it to wash my hair. Yes I’d bang my ears on the taps from time to time, and yes I’d have to refill the sink a couple of times, and yes I’d splash water onto the floor, but I got my hair clean, and on my terms. So it may be all of this that explains why, though I’m totally fine with the shower, I’ll always be a bath person. A bath person who only ever takes showers. So I’m a bit contrary, nothing new there.

czech out

August 7, 20091 Comment

I cycled downtown last night, while the air was cool, and looked for the latest World Soccer magazine (not to be found), looked through countless books written for year-and-a-half-year-olds (didn’t end up getting one; I’ll let the one-and-a-half-year-old choose for himself, he knows best), and stopped off for a beer in the Czech-style pub, Little Prague, always an excuse of course to do a drawing. Bar-sketching is tricky for me, as there are always a lot of bottles, plus the light is never that great, and my eyesight isn’t either (I think I need a new prescription on my glasses). But this pub has lots of interesting things to draw, at least. Up there, Fox 40 News, the mouthpiece of the dreaded Murdoch (but even so they were kind enough to show one of my drawings on TV a couple of months back). I noticed that they had the closed captioning on, and that it was lagging a little behind, so they would talk about one story, eg Steven Tyler falling off stage, while the pictures would show an elderly woman and a shop fire; I did wonder at first, Tyler has really let himself go. I focused on the details. The pub’s music wasn’t very good. A couple were dancing. There was a Russian wrestler sat to my left who complimented me on my drawing.

Ten years ago this month, my friend Tel and I took a trip to Prague, Big Prague, spending almost two weeks there. Oh, there are stories alright, memories, it was a fun trip but so long ago now. I’m less hectic now. I’d love to go back to Big Prague, but I imagine the beer is more expensive there now. In Little Prague, I drank Krusovice. It’s a nice beer. I’m pleased with how this turned out. It’s the height of summer, and it’s pretty cool.

have i got moos for you

August 7, 2009August 7, 20092 Comments

They call us Cowtown. I don’t know who ‘they’ are, and I’m only presuming they mean cows of the bovine nature, but it is apparently a nickname for Davis. Yet in all the time I’ve been drawing here, I have never once drawn a cow. Until now.

These cows live in a field not far from where I work. I suppose they are research cows. I am told that some cows here have special windows in their stomachs so you can see what is going on. Again, no jokes about the windows having beef curtains, please. Anyway, I didn’t see any belly-windows. I imagine it would be a pane anyhow. I have been meaning to draw the cows for quite some time, but have avoided it because there’s never anywhere to site (remedied by bringing a chair this time), and there’s no shade so it’s always too hot and sunny (so I wore a hat and put on sunscreen). I didn’t mind the smell, though I don’t eat red meat, but the additional insect activity annoyed me, predictably. So a half-hour sit-down later, and I had drawn the cows. they kept moving about. Some tried to get on top of other cows (not like acrobats, though that would be fun to draw), and there was a lot of mooing, though they were kind of rubbish moos, more like squeals. I like a good proper moo, myself. something like Bully the dart-playing bull used to do on Jim Bowen’s Bullseye. Let’s have a look at what you could have won. Moooo….

big-toe shoe

August 4, 20096 Comments

The navy blue Stride-Rite (why don’t these companies spell properly? Makes it sound like a magic incantation for silly walks), next of my son’s shoes, and the first with a hard sole.

And, as you can see, a very big toe. The sole is thick moulded rubber, useful for when baby takes long hikes on treacherous mountain trails, while the rest is squidgy and hard to draw. The toe is interesting because it’s so big. This shoe is the real deal, presented here in two views. I love the shape of the top drawing. You’d be forgiven for wondering what the drawing below actually is. It is the rear view; it is not Darth Vader’s ski-mask. They might be a giant spider’s fangs. When I started drawing it, I was in a well-lit room, but when I did the shading, the room was considerably darker. It’s useful sometimes to know when to stop.

Drawn in Micron Pigma 02 and 01, in a small Moleskine cahier.

soccer shoe

August 2, 2009August 3, 2009Leave a comment

Third in the Luke’s Shoes set. Another slip-on Robeez shoe, this time with a football (or ‘soccer-ball’) on it. I drew it a bit darker than intended, perhaps due to not knowing when to stop, but I’m still pleased with the overall effect. This was a very difficult thing to draw. It barely stayed in any sort of shape. In real life it is red and black, and would often get comments of ‘cute shoes’ from passers-by. But all baby shoes are cute, aren’t they?

