thoughts meander like a restless wind

October 12, 2010October 12, 20102 Comments

Spread 6 of the Davis Moleskine project. This one is down at D Street, and this building is home to Antiques Plus. It took me a couple of lunchtimes to draw this – I am still getting used to drawing bigger like this, on different paper, with a different pen. But the effect is very enjoyable!

It’s a nice little corner of Davis, this. There is a small gathering of alleys to the left which lead through to E Street, filled with little nooks and shops, the odd cafe, and the Mustard Seed Restaurant. Beyond the antiques shop is the Pence Gallery.

We’ve had some odd weather here in Davis. It cooled down a little, but then got really hot again – it was 90 degrees yesterday. But there was also a terrifying Mistral-like wind howling day and night. Cycling home, I saw scores – probably fifty or sixty – huge birds, hawks most likely, flying about in circles en masse above the trees by the creek. I’d never seen so many birds of prey like that, it was very eery. “Earthquake weather,” my wife said. Not been one yet. It’s all very strange.

czech please

October 11, 2010Leave a comment

After the 2nd Friday Art About and the talk at the bookshop, I went off to possibly my favourite pub in Davis, Little Prague, for a beer and to sketch that German band I didn’t sketch a couple of weeks ago (I am little prague beer-pump attempting to sketch musicians these days). They however were just finishing up, but told me to come back in a couple of weeks, and asked that I make them look slimmer when I draw them. Fair enough! So I got a beer and settled down to watch the baseball, which was amazingly still going. I like the San Francisco Giants (thanks to my wife and especially my brother-in-law) and they are currently in the play-offs against the Braves.

As soon as I got my first beer, the Braves got a game-winning home run. Bugger. So, out came the sketchbook. The music that replaced the German oompah band was not so good, just some dance music for them what like to dance. I sketched the beer pumps and the lamp, and then turned my attention to the opposite direction and drew the very busy bar. I’ve sketched in here many times. I like drawing in bars, because you can really capture an atmosphere, and you can have a beer and some conversation with locals while you’re at it. It had been an evening full of mixing with Davis locals in the Art About so it was nice to sit and relax at the end of a busy week, with another week to go until the Davis Sketchcrawl…

art, music and architecture about

October 10, 20104 Comments

On Friday I went to the 2nd Davis Art About. I say ‘went to’, it is in fact a whole collection of evening exhibitions in stores and businesses around downtown Davis, exhibits of local artists, and art events, and it was a lot of fun. I wish I hadn’t eaten so much at dinner though, because they all had snacks and wine. I liked the oil paintings of Davis by Andrew Dorn, which were on show at the USE Credit union, and also the large close-ups of freight trains by Marieke De Waard, displayed at clothing store Riki. I ended up at the Avid Reader on 2nd Street (where I worked, once upon a time), and admired the pastels of Kathryn Esterly. I did a sketch of Gary, local KDVS DJ and a guy I’ve known for years, playing his ukelele as he does every Friday at the bookstore. I used to enjoy those Friday evenings at the boosktore listening to that gentle music.

I decided to stick around for the book talk, which was to be given by Michael Corbett. I’m glad I did, for it was very interesting – Corbett is a famous architect, who designed the groundbreaking Village Homes in west Davis. He is also a former Mayor of Davis, and is responsible for a lot of how the city I draw daily actually looks today. His new book, “The Poetry of Architecture”, is a look at how architecture affects our ability to think, and explores architecture across Europe – it looks like a great read. I sketched him talking; he is very tall.

Look at me drawing people. I hope to draw some more. After this, I went to Little Prague to draw the German band I hoped to sketch, but they were just finishing up; I’ll have to go back in two weeks.

they’ve got cars big as bars

October 9, 2010October 9, 20105 Comments

I stuck around the Harvest Fair in Santa Rosa on Sunday afternoon, sketching old cars, getting a red sunburned neck in the process. The cars belonged to members of the Antique Automobile Club of America and ranged from old 1920s Fords (the sketch of which is in the previous post) to more modern classics from the 80s. I am not a car person, not a gear-head in the slightest, but I absolutely salivate at these classic designs. Partly because for me they represent the classic America; as I said to one of the old fellows I spoke to, this is how I imagine American cars – enormous, long, sleek, magnificent, with fins and curves and power and elegance. Of course, you get here and it’s all beige Toyotas and testosterone-fuelled SUVs, and they all look the same, no matter the car-maker, a bit of a let-down. These beauties make up for that.

The blue 1936 Dodge above reminds me of Daddy Warbucks. The red 1958 Chrysler Saratoga below, of which you can only see the rear end, reminds me of Biff Tannen. That was a long, long car, and a wide one. There’s no way that would fit into a regular parking spot at Target.

I really liked this green Oldsmobile 88, from 1954. I really liked the old-fashioned license plate.

