reporting the sketchcrawl

February 4, 20112 Comments

I told you that the local UC Davis student media production studio, Aggie TV, were at our last Let’s Draw Davis / Worldwide Sketchcrawl in January, reporting on our day of sketching… well here it is! The report is by Kate Calderazzo, filmed and edited by Todd Kaiser. It’s a really nice piece, two and a half minutes long, that really captured the relaxing feel of the event. Click on the image below to see it (this links to the report on Aggie TV’s facebook page)!

I did my best not to appear like Father Dougal

we all drew davis!

January 26, 2011Leave a comment

Here are the sketchers who made it to the end of the sketchcrawl in Davis on Saturday. We had over twenty-five sketchers on the ‘crawl, which is a great turn out – it was wonderful to see so many sketchers out on the streets of Davis! The weather helped, I’m sure. Spot the sketchers dotted around the E Street Plaza below…

Here I am being interviewed by Aggie TV, the local campus TV station, about the sketchcrawl. That was a surprise! I’m glad I brushed my hair.

You can see more photos from the sketchcrawl (and previous crawls) on the Flickr group “Let’s Draw Davis!”. This third ‘Let’s Draw Davis’ meet-up went really well; I hope to organize them monthly, so look out for news about the next one very soon. Sketching on location is so much fun, and it’s great to meet so many other people who like drawing stuff. The new catchphrase, “it’s ok to spend all day sketching”…

And check out the rest of the world’s sketches from Worldwide Sketchcrawl #30 on sketchcrawl.com!

Ok…back to scanning my London sketches…

it was a sunny january day…

January 23, 2011January 23, 20116 Comments

Yesterday’s “Let’s Draw Davis” Sketchcrawl in Davis was quite an event! We had glorious weather, warm and sunny, and an amazing turnout – I met lots of new sketchers, plus some familiar faces, it was a great sketchcrawl. There were at least twenty-five of us, maybe more. We were even joined by Aggie TV, who filmed us sketching and interviewed me about our sketchcrawls, and that this was part of the 30th worldwide sketchcrawl happening in cities across the planet. We were also joined by ‘Walking Bob’ Schultz, who wrote a piece about us in Davis Life magazine on Friday. You can see that article on DavisLifeMagazine.com. Pretty cool!

We all met at the E Street Plaza at 11, and sketched about the square in clusters, sketching in different styles and sketchbooks. Above are actually three separate sketches which I drew attached to each other. In the middle, the sketcher with the orange hat is Cynthia Sterling, who drove over from Napa. After a while, some of us stopped and went for lunch at a Thai restaurant in Mansion Square, just off E St. I sketched a few fellow sketchers below…

More to come!

let’s draw davis again

November 6, 2010November 5, 2010Leave a comment

Time for another sketchcrawl, I think. If you’re local and fancy coming out for a day of sketching downtown Davis, meet us at 11:00am outside the Davis Amtrak Station (2nd and H Streets). We’ll sketch from there down 2nd Street, with its historic buildings and interesting shops, then turn down E Street, before crossing 1st Street and finishing at Davis Commons, outside Borders (or inside their cafe area if you’re cold). All are welcome! Just bring something to draw with and something to draw on!

If you need any more information, please comment below or send me a message. And if you’re on Flcikr, please join the Flickr group “Let’s Draw Davis!”. And if you’re on Facebook (as so many are), I’ve even set up an event page you can RSVP to.

So come and sketch with us on the 21st! We’ll even sketch if it rains…

sketchcrawling central park, davis

October 17, 20107 Comments

And so (after many fliers and several emails and the odd tweet) the 29th Worldwide Sketchcrawl came to Davis. I met up with several sketchers, some of whom were brand new to Davis (just as I was on my first ‘crawl here at the end of 05), while some were long time locals. We started at the Carousel, davis-mom-central, and when people started arriving I tried my hand at standing and sketching and talking – I’m trying to get the hang of multi-tasking! And sketching people – I figured I’d focus more on that today, hence meeting by the Farmer’s Market.

It was a nice warm day – not like the mid-90s weather we’ve had all week, but still not feeling autumnal in the slightest. I sketched the Kettle Korn stall while people ambled past – I even met and spoke briefly with Michael Corbett, who I had sketched the week before at his book talk.

This is Rahman Azari, a colleague of mine and great artist (I went to see his work exhibited a few weeks ago at the Stonegate ArtFest), trying out the Koi waterbrush and paint set that I had recommended. I also tried a portrait of another sketcher, Mary Hook, who told me about the Davis Civic Arts Foundation (I think they are called) – something for me to check out.

And here are some Mormons, who (with quite a few others) were playing music in the park. They were very pleased to see the quick sketch I’d done of them, so I gave them a sketchcrawl leaflet and told them to check us out. Actually I quite liked the blue guitar, and I am specifically trying to sketch musicians these days.

More to come!!!

See more from around the world: 29th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Forum

sketchcrawl in the morning…

October 15, 2010Leave a comment

Just a reminder… sketchcrawl #29 tomorrow, all over the world (but especially in Davis). We’ll be meeting at 10:30am by the Carousel in Central Park, sketching all day (together or off on your own), maybe stopping for lunch, and then reconvening at 4:00pm back at the Carousel. If you’re in or around Davis and fancy doing some sketching, come by! Juts bring something to draw on and something to draw with, everybody is welcome, and it’s happening all over the world… http://www.sketchcrawl.com

on october 16, let’s all draw davis!

