Every October, we head out to the north-western edge of Davis to a farm called Impossible Acres. There we try to take a photo of our son as he easily navigates the hay maze, spend a couple of minutes holding a baby duck and stroking a kitten before leaving the animal petting zone to rush back to the corn maze (cost me seven bucks, but holding the baby duckling was worth it), ride around in a circle on the back of a tractor to see, well, fields, and then pick some pumpkins and get home before the young one has a meltdown. Yup, that pretty much sums it up. It’s great out there though, and I always try to grab a very quick sketch if humanly possible. While my son and my wife were lost in the corn maze, I sketched the big barn. You can make out one of the heavily pregnant goats in the picture; there were tiny baby goats, kids rather, wandering about in the enclosure, one was only a day old. Before very long my son came back from the maze and wanted to do some sketching himself. I forget this, now he’s at the age where he needs to draw if I’m drawing, and I always forget to pack his sketching stuff as well. This whole thing took me less than fifteen minutes so I’m happy with the result. We picked our pumpkins (I got a white one, I am thinking ‘stormtrooper’ this year) and went home. Our annual tradition in Davis.
the 42nd president of the united states of america…
The 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, was at the UC Davis campus yesterday for a rally organized by Davis Campus Democrats. I love Bill Clinton, so I wasn’t going to miss this. I took an early lunch, and sketched the crowd waiting around before the main man arrived. Pres. Clinton was giving support to local Democrats running for Congress, as well as to President Obama (apparently there is an election next month? I wouldn’t know as I have avoided all contact with TV ads, every time the TV goes to commercial I go for a walk). I can’t vote, of course. It was a large crowd, and an excited one. It was also very sunny, and facing the sun was getting a bit hot after a while, so I went to the shade and sketched one of the news vans (KCRA3, which I’ve sketched before, I like them better than News10). When Bill came up to his podium the atmosphere was electric, ie everyone raised their smartphones and cameraphones into the air to capture some footage. The funniest was seeing people simultaneously want to clap and take photos at the same time, so lots of one handed slapping of own thighs. I returned to my main sketch, adding in Bill and writing down some snippets of his speech (he loves UC Davis, he said, every time he comes to the campus). It was pretty special to see and listen to him in person. It’s one of my ambitions to have a beer with Bill Clinton.
like a tower shining bright
Yesterday afternoon I took the bus over to Sacramento. I’ve not been there in a good long while, and I wanted to sketch stuff we don’t have in Davis, in this case a big tall cathedral. The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, just off K St, was completed in 1889 and sits about a block or so from the State Capitol. It’s a Roman Catholic church, and on this day there was a big wedding while I sketched. The horse and carriage that wait at the bottom of the steps in this drawing were soon joined by the large wedding party and what sounded like a mariachi band playing Mexican music. I think there were other weddings that day because there seemed to be a decent contingent of brides and bridesmaids dotted about Sacramento; good weekend to get married I suppose. The weather, which was hitting the century last week, was in the mid seventies, much more reasonable for October. It’s always interesting to sketch on K Street, Sacramento. Interesting if you like people shuffling up and asking for a dollar, or like people cycling up and down the sidewalk on those scruffy little bikes people seem to have (not that I judge the scruffiness of a bike, my own being pretty scrufftastic, but at least it’s the right size for an adult). Yesterday was a little less so, as there was also quite a lot of police, many on horseback, likely keeping an eye out for the demonstration that was gathered before the Capitol (no idea what it was about, but it’s all politics these days). I sketched this for about an hour and a half and then had to say enough was enough. I was using an Itoya finepoint, only its second outing, but already the nib was wasting away before me. Those Itoyas have nice enough ink but buckle at the first sight of paper, especially watercolour Moleskine paper. It was only a buck.
After strolling down K and through the rather sad downtown mall (no longer a Westfield), I passed into Old Sacramento, where many people were gathering for some music festival by the river that evening. I was peckish however and popped into the River City Saloon for some garlic fries (and one of those nice shark beers). I did a quick brown pen sketch of part of the bar area, but I really must plan to go back and do a proper drawing of the whole thing, it really does merit a 180 degree curvilinear bar sketch, more than any other.
jumping the shark
Here is a beer for the hot weather (and, while today has finally cooled off a little, we here in Davis have had a very long hot summer). Great White is brewed by Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka (I always read that as ‘Lost Coats’, with images of standing around by those coat places in nightclubs), and is very refreshing and tasty on a hot evening. In the pub, the beer pump is shaped like a shark. This is sketched in my ‘beer’ book, a brown paper sketchbook I’ve had for a while.
…and his spirit truck
Campus is extremely an busy place these days. At lunchtime today I cycled over to the Memorial Union, where all the fraternities, activity groups, leaflet hander-outers, placard-holders (like the bloke holding up a sign saying ‘stop the left lean of campus’; I was going to suggest he gets one shoe slightly bigger than the other, that should fix it for him). There was music, of course, and there was the blue Aggie Pack Firetruck. Oh, all this Charing-Cross of life, what to draw? Silly question!
I’ve wanted to sketch this for ages. It’s a 1973 Crown Pumper Truck which was serving in the UC Davis fire service for three decades before it was retired, and bought by the UCD Athletics Dept, painted blue and reborn as the Aggie Pack Spirit Engine. You can read more about it on the Aggie Pack website. I sat on the ground with my sketchbook. The DJs playing the music were nearby and quite loud so I put my headphones on and listened to my iPod.
a hundred degrees on october the first?
