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!

monochrome mini

July 6, 2012July 6, 2012Leave a comment

Continuing with cars, after a period of non-sketching after London I finally got out and drew something, this little mini parked near Mansion Square on E Street. This was a quickie alright. Across the street is Uncle Vito’s, a pizza place and bar (I always want to called it De Vito’s, because De Vere’s is just up the road). Of course, this is a ‘new’ Mini, not a proper one like the really small Minis. That would look funny in America. I always feel these ones are really just regular sized cars trying to bend down.

a bug’s life

July 6, 2012July 6, 20122 Comments

A Volkswagen Beetle, yellow of course, my entry for the Pence Gallery’s Bug Show – yes, it’s not an insect type bug but it is still a bug. When I dropped it off, Eileen at the Pence (a big VW Beetle fan) told me someone else had also submitted a Beetle; I’m not surprised! It is a classic among automobiles, the old Beetle. I have always loved them, and love seeing them (those newer ones are nice too, they look a bit like stormtroopers, but I prefer the older ones). Jurgen Klinsmann drives one I recall (I heard he got into a minor collision, fell theatrically out of the door and the other driver got a red card, or maybe I dreamed it). We all remember Herbie the Love Bug (well, actually it’s unlikely anybody has heard of Herbie any more, let alone remember it, in fact I don’t really remember it). My personal favourite was Bumblebee the Transformer, the original one, which was a classic yellow Beetle. When they made the new ones and turned him into a Chevy Camaro, I thought that was like remaking Star Wars and turning Chewbacca into Cousin It.

I didn’t draw this from life, it’s from photos, drawn on Canson textured white paper in micron pigma 005 ink, with watercolour. It’s for sale at the Pence Gallery in Davis for $66, during the Bug Show.

megatherium bones

July 5, 20122 Comments

No posts this past week; it’s been busy, and I’ve been ill – one thing I hate about being sick is that it’s so unproductive, such a waste of time. Still I managed a little sketching, though no scanning. This one, however, I drew a few weeks back, after coming back from London. From a photo, taken at the Natural History Museum, of a Megatherium skeleton. It’s pretty tall. A Megatherium, well that was some kind of giant ground sloth back in the prehistoric times. Pretty much sums up how I feel right now too! It was fun to draw this though.

a few more from London

June 28, 2012June 28, 20121 Comment

Here are a few more random sketches from London, quick ones done in the small Miquelrius ‘Lapin’ sketchbook. This first one was drawn while seriously sleep-deprived and jetlagged, having wobbled from the plane hours earlier, and stretched out on the couch in my mum’s living room to watch the Champions League Final (Bayern vs Chelsea). Chelsea parked the bus and Bayern lost on penalties, giving Chelsea the trophy – the upshot of which my wn team Spurs don’t make the Champions League next year. Not good. Sleep was much better.

Next day I went to see my brother, and stuck around with him while my nephew went to a football tournament at Whetstone FC (which by the way is miles and miles from the actual Whetstone; I didn’t know this! North-West London is really huge, and all looks the same after a while) There was a lot of time before the torunament began, so I sketched the lads practising. My nephew Leo has suddenly sprouted up (he is twelve and a half) so he towers above most of his team now. I got to see one game before I had to go; I needed a SIM card for my phone because my old one had finally given up the ghost. Nice to see Leo play though, it’s been a few years. They grow so quickly don’t they!

I really would love to spend a day sketching at the Natural History Museum, it’s one of my absolute favourite places, but this was all I could manage, a quick sketch of a triceratops while my son and co sat down for a minute. We had gone down there with my wife and my older sister, who used to take me there herself when I was my son’s age (and back then I knew everything, everything about dinosaurs). My son enjoyed it, for the most part, but was quite nervous all the same. he loves dinosaurs, and is a big fan of T-Rex (not the band), but we had to line up to see the large animatronic tyrannosaur model, and it was dark, and we could hear roaring. Well, he got scared (as I would have, back then; remember the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds, c.1982? That’s another story), so my wife said, don’t worry its not real, it;s just a Robot T-Rex. A ROBOT T-REX?!! Even I got scared at that thought, imagining a huge godzilla-esque lazer-eyed monster tearing down South Ken.