Speaking of football, I was sad to hear about the passing of the great Bobby Robson, one of the real old gents of football, who perhaps may not have won the glittering silverware at home that some managers have, and unappreciated as England manager (aren’t they all?) until he was on his way out, but what he did at Ipswich and at clubs around Europe, and as the mentor of Mourinho, stood him in the highest respect. RIP Sir Bobby.

see you on the other side

July 31, 2009July 31, 2009Leave a comment

Having just drawn Mrak from the other side of Putah Creek, and noted over the past few years its vanishing appearance, I chose to draw from the front side (or it may be the back; like Buckingham Palace, the front is really the back and vice versa).

And naturally, I have drawn it before, and therefore you get to see how the view is slowly vanishing even on this side, as a forest grows at its very toes. Well, not exactly, more that the last time I drew it was late Fall or early Winter (whichever it is called here), and the trees did not have many leaves. But it illustrates the recurring theme. That drawing was way back at the start of Moleskine #2; I am now more than halfway through Moleskine #4.

sensible shoe

July 29, 2009July 29, 20097 Comments

Second in the series of Luke’s Shoes, these were in fact the first ones he ever wore, sensible little blue and brown shoes he often liked to take off and eat. Before babies can walk their feet are chubby with more rounded soles, and so the shoes are more flexible. Now he walks, his shoes have sturdier soles. I’ve learnt a lot about baby shoes. Well, not that much. He on the other hand is learning (or teaching himself) how to put shoes on, any shoe, big or small, and is frustrated that he can’t get these ones on his feet any more. Kids are funny. But then again, I’m the one drawing shoes. “My dad’s wierd, he draws shoes” will probably be what he tells people when he’s older, but that’s ok. I kind of made it one of my art goals to learn to draw shoes, which I don’t really draw often, so it’s a good place to start.

rocket shoe

July 28, 2009July 28, 20092 Comments

I’m starting a new series; this is #1. I am drawing my son’s shoes; as he gets bigger, so do they. The series will take a long time to finish. He doesn’t wear these ones any more, but he wore them before he was one, before he could walk. They are elasticated at the ankle so it’s hard for babies to take them off and throw them from the stroller. Plus they look really cool, with the little rockets on them. Everyone – well, women – always commented on his lovely shoes. He doesn’t wear them now, instead he runs all over the place with his rocket-powered feet.

Drawn in micron 02 in a moleskine cahier, if you’re interested. I’m going to fill the whole little book with Luke’s shoes.

the slowly vanishing mrak hall

July 27, 2009July 27, 2009Leave a comment

I’ve drawn this view three summers in a row now. Each year, the creek has been a green pea soup, the tree on the left has been an orangey brown, and the weather has been a hot hundred degrees. Well, near enough. It was certainly over a hundred today.

Mrak Hall, the university powerhouse, stays ever the same in the background. In 2007, however, there were two grassy hillocks, with two of Robert Arneson’s Eggheads on them. Probably the highest ground in Davis? They were razed to the ground, for the new law school extension. When I drew it again in 2008, the hillocks were gone, replaced with some wire-fencing, a load of mud and a construction truck. Now in 2009, the shell of the law school is now there, King Hall, blocking the view. I’m glad I drew it. I’ll draw it again next year, with the finished law school, if they finish it.

god only nose

July 27, 2009July 27, 20091 Comment

Number 18 of 30. What was I thinking? Well, can you remember how rational your thoughts were at age six? It was pretty silly, even for me. I don’t recall exactly but I think I told me friend Hartman, or it might have been Mark, that I could put the crayon in my nose, but then it got stuck. The crayon was fairly small, and yes it was green. I remember that I tried to get it out, but ended up pushing it further in. I didn’t want to tell the teacher at first, Miss Welsh I think it was. When I did, they took me to the little medical room, which consisted of a hammock type bed and a strong smell of Dettol, where Mrs Lyons I think it was said I’d need to go to the hospital, so the headmaster himself, Mr Grist, drove me there. The doctors got it out with tweezers; I think about this incident every time I see a pair of tweezers now. Mr Grist drove me back to school in time for hometime, and my worried looking older brother was there to collect me from the main office. Silly boy. But I never did it again.