get your rocks on

May 27, 2016May 27, 20161 Comment

When I first started working at UC Davis, my building was on “California Avenue”. There were a few buildings opposite, one of which was a wooden building in the same style as many others on campus (such as The Barn). I’d only just started obsessing about sketching buildings in Davis and said, yeah, I will sketch that some day. I never did, and then it was knocked down, and they started construction on a new building, one that the Geology Department would move into from their previous home in the Physics building. California Avenue is now “Crocker Lane”. Geology is now “Earth and Planetary Sciences”. Pete is now “40”. So, this week I finally got around to doing a sketch of the Earth and Planetary Sciences, aka “EPS”, building. It’s a nice modern building, and has an interesting collection of rocks planted around the outside. My son (who loves geology) enjoys going out and looking at them when he comes to visit my office. This is literally the School of Rock.

elsie’s

May 26, 20163 Comments

On the last night in Santa Barbara I went to look for a bar that I had heard about called Elsie’s. It looked like the sort of place I could sketch, and I wasn’t wrong – license plates all over the walls, a bike covered in lights above a pool table (alright I couldn’t sketch that, too difficult), good music, chilled out atmosphere, my sort of place. They even serve breakfast cereal, and Pop Tarts. Pop Tarts! And beer! It’s like I made this place up. All they need now is Ramen Noodles. I’m classy I know. Hey, earlier in the evening I ate pan-seared duck breast over a hibiscus flower reduction so don’t tell me I’m no foodie. I tried some interesting beer here too, something by Rincon Brewery, and “Beerito” by Oskar Blues (yes “Beerito”, as I say, I’m totally classy). This place was so much fun to sketch.

state street, that great street

May 25, 20162 Comments

More from Santa Barbara, earlier this month. May is going by fast, isn’t it. April did too, and March, and don’t even talk about February. These are my 40s now and time waits for no man. January by comparison was slow and languid, as I was in my leisurely carefree 30s. I’m only joking. So, that Day Of Sketching Stuff (“DOSS”? Hmmm) yielded more results, the sketch above, drawn from the window seat of the Santa Barbara Brewing Co, where I finished the day with a cold beer I can’t really remember much about, it was that unmemorable. These are my 40s etc. I just wanted a seat to look out at State Street and sketch that Santa Barbara daylight once more. My legs were so tired, and for some reason I quite inexplicably took an even longer way back to the hotel than usual. I discovered the short cut on the next day, it was called a “cab”.

The next day, after a day of Conferencing, I went back up State Street to sketch some more before dinner. And a lovely dinner it was too; the previous night I had eaten with fellow adviser types at a seafood place on the pier, and while the company was great, I couldn’t finish the food, it was a bit much. Some sort of seafood medley. I decided I would eat something fancier the next night, and I found a little place called Le Petit Valentien, where (dining alone; I was the only other person in the restaurant, on a slow Tuesday evening) which made the most delicious food, and I had roast duck, followed by creme brulee. There was a mirror opposite so I didn’t feel too lonely. The staff were very friendly as well. That was my rest after sketching these two scenes, above and below. This is El Paseo, a historic passage just off of State Street. I stood on State sketching the entrance above while people wandered by. I walked through, past a couple of restaurants a little bit fancier than what I was really after, and as the light started fading I sketched this courtyard. That round building is funny isn’t it, it has a goatee. You don’t often see buildings with facial hair but this one thinks it’s the 90s and might be wearing a t-shirt with a serious sounding band on it. And that’s all for now folks, but more Santa Barbara sketches to come. I’d post them all in one go but I just can’t find the narrative that strings them all together. Besides where better to leave this post than on a house that has a massive goatee?

miles and miles of red roof tiles

May 22, 20164 Comments

I was in Santa Barbara for a conference, but arriving the night before meant I had most of the day before check-in to do a bit of urban sketching around town. The tourist office pointed me in the right direction, up State Street towards the Courthouse. Off I went. There were interesting shops up there too though, and I spent a good deal of time mooching around Paper Source before finally hitting the Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook. Yes, I’m rotating books; I just finished Moleskine 14 the day before, so now I’m o a Seawhite (#4) and after that I will crack open the Stillman and Birn Alpha. Gone are the days of consistency but they all still line up on a shelf (I keep them in shoeboxes actually). Hey, want to know what my sketchbooks look like? I’m exhibiting them at the UC Davis Design Museum this Fall! Anyway back to Santa Barbara. Above is Anapamu Street, looking towards the mountains that give this city its backdrop. There are a lot of red tiled rooftops in Santa Barbara.

The Santa Barbara courthouse (above) is lovely. The current building was completed way back in 1929 just before the stock market crash and has an amazing interior, particularly the Mural Room. The website of the Courthouse is here. It surrounds a pretty garden square, where I sat and sketched the above. One passing couple joked that I can leave out the scaffolding in my sketch, but they can’t in their photos; trues, but I didn’t, I just hid it behind a tree. No leaving out important details in my urban sketchbook! I finished up my juice smoothie (still had the smallest hangover from the previous night at the James Joyce) and explored the building, climbing the tower (taking the elevator, that is) and getting the most amazing views across Santa Barbara. It was windy, and there were a fair few tourists crowding the platform, but I did manage one sketch, below.