What’s that I always say about being always busy but always finding time to sketch? I have been so busy this past week I have had zero time to sketch. Ironically my sketches were all over the local paper (and I’ll find time to post about that some time soon too), but what with work, the sketchbook has been getting a little antsy. It’s a new academic year, loads of new students, high piles of work, . Davis is a maelstrom of bikes coming from all angles and all cycling-proficiency-levels. So on Monday I made a point of sketching, even though it was just a quick 25 minutes. I was downtown and popped into the little courtyard on E St known as Orange Court, a place which really merits a much bigger, more detailed and full colour drawing. I’ve drawn it from outside in colour, and from inside in sepia, but it’s an interesting place to sketch (right by Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, my favourite place to eat in Davis) (after one full on no-lunch-and several hours-overtime daylast week the only thing I could think of was to eat their Boss’s Curry, perfect antidote to a busy week).
Don’t be fooled by the almost wintery look of this sketch. It might have been October 1st but it was a hundred degrees (maybe more), and today was no better. Come on Davis, it’s October for heaven’s sake! When can I wear a jumper and a scarf? I need a couple of days somewhere slightly cooler. Portland maybe?
Sketched in the watercolour Moleskine in brown uni-ball signo um-151, with watercolour wash. More regular sketching to come I promise you. I need it!
little and large
On Saturday night after the Pence Auction, I popped by Little Prague for a couple of beers and the essential detailed bar sketch. Little Prague is probably my favourite Davis pub. It’s the one I’ve known the longest, and they do nice beer (though the Krusovice I used to enjoy is now no longer available). It’s also the pub I have sketched the most. I don’t go very often, and when I do it’s usually on one of those nights where the music is quite dancey and loud. There is however a lot to draw, especially behind the bar, and the lighting is good bar-light. On this night not only did I sell two pieces at the Pence (hooray!) but the San Francisco Giants won the NL West (as mentioned on the TV screen; the Giants tend to be on the TV in my bar sketches). This is great news in our house. This means the Giants will be in the post-season play-offs. Who knows, maybe even with a shot at the World Series? Baseball is a long season with about seventeen thousand million games, so it surprised me that the NL West division only has six teams in it. Even the Scottish Premier League has more teams than that (well, two really, Celtic and Rang- ah, er…). It doesn’t make it any easier though. They play every single day for hours on end, against teams from all over the country and just have to finish with more wins than their divisional rivals (imagine Celtic and Ra-, er, Aberdeen playing against, say, Ajax, in order to get points to win the Scottish title). You see, it all makes sense, especially after a Czech beer.
Hey if you’re interested in seeing some of my previous Little Prague sketches here are a few… spot the difference!
seven years in california
“There’s not much glamour ’bout the English weather…”
Today is seven years since we moved to California! Seven years ago I handed in my MA dissertation, had some pretty massive parties with friends and family and stepped into the unknown. We moved to Davis a month or so later, and have lived here ever since (and while I still can’t speak American, hardly anyone asks if I’m British any more). So to honour that I am posting seven random Davis drawings from each of those years. Actually no, I’ll post eight, to include the first sketch made here in 2005 (year zero). And also a big thank you to everyone who has followed me on this sketchblog, I appreciate all of your visits and kind comments. Cheers!
YEAR ZERO: Borders, Davis. December 2005
YEAR ONE: D Street, Aug 2006
YEAR TWO: 5th St, March 2007
YEAR THREE: A St, March 2008
YEAR FOUR: 2nd St, Sept 2009
YEAR FIVE: Shields Library, April 2010
YEAR SIX: Dairy Queen 5th St, Sept 2011
YEAR SEVEN: Old City Hall, F St, January 2012
sketches from the auction
Saturday night I had the pleasure to attend the Pence Gallery’s 2012 Art Auction. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had two drawings in the auction (and I’m pleased to announce they both sold!) and so I spent the evening looking at some amazing art work by local artists. I am always particularly impressed with the incredible ceramic work on show, Davis is known as a ceramicist’s town and several luminary ceramic sculptors were there. The food was nice too! So for the live auction itself I sketched on the program. The auctioneer was entertaining, the bidding exciting (from where I was standing), and I sketched away. Local artist Marie-Therese Brown, who has an amazing show at the Artery right now, was there and sketched me sketching, so I sketched her sketchbook (see bottom left of the drawing above) when she sat down. Art just carries on!
I also sketched outside on the back patio area, where a really nice new sculpture of a woman now stands. A band was playing, people were chattering and eating and drinking, it was a warm late Summer night. The Pence is a great local resource, a true local art hub.
have i got newspapers for you
If you’re in Davis – and many of us are – you might have picked up today’s Davis Enterprise. If you did, you might have seen the first of the annual ‘Welcome to Davis‘ editions. I have always enjoyed these, and in the past would usually leave them in our lounge for new students to read and learn fun stuff about our city. This year, these special editions (of which there will be four) feature my sketches of Davis. Today’s paper, the ‘Only in Davis’ edition, has a close-up of one of my Toad Hollow sketches blown up large, and also has a write-up about me on page two. How exciting is that!! I am pretty massively honoured.
Many thanks to Tanya Perez, editor of these excellent editions. Tanya also wrote a lovely article on Thursday (“What’s the greatest talent? The one you don’t have” – see the article here) which made nice mention of me and my sketching, and showed off my phonebox drawing.
These are posted courtesy of the Davis Enterprise. It’s not the first time I’ve been in the paper, there was an article about me back in 2009 (here’s the blog post; I must dig out the article) and a short piece about my show last December, but it’s certainly the most prominent. See also: http://www.davisenterprise.com, and the Davis Enterprise Facebook page, and don’t forget to pick up the other editions this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
petescully 