Ah now this is sat outside the Orange Tree in Totteridge Lane. that’s a pub, well more of a restaurant now, that I used to pass by on the bus every day to Barnet College, but have never been to. Apparently Sean Bean is a regular. My friend and I were driving around London and he said he fancied going there for a quick drink, nice old pub, village feel, sit outside. his is the half-pint in that tall thin glass. It was nice, and the food was good, but inside it was just too clean, too modern, too shiny. No old pub feel at all. I couldn’t really do a proper drawing of the building without sitting far away from it (in the pond for example) so jsut sketched what I could, from behind my beer.

On the right, another few quick sketches, made while having a sandwich with my family in Trafalgar Square. We had gone to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard, as seen in my son’s Paddington book, and I can assure you I won’t feel the need to go and do that again. Standing around for ages (with a four year old in my arms so he can see through the gates at guards who aren’t doing all that much changing to be honest – can’t they at least juggle or tell jokes?), with loads of other equally bewildered people snapping away with their cameras. It was a struggle let me tell you, so in the end we went down to St.James’s Park, and en route the guards marched past us, back to the barracks. While in the park itself, we were taking a photo on the bridge when a troop of royal Scots guards suddenyl appeared out of nowhere and nearly marched all over us, certainly the surprise attack, all we heard was “OI!!!” We stood aside and they marched onwards without missing a beat. That was funny. So off we went and had some Tesco sandwiches in the Square, the Olympic Clock counting down the days until the craziness begins. I told my son about Admiral Nelson, the famous “I see no ships” story, and the legend of the bronze lions getting up and dancing if Big Ben should strike thirteen.

Finally here is the last one I did on the sketchcrawl, which I tried to scan when I first posted but couldn’t (my scanner broke). I have a new scanner now, so here it is, Fleet Street looking towards St.Paul’s, one of my favourite views in all of London. I think that’s it for London sketches; oh no I have another one from the Jubilee Street Party but that’s for another post.

where the creek is green

June 27, 2012June 27, 20122 Comments

Since coming back from London (and I still have a few more sketches to post) I have done very little sketching. Next to none, in fact, bar the odd thing here or there. I realised however that it was high time to get back out there, now that the weather is not in the ‘phew-what-a-scorcher’s, and went out at lunchtime yesterday to sketch a familiar scene. I sketch this view every summer at around this time, since 2007, and the view changes every year. When I first sketched it in 2007 the building at the front, King Hall, was not even there, and you could see all of Mrak Hall in the distance without interuption. Preparation for the law school extension began a year later, followed by slow construction, and I charted its progress until last year’s sketch showed completion. Now there is no change from last year to this, so this may be the last time I sketch the view. Still, it’s a peaceful little spot, right beside Putah Creek, which is increasingly green at this time of year.

angels and bus-stops

June 26, 2012Leave a comment

Another north London pub, sketched quickly before meeting up with a friend. This is the Angel Inn on Highgate Hill, a pub I’ve been to many times before (it used to be my local, though when I lived there I went once every few months or so at most, I wasn’t exactly Norm from Cheers). It’s a really nice pub though, warm and welcoming, and in a great location – home was always down hill. I love Highgate Village. There are great views over london, nice little shops, intimate little restaurants and warm pubs, plus it’s near Hampstead Heath. Can someone please pay me loads and loads of money to just draw around the world, so I can move the family back there? Cheers.

Anyway, my bus got there fifteen minutes early so this was what I got, not a bad capture for quaretr of an hour. An example of ‘draw what you have time for’. Know what’s possible in a certain amount of time and do what you can. On the way there, I got off the tube at Golders Green to catch the 210 bus, and had eight minutes to spare, so I also drew the sketch on the right, a rooftop opposite the bus-stop. How did i know I had eight minutes? The nice little LED display at the bus-stop told me so, and it was pretty accurate. That is very handy. I remember it not being too long ago that waiting for a bus in London was a case of ‘anyone’s guess’, but it’s not too bad these days.

I keep meaning to do a big detailed pub interior sketch inside the Angel Inn. Next time, perhaps I will.