goodness gracious

July 25, 2012July 25, 20121 Comment

San Francisco: after climbing the excruciatingly steep Nob Hill, leaving the shuffling Tenderloiners behind, I sketched Grace Cathedral. Regular listeners will recall that I drew the cover for their Christmas brochure last year, and was fortunate enough to go and sketch at their Christmas show itself. It is an amazing cathedral, and with my current desire to draw cathedrals (I have been trying to practice by drawing from books) I was eager to return. It was windy up on that hill. I stood behind a newspaper stand and drew the choir end. I drew in my Moleskine and coloured with watercolour, except for the sky which was done in a new blue Pitt marker I just bought – I was trying it out for colour. Darker than expected! It’s a magnificent building from the outside, but epic inside. I don’t get many opportunities to sketch cathedral interiors from life, and believe me it is a completely different animal from drawing from a photo. It’s all about trying to show the magnificence which is all around you. I drew on larger paper than usual, my Canson Urban Sketchers 7″x10″ sketchbook. After the craziness of Market Street, it was so peaceful sketching inside Grace Cathedral. There was a piano playing, and after a while a powerful baritone tested his tonsils, while to my right silent folk strolled around in circles following the lines of Grace’s famous labyrinth, as I stood sketching by a large stone pillar. I’m not a spiritual or religious person, but I’ve always loved cathedrals, the immense old stone and bright stained glass and beautiful acoustics.

i’ve got nowhere to go and so i follow my feet

July 24, 2012July 24, 20125 Comments

On Saturday, I took the early train down to San Francisco for a day of sketching and walking. I like to do that from time to time, just head down to the city and explore, before heading back. On this occasion I took the Amrtrak to Richmond and then the BART to Powell, intent on visiting the big Blick art store on Market, and then sketching this building – the old Hibernia Bank building, on the corner of Jones. I have never drawn it, put off by, well, the local Tenderloin personality shall we say. This building always reminds me of Marc Taro Holmes though, who has painted it so expertly on a number of occasions (such as HERE and HERE). The building has been due for redevelopment for some time now, and is still boarded up, but as one passer-by mentioned to me, it survived the earthquake in 1906, and do I have a dollar? Several people stopped asking for change (I presume they meant change of the monetary kind, rather than like change as in widespread reform or revolution, though they may have taken that too). As always in this part of the city there were lots of ‘shufflers’, people ambling about hither and thither with no particular place to go. There are a lot of panhandlers around here, and a fair few drug users, and one or two frequent drinkers; this area has long been an unfortunate byword for social problems. But the number of people who stand about on street corners just yelling at people or growling does make you feel a little uncomfortable. I drew for almost an hour before I’d had my fill, and then decided, for some reason, to walk through some of the blocks which were probably the shadiest and most dodgy-character-filled, especially on this Saturday lunchtime. I found myself trying not to stand out too much, by pulling crazed faces and growling at my feet, as if I was in that scene in Shawn of the Dead trying to fit in with the zombies. It must have worked, because I passed a rudimentary soup kitchen and the kind lady serving offered me free soup and fresh water. Eventually, I started to leave the shuffling, yelling Tenderloiners behind as the hill I was climbing went sharply upwards: Nob Hill. I stopped and drew a fire hydrant which had been comically wrapped in police tape. Someone had also stuck German football stickers to the top, but they can’t be seen. This city is an experience.

hop to it!

July 20, 2012Leave a comment

“Hop To It” is the name of the Bug Show currently on display at the Pence Gallery in Davis (details of the show are here: Hop To It). I popped down there last Friday and did a little sketching. Some of the pieces there are incredible! One of my favourites was the mechanical contraption above, “Mosquito Lamp” by Scott Rhoades, made of found objects such as an old drill. It’s remarkable! So I had to do a sketch of it. I also did a couple of sketches of some of the ceramic and stoneware bug objects – below is one of local art all-star Heidi Bekebrede’s ‘Cuteware’ bees, with the trademark cuteware smile, her work is always a pleasure. I also liked the ‘Grub Phone’ by Wesley Wright, he had a couple of pieces there that really stood out and got a lot of admirers.

My piece at the show, a drawing of a yellow VW Beetle, sold! Here it is below, with the little red dot. So you know, I wasn’t the only one who submitted VW Beetle for the bug show, there were a few in fact..! Anyway if you’re in Davis, pop by the Pence and see the bugs, the show runs until July 29.

all-star

July 18, 2012Leave a comment

My young son recently finished playing his first t-ball season, closing off by being picked on the all-star team to play on the proper little league field on July 4th. Proud parents ahoy! I quickly sketched the field during the game, in my Miquelrius notebook below, and also drew his red all-star game baseball cap, above, in the Stillman and Birn alpha book. That is a good drawing book. After the game, when my son had finally stopped running the bases, we went to the little league pancake breakfast with all the other little leaguers, before going to the movies to see Brave. Well done little dude!

scheduled for demolition

July 17, 2012July 18, 20124 Comments

I have drawn this building before, but never knew what to call it. It seemed rude to ask its name by that point. The boiler building, by the music building, has long been a favourite of mine for the rusting boilers and pipes that dot its edges, and its general old but warm feel. A slice of the old campus, a cousn of Hart Hall. Here is my previous drawing (which hung on the walls of the Pence in my show last December; it’s now available in my Etsy store). The one above was done a week or so ago, when I was invited to come and sketch it with Catherine Buscaglia, from UC Davis Design and Construction Management, who had emailed me to let me know that finally this old building will sadly be demolished later this month. I have come back a couple of times to draw it again, and may come back to witness its demise.