September 17, 2010September 17, 20104 Comments

Here’s an announcement: next month, on October 16th, I am planning a Sketchcrawl in Davis as part of the 29th Worldwide sketchcrawl. We will begin at 10:30am at Central Park (by the Carousel, near the Farmer’s Market), go around Davis sketching things all day, and then reconvene at 4:30pm at the starting point in Central Park to share each other’s sketches. For those who have never sketchcrawled, it’s a fun event which is open to all regardless of age or ability, where you can explore and draw our town in your own personal way, and meet others who also love to draw. All this in the knowledge that hundreds perhaps thousands of people all over the world are doing exactly the same.

Even if you don’t draw, but fancy giving it a go, please come along! Everybody is welcome.

If you are in or near Davis and would like to come sketching with me and others, please join us on October 16. You can contact me for more information, leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you. I’d really like to encourage location sketching around Davis, not just because it’s great fun, but also because a city or town or village is richer for having more artists. So let’s all draw Davis!

sc27: epilogue

May 19, 20101 Comment

After the Sketchcrawl, I popped down to 2nd and Minna to a place I like to visit each time I go to the city: Eddie Rickenbacker’s, a cool pub which has many antique motorbikes hanging from the wall. They also have an enormous cat called Mr. Higgins. Last time I was there, I played several games of chess against my friend Simon,while he discovered that shots of whiskey in California are much bigger than in England! Coming in to warm up and relax, I just had to get one more sketch in, and drew one of the bikes on the ceiling above the bar. It was a 1919 Triumph.

I like the Sketchcrawls. The next one will be at the end of July, when I will be at the Urban Sketching Symposium in Portland. Anyway, here is a map of where I drew last Saturday.

And to see everyone else’s results from San Francisco, visit the Sketchcrawl Forum! There are some really cool sketches there. It was a great creative mixer.

sc27: joined in the race to the rainbow’s end

May 19, 20104 Comments

Keep on ‘crawling.the meeting end-point was at Union Square, but that was many blocks away from the Financial District where I was. I really had to draw some newspaper boxes. Being from the UK these boxes seem so ‘America’ to me. I don’t mean the ones where you get the free paper, like the ones in London that stock all those Aussie magazines like TNT (do they even still have them?), but the ones where you put in your money and take a single newspaper (even though any thief could just nick the lot). I think of Superman, with Clark Kent getting his tie caught. But with newspapers closing nationwide, these things could very well be a historical relic (like the phonebox…)

Something else you don’t see much in American cities these days are streetcar cables, hanging over the traffic. San Francisco still has lots of them; I drew some on the corner of Post and Kearny. These cables remind me of Europe, but not London, where we haven’t had them for donkey’s years (incidentally, if you ever buy a donkey calendar they are incredibly good value because donkey’s years are very long. Never, ever buy a dog calendar though.)

Fire hydrants however will never go out of fashion (at least I don’t think so). I love them, another reminder of ‘America’ (and possibly a Superman film again). We don’t have them like this in the UK. Did you know it’s illegal (or at the very least a bad idea) to park in front of one? If you do, fireman can smash your windows to run the hose through it, I am told. Seems like a bit of an effort, while rushing to put out a fire, threading the hose through the car, squeezing over the seat, meanwhile buildings are burning down. Think about that before parking there next time.

And so the final meet-up in Union Square. I ambled in, saw the sketchers plotted about in clusters, didn’t see anyone I recognized, so sat and drew Union Square’s palm trees. Eventually sketchbooks were passed around and I spoke to some other sketchers, including Enrico Casarosa (Sketchcrawl’s founder), and met fellow Urban Sketchers correspondents Gary Amaro and Marc Taro Holmes, among other very interesting artists. It’s always a big learning experience to meet other sketchers all with very individual styles.

It got cold, as the fog was rolling in, and so after a little while I called it a day. Well nearly a day, still had just a little more sketching to do before going home. More to come…

sc 27: a dime or a dollar in this old town

May 17, 2010May 17, 20105 Comments

The 27th Worldwide Sketchcrawl continued. Naturally I drew California from Davis (that is, Davis Street). You don’t get hills like that in Davis. You don’t get hills at all in Davis. It does remind me though of the hills I used to slog up in Highgate, though the ones in San Francisco are slightly steeper and a tad more dramatic (but completely lacking in Dick Whittington tales). After quickly sketching the bike first, its owner was kind enough to move it out of the way. You gotta be quick.

From there it was time to explore within the Financial District, around all those lovely big corporate banks and their big tall shiny buildings. It’s not a good time in history to be a big corporate bank. Well, that is, if you value public opinion more than making millions of dollars, which let’s face it, they don’t. So I’ll rephrase that. No, actually I can’t be bothered. As back home in London, many shops and things tend to be closed in the financial areas at weekends; funny that. One German hofbrau that I’ve been to before (and on weekends, I add, though it was closed on this day) is Schroeders, on Front St, an interesting old gaff that has been there forever and just begs to be sketched. I finally did so. The street was smelly though, and stank of wee and beggars and booze and spit, not of dimes or dollars or hedge funds.

More sketchcrawl to come…