This is also my entry for this week’s Illustration Friday, the theme of which is transportation. And what transportation!

all’s fair in love and scarecrows

October 8, 2010October 8, 20102 Comments

At the weekend we were in Santa Rosa, and we went to the annual Sonoma County Harvest Fair at the fairgrounds. It’s the first time I’d been since 2005, mere days after emigrating to the US, when taking part in the pumpkin tossing contest was like a rite of passage. I didn’t toss any pumpkins this time, but I sketched one, a giant one. I had to sketch a scarecrow, which although it was scarecrow number one, it came second in the scarecrow contest. I also sketched a pygmy goat, it was a cute and tiny and had a great beard. It seemed to have a little conversation with me while I was sketching too, bleeting away. My son preferred the piglets I think, and playing in the hay-maze.

I was most drawn to the exhibition of old cars, brought there by the Antique Automobile Club of America. I don’t get the chance to practise drawing old cars often – they are so much more interesting than modern cars – so I jumped at the chance to do so. Above is a 1929 Ford Model A, and I particularly liked that it had a trunk, an actual luggage-type trunk, attached to the back of it. It has a lot of personality!

he went to california, hearing that everything’s warmer there

October 7, 2010October 7, 20102 Comments

Spread 5 of the Davis Moleskine, a building I’ve sketched before: the Old City Hall on F Street (now part of the restaurant Bistro 33). I sat outside the Paint Chip over a couple of lunchtimes last week and drew this. It was over a hundred degrees outside, which I am sure you will agree was mental for this time of year. Feels hot in the drawing too, doesn’t it. That’s living in California for you. I hear it’s freezing back in London.

The project continues…

bottle and glass

October 6, 2010October 5, 2010Leave a comment

October is here folks, and October means beer. Even though most Oktoberfests apparently take place in September (giving us Oktoberhangover) – I even drew this while it was still September – it’s culturally important to keep up that association (this is my excuse). One of my favourite beers is in fact the Märzen amber ale of my local micro-brewer, Sudwerk. This year they brought out a special Oktoberfect version, “Fest-Märzen”, and I must say it’s bloody lovely. Perhaps the best beer I’ve had over here. So in the spirit of drawing bottle and glass on brown paper (see the recent champagne bottle), here they are. That glass was empty by the time I finished drawing, let me tell you. We had a heatwave here last week, with weather in the 100s (really! at this time of year), and a nice cold beer was always going to help.

it takes a lot to laugh, it takes a train to cry

October 5, 2010October 5, 20104 Comments

This project keeps on moving along… this is Spread 4 (a personal favourite), a couple of train engines that were parked on the rails off of 6th Street, near the Co-Op. I had in fact gone that way to draw the Co-Op itself, figuring it should probably go into the Davis-centric book somewhere, but I could not get an angle that I liked. However, I love drawing these trains, so I jumped at the chance. The level crossing is actually from 5th Street, but I allowed it to move and become the latest transitionary device.

I’m glad I didn’t draw the Co-Op. Sure, it may yet make an appearance, but I don’t want the series to be simply a checklist of popular Davis sites and sights. This little spot where the trains sit and wait is far more interesting, and every bit as Davis as the Varsity or the Farmer’s Market, so I’m mixing it up a bit.

how does your garden grow

October 4, 2010October 4, 20101 Comment

While in Santa Rosa at the weekend, I walked down to Luther Burbank Home and Gardens and sketched in the afternoon. It’s a pretty little place, and the old house is very sketchworthy. Burbank was an important botanist and horticulturalist who created/developed many species of plant and flower, as well as a famous potato. There’s a small chance I may be mistaken about this, but I think he invented Mr Potato Head. The site is in fact California Historical Landmark #234.

I also sketched a fire hydrant, because, you know, I’m collecting sketches of them. This one reminds me of a dalek. Perhaps it needs some Mr Potato Head glasses and moustache to cheer it up.

bears, look at me walking in all the squares

October 4, 2010October 4, 2010Leave a comment

Davis Moleskine Spread # 3, the Black Bear Diner on the corner of B and 2nd Streets. This used to be a Baker’s Square (one of those places that did nice apple pies). That road leading off there, that heads towards UC Davis.

I often read my son that story in Christopher Robin about not walking on the lines in London streets. I was always told that too, when I was a kid, not to step on the cracks “or the bears would get ya!” which let’s face it is the least of your worries on London streets, unless the bears are wearing hoodies or something. You don’t get bears in Davis, we are too far from the mountains. But I did hear once that a mountain lion was spotted in West Sacramento, just across the causeway from here, and I saw a cat jump into a tree while cycling home one evening that was pretty big looking for a domestic tom. I’m no wildlife expert. Perhaps it was like the beast of Craggy Island.

As I sketched this, new students drove by being all loud in their cars, showing off to each other and woo-hooing from their windows. That won’t last. The mid-terms will get them before the bears do.