Attempted Davis Amtrak station again, from a different angle this time. Went downtown on Sunday morning to do some sketching, and it rained! Not much, spitting really, but it was difficult to sit and draw in the rain. Sure I’ve done it before, but under shelter, not when the drops are getting on the page. So I gave up and did most of this back at home.
Saturday was another ‘Let’s Draw Davis’ sketchcrawl, and after a very hot week several sketchers braved the sun and came out to sketch Davis. It was nice to see new faces, as well as some familiar ones too. One of the things I like about these sketchcrawls is the opportunity to not only sketch with other artists but also to talk about sketching, pens, paper, technique, sketching bags, etc. It’s always nice to know you’re not the only one who thinks about these things. It’s nice sketching down by the station. Apart from the odd train rolling in and rolling away again, it’s very quiet, and peaceful, with lots of places to sit and lots of shade. Anyway, for this sketchcrawl I was working in two sketchbooks – the main watercolour moleskine, and the small ‘red moley’, which I started last weekend (and am already halfway through). These few colourful pages are in the small red moley, quick sketches, people sketches, on pre-washed paper. Above, Rio Vista sketcher Janice sketches the station in the sun, flanked by Jana from Sacramento and Nathan from Davis (both also sketched below). Trying out something new! I like the effect of the purple sketch.
I have to draw the station of course. It’s a lovely old building, but dare I say it’s a bit of a bugger to draw. I have attempted it a few times, but always have trouble with the precision and location of the arches for some reason. Still as a reasonably quick sketch you get the idea and that is the point after all.
More to come!
The 31st Worldwide Sketchcrawl happened on Saturday, and I was at the ‘crawl in San Francisco, sketching away like crazy. Whenever I sketch in the city I try to cram in as much sketching as possible, in the most area-covering route possible, which along with the travelling down from Davis is pretty exhausting. I caught the early train, and another Davis sketcher Allan was also there at the station, which was a nice surprise. We rode down together as far as Richmond, and I was able to grab a sketch of him sketching away, and had a look through his sketchbook of antennae which is particularly cool (I want to sketch antennae now myself!). I went on and caught the Amtrak bu from emeryville over to the Ferry Building, where I like to pick up a chocolate walnut brownie (traditional sketchcrawl substenance), and I also sketched the large installation ‘Raygun Gothic Rocketship’, with the Bay Bridge behind it. My son loves rocketships.
And then I hopped onto a Muni to the Mission… more sketches to come!!
Now this is an actual sunset. I love watching the Sun go down behind Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, as i often do when waiting for the Amtrak bus to take me back to Emeryville, and from there back to Davis. I say often, I really only go to SF three or four times a year, but I feel like I know it pretty well now. I like catching the early train to the Bay Area, when the Sun casts long shadows across the Delta and the grass is golden and the hills are brown. Actually I really like it when the Delta is covered in thick early morning fog, but it’s harder to draw things when it’s like that. Anyway, the sketch below (the now common sketch of the Pepsi Max can and train window) was done on the way there, the sketch above was done on the way back.
I took the Amtrak down to San Francisco to join the popular SF crawl. It was an early start for me, the 7:55 Amtrak that I’ve taken many times before. Naturally I just had to draw a quick sketch on the train, while reading the excellent graphic novel Preacher. I wonder if there’s a Saint of Sketchers?
The crawl officially began at around 10:30 by the Ferry Building. Enrico, the Sketchcrawl founder, came by to say the end spot would be Union Square, not Vesuvio – a good decision as there was quite a crowd. (I wished I had an iphone to update the forum, in case latecomers went there). It was a grey and foggy morning; no need for the colourful paints just yet!
There were a few familiar faces there, and I sketched while munching a chocolate walnut brownie bought from the Farmer’s Market (oh man they’re good). An annoying clarinetist provided ‘entertainment’, but seemed unable to ever get past the first bar or so of ‘old macdonald’ before calling out to passing tourists. He was incredibly irritating.
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As sketchcrawlers started to disperse, I headed off, accompanied by fellow sketchers Jana Bouc and Sonia. I wanted to go into the Hyatt and go up to look out of one of the high-up windows. We cheekily managed to get to the members-only top floor regency club, where the staff very nicely allowed us to sketch from their 360-degree window. The view was incredible, and the sun was burning the fog and bringing out the colour.
More to come!
The Capitol Corridor Amtrak train ride between the Bay Area and Davis is one of my favourite train journeys, not least because the big Amtrak trains are remarkable to travel in. I used to like the Eurostar, years ago, when I used to zip between Waterloo 
and Bruxelles Midi, but the last time I did it I was amazed at how uncomfortable and cramped I felt, compared to these big American Amtraks. It’s always nicer when you have a table though, so you can spread out your drawing materials. In these cases, it’s obligatory to draw. I usually draw some of the quick moving bird-filled Delta landscape, capture some of the shimmering reflection of the sky in the San Pablo Bay with its lonely shacks and forgotten piers, and the colourful factories and refineries that dot the shoreline around Martinez, Benicia, Richmond. Or I just draw the empty seats in fron of me, which is nice too. I had grabbed a bunch of Amtrak timetables at Emeryville station, ones for the long cross-country routes such as the Zephyr, which goes across the Rockies and over the Plains from here to Chicago, the Coast Starlight, climbing up the Pacific states from LA to Seattle, and the Sunset Limited, running along the hot southern US from California to New Orleans. I look at them romantically, longingly, having once before travelled around Europe on the railway tracks, with the Thomas Cook European Timetable as my Bible; it’s always been a dream to see America from the sides rather than from above.
That was how I ended that brief jaunt to San Francisco, with my visiting friend from England. One last sketch to share, from that morning at Fisherman’s Wharf, while the skies were falling in big wet buckets outside, I was indoors at the Musee Mecanique, one of my favourite places in the city. I’ve sketchblogged about this place before, a year ago in fact (note the Amtrak train drawing also at the top of that eerily mirrored post), but it’s always worth showing again. Remember these arm-wrestling things you used to get at fairgrounds? I always hated them personally, but couldn’t resist drawing this one.
I spent the weekend in San Francisco, joining the dots, travelling on buses, walking through to my soles and drawing. I noticed that time travels extremely fast when you cannot decide where to go; this was my first SF sketching trip of 2008 and I wanted to make the most of it, while covering some new ground, making discoveries. I discovered that the Nob Hill hotel is staffed by nobs, for one thing. Above: a very famous bridge. This time I walked beneath it and around to the rocky Pacific coastline, what an incredible sight. Below: first drawings of the day, courtesy of the amtrak train. There’s my muni bus transfer, there; a kind driver gave me one that lasted all day. I travelled by bus everywhere in the city for less than a quid. Ever had that in London? Didn’t think so. More to come.
petescully 