I had lunch at a Belgian/Bavarian sausage/beer restaurant called Brat Haus (I do recommend) and watched Spurs implode to a 2-2 draw with Chelsea handing Leicester their deserved title before heading out to sketch more. This below is at the historic Presidio area, a block or so off of State Street. There were lots of wineries around. I considered doing some wine tasting, but then I considered not, and did some sketching instead. Wine tasting is really something to do with others, I feel. You can’t nod appreciatively and make discerning faces at yourself when tasting wine alone. You can’t pretend you have a palette for wine when there’s nobody to show off to. You can just say, “I like this label, where is the bathroom, no I might come back later”, and then go and sketch. I’m sure the wine tastes great. I sketched this as the day got later (that clock was totally wrong by the way, it was only like 3pm), and went and sketched one more which I will save for next time (it’s not anything special, I’m just pacing them out).

the james joyce in santa barbara

May 22, 2016May 22, 20166 Comments

This is the James Joyce pub in Santa Barbara. After my 11 hour train journey, I had dinner at an Indian restaurant (unfortunately it was a little bit bland) and went to a pub on State Street called the James Joyce. As you may or may not know, I like pub sketching – you can practice both perspective and low-light sketching, while having a beer and chatting with locals. This seemed to be a popular pub, and on this night it was karaoke night. There were several regulars belting out their usual numbers, some with more agreeable voices than others, and so I added my own not-exactly-agreeable voice to the mix and sang a few songs. I won’t tell you which songs, but I assure you I did not replace the lyrics of any with Yellow Submarine. Well maybe one. I did convince one older fellow to sing the actual Yellow Submarine though. Nobody left the room while I was singing which was a bonus (that has happened before) (in Antwerp) (those Antwerpers didn’t feel bad about telling me they didn’t like my singing either) (but they did give me sandwiches afterwards) (this is a long tangent so perhaps I had better get back to the Santa Barbara story). I did sketch some of the singers, of course, and here they are. I have no idea what the song about the rooster was (something about a rooster who isn’t going to die, obviously an immortal rooster), it was very serious.

Once this fun evening was over I walked back to the hotel. It was a long walk, and on the way back I couldn’t help but sketch a fire hydrant. This one, for some reason, had a small shoe rested on top of it. I had noticed this earlier in the day and thought it odd. I was surprised to find it still there. A couple of days later the shoe was sitting a few feet away from the hydrant. I assume it was waiting for its twin to come back, waiting for years like Rey on Jakku.

Well, here is my latest hydrant sketch. More Santa Barbara sketches to follow. There are some pretty places there.

draw your swords!

May 20, 2016May 20, 20166 Comments

Before I plunge into posting Santa Barbara sketches, I thought I might show you some swords. They’re not real swords I hasten to add, that isn’t real metal, that isn’t real gold with blue Chi energy running though it. These were bought in Legoland, which actually isn’t a real land, it’s more like a theme park I suppose. My son has quite an armoury of Lego swords, which are made form a kind of hardened foam and really do take a beating – I should know, I’m usually the one getting beaten. I always need the shield to protect me from the rapid sword blows being rained upon me. I sometimes wear an Iron Man mask to give me some more protection, but unfortunately it doesn’t record, predict and counteract all of my opponent’s moves like the real thing. These are great fun, I must admit. I drew them in the Book of My Son’s Things. We will go back to Legoland, California, this summer, to spend more money, as you do. I love it.

Haha, “draw your swords”, haha, I just got that.

rails, whales and tales

May 19, 2016May 19, 20163 Comments

Recently I went to Santa Barbara for the UCAAC (University of California Academic Advising Conference). I took the train down from Davis, an 11 hour journey on an Amtrak which didn’t have wifi, but did have amazing views. For an eleven hour trip it went by quite quickly. Zipping past the ocean, I even saw some whales, poking their heads and their tails out, an exciting sight. I spent at least half of the trip in the observation train, which was bright and roomy, and so I sat at a table and sketched. What else would I do? Sketching on trains is a good way for you to practice perspective. Also to practice steadying your hand while everything is bumpy. I caught the train at 7am, the first time I had taken one of these Coastal Starlight trains in California. They go right down from Seattle to San Diego, passing by many cities on the way. There were people who were making the long trip, a few interesting characters, and the announcers on the train liked to give the occasional piece of commentary. We crossed the Delta, went down the East Bay, through the Salad Bowl, horseshoed around a massive prison outside San Luis Obispo, paraded down the rocky coast before finally reaching the palm trees and beaches of Santa Barbara. It was a big ol’ train, a goliath on the move. I’d take the trip again. I did another on the less-lengthy train journey between Santa Barbara and Burbank Airport a few days later, sat in a regular seat. I’ll post my Santa Barbara sketches next, as I’ve finally started scanning them. Santa Barbara has a lot of red tiled roofs.