Here are some of the rusty boilers I was talking about. I have drawn them before, as part of my ‘pipes and hydrants’ series, and you can see them here. I have looked through the broken window, and inside it looks even more interesting for sketchers of metal pipes, though I may be a little too scared of spiders crawling all over me to sketch inside. Below, one more, done from the front side of the building. The ever changing landscape; I wonder how it will look by the time the new academic year begins?

city hall tavern

July 16, 20122 Comments

After a very busy week, I went out on Friday evening to the Art About and did some sketching at the Pence Gallery (haven’t scanned them yet), chatted to some very nice folk, and then strolled around downtown before parking at the City Hall Tavern (in the old City Hall building I tend to draw a lot). I wanted to do a bar sketch so I looked at the massive scene of bottledom and said, yeah ok I’ll give it a go. Those revolving bike wheels on the ceiling were a little challenging but there they are. The Giants were winning, beating the Astros, and there on the right are the black straws again that pop up in all of my bar drawings, everywhere in the world. The beer was nice too, Third Shift Amber Ale, and only $4 a pint. It was pretty quiet when I came in, but got busy by the time I left, with the young Friday night crowd. One guy spoke to me while sketching and recognized me as the guy who drew the bar at De Vere’s. Another guy, a younger Aussie bloke, chatted to me about Iggy Pop. I told him I always liked the song The Passenger because I can’t drive either. He said Iggy Pop was a real rocker, not like Justin Bieber or someone. Perhaps, but in thirty years people might be saying, oh these kids now aint real popstars, not like Bieber, yeh he was a proper rocker. You never know. I saw Iggy Pop supporting the Pistols at Finsbury Park in ’96, and just wanted him to put a shirt on to be honest.

This whole sketch took almost two hours, starting from right to left. It was done with a Micron Pigma 02 pen, with a bit of uniball vision micro for some of the thicker lines and shading.

drawing davis on bastille day

July 15, 2012Leave a comment

Yesterday was worldwide sketchcrawl #36, and we in Davis sketchcrawled downtown, meeting at Mishka’s coffee in the morning. There were about thirteen of us in all, and my sketch of Mishka’s is above. I took way too long on it of course, but it was a pleasant morning and there was no need to rush.

It was also Bastille Day, so before lunch I sat outside Soccer and Lifestyle with my son and I drew the France football jersey. Luke drew the Germany away kit (his is on the right). Good job! He joined me for most of the ‘crawl, drawing scenes from a story he had concocted about a man called ‘David Hotspur ‘who invented the France shirt and it was so good that he won a prize (but poor Monsieur Hotspur died before he could get it, a sad tale). We like out football shirts in the Scully household.

We sat outside the Hotdogger on E Street and sketched there, for quite some time. This was my last drawing of the day and then I went to meet the other sketchcrawlers, gathered on Davis Commons, to check out each others sketchbooks. It was a fun day! I nearly forgot all about the urban sketching symposium in Santo Domingo (I hear it was a lot of fun…)

Nice to meet everyone who came along, I hope to sketch with you again!

worldwide sketchcrawl 36, downtown davis…

July 13, 2012Leave a comment

While the urban sketchers are all busy at the Urban Sketching Symposium in sunny Santo Domingo, I’ll be here in sunny Davis, sketching away this Saturday on the Worldwide Sketchcrawl! It’s WW Sketchcrawl #36, and there are similar sketchcrawls happening all over the globe – see the Sketchcrawl forum for details, there may be one near you.

If you are in Davis tomorrow and fancy some sketching, why not join us at 10:30am outside Mishka’s Coffee on 2nd St – from there we will sketch all day around downtown Davis (in the shade), and then meet up again at Davis Commons (that grassy area with the tables and shops on 1st St, at the end of E St) at 3:00pm to check out each other’s sketchbooks. Anyone can join, it’s totally free and all you need is something to draw with and something to draw on. Hope to see you there!

Sketchcrawl #36 forum

Let’s Draw Davis!

Let’s Draw Davis! Flickr Group

i’ve been around for a long, long year

July 12, 20124 Comments

While up in Medford my wife spotted this long blue/black Chrysler parked out near an old laundry, so I had to try and draw it. It was so long and mean looking it reminded me of the Batmobile. I stood in the hot sun to draw this, trying to get shade from a lamp-post (they don’t give much shade, by the way). This is a car that says, you’re gonna listen to what I gotta say, then I’m gonna run ya outta town. This isn’t a car for the streets of Colindale. This car is master of his domain.

against the grain

July 9, 2012July 9, 20122 Comments

We spent a quick weekend in Medford, southern Oregon; I wasn’t feeling too well, however, so didn’t do a great deal of sketching. I did get out for a couple of hours one afternoon though, to Central Point, where it was very hot and there wasn’t much shade. I really wanted to draw this building, this big grain tower, but didn’t want to dry while drawing it. Eventually after much walking about, I crossed the railroads and drew it from the back, finding a tree to sit beneath. It was right beside a gas station which I think is the gas station of choice for police cars, as quite a few stopped there while I was sketching. I listened to the local wildlife, blackbirds chirping away, a young couple arguing loudly all the way down the street (“if you don’t walk as fast as me you’re walking home a single woman”, the charming man yelled at one point). These industrial buildings dotted the landscape, and I wanted to sketch them all, but I will tell you the most important thing to consider when doing an urban sketch – find somewhere comfortable to sit or stand first!