sketching in a garden

May 18, 2016May 18, 20162 Comments

Last Sunday I once again took part in the Pence Gallery’s annual Garden Tour. I didn’t get to tour the gardens myself, but was a resident artist in one of the gardens, down on 4th street in Davis. The weather has turned hot, and so I stood in what shade I could shelter beneath and drew in a large Stillman and Birn ‘Alpha’ sketchbook. There were quite a lot of garden visitors that day, and I spoke to many about sketching, pens, and so on. Not being a big oil painter with a big easel I stood out a lot less than some other artists but I like to think I bring something different. It was an interesting garden, much less floral than others I have done, and more modern, a very interesting place to entertain; the owners have transformed it into a really pleasant and welcoming space. I sketched the views showing the house front and back, early and late afternoon, totally remodeled and repainted from what it looked like just a few years ago.

After that, I was very thirsty (the one bottle of water provided for me was very, very warm), so I went to the pub to cool off. It’s nice to spend an afternoon drawing though. Just don’t mention the football. Glossed right past that.

This was the third time I’ve done the Garden Tour; see my previous results from 2014 and 2012. Images will be on display at the Pence Gallery at some point soon.

what’s it all a boot

May 12, 20163 Comments

My son’s football boots. Or soccer shoes, if you will; “cleats”, they like to call them here. He has been wearing these since the Fall 2015 season. Prior to this he wore lime green Diadoras. The trend these days as you of course know all too well is for highly colourful football boots, often with crazy psychedelic patterns on them, and sometimes with a different colour shoe on each foot. It was nice therefore that he decided to go for a fairly straightforward black pair, with blue laces. These get a good run out too. Also, he has scored in every single game he has worn them, so far (that’s twelve games in a row now). I am coaching AYSO again, for the fourth time; this season we are the Green Dragons.

Speaking of football, what about Leicester City eh! Yes, I was in the minority hoping they wouldn’t do it, only because my team, Spurs, were the only challengers towards the end, but even then we will end up pretty far behind them, probably in 2nd, but hopefully not in 3rd. I am well happy for them, and despite Spurs having an absolutely vintage season in many ways, we could never catch Leicester, and they won it in style. 5000-1 odds! In April last year they were still bottom, but managed to stay up. Of course, I predicted they’d win it this year ages ago. Actually, no I didn’t, I said, in my blog post about the new kits last August, “How will Leicester do this year? Well, they’ll either stay up (happy Lineker face) or they will go down (sad Lineker face).” Which is close. Villa as predicted were awful, and I got it right that Sunderland would stay up, but I also said Newcastle would as well, and they didn’t.

Coming up are the “Euros”, and if I get my act together I will produce another guide to all the kits, along with predictions. If you don’t really like hearing about football kits, by the way, and follow me on Twitter, especially if you aren’t too into someone getting really passionately annoyed about a group of men wearing red socks with white shorts and white tops (England I am looking at you) I might suggest unfollowing for the whole month of June, and then following again in mid July when I start talking about sketching again. I have some things to say about football kits. And don’t get me started on the fancy fluorescent footwear…

Florian Afflerbach

May 11, 20163 Comments

Last week the urban sketching community was stunned by the news that one of our own, Florian Afflerbach, aka ‘Flaf’, had passed away in a traffic accident. He was just 35. I am still in shock about the news. Urban Sketchers has posted a tribute to Florian at http://www.urbansketchers.org/2016/05/flaf-in-memoriam.html. As one of the original contributors to the Urban Sketchers website he was a popular and inspiring artist, an architect by training, perhaps most famous for his incredible perspective drawings, and of course his love of classic cars – he was often called the ‘Car Guy’. He taught all over Europe – only days before he had been giving a workshop in Malaga alongside Luis Ruiz, another of my sketching heroes – and he made a lot of friends along the way.

florian afflerbach sm.jpg florian and rolf at kaffeehaus.jpg

I remember Florian from just before Urban Sketchers, back in the early days on Flickr, he always gave me encouraging comments and I was so inspired by his grasp of drawing perspective. We finally got to meet in Lisbon in 2008, and had some nice conversations about sketching and football. I took a perspective workshop led by Florian and Gerard Michel, and saw that he was such a patient teacher. The next time we met was in Barcelona, and we laughed because we were both wearing white shirt, black hat, glasses, red hair; I’m copying you again, I said. I had started to get into sketching old cars too, and I was looking forward to taking the workshop offered by Florian and Lapin this summer at the Urban Sketching Symposium in Manchester. It was ages since I last spoke to him, and now the chance will not come again. So I’ll say it here: thank you for everything Florian, I learned a lot from you my friend. You will be greatly missed by urban sketchers across the world, and by me.

At the 2nd Urban Sketching Symposium in Lisbon, 2011: Liz Steel, Florian and Pete (photo by Matthew Brehm)

My deep condolences are with his family and friends at this time.

You can see Florian’s work on his Flickr site, and on Urban Sketchers, and at his website, Flaf.de. I hope he inspires you as much as he has inspired me.