Tag: arboretum

let’s draw the arboretum

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let's draw the arboretum!

It’s Spring! Rain, sun and blossom. And so it’s time for a sketchcrawl in the UC Davis Arboretum, where the flowers will be blooming and the red buds will be blossoming.

Time for another let’s Draw Davis sketchcrawl, hopefully on a nice bright sunny warm March day (please)..!

DATE: Saturday March 19, 2011

START: 11:00am (meet in front of Borders, at Davis Commons, 1st Street; there’s a coffee shop and tables outside)
Walk and sketch along the Arboretum…
FINISH: at Lake Spafford (on the north side, near Mrak Hall), at 3:30pm to look at each other’s sketchbooks.

The UC Davis Arboretum (http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/) is a wooded pathway which runs along Putah Creek. We can sketch individually or as a group, however you prefer. Might be an idea to bring a packed lunch!

See you there!

Let’s Draw Davis! Flickr group

Let’s Draw Davis! March 19 Facebook Event

knock on wood

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cottonwood cottage

It has been muggy, the weather. It doesn’t feel quite like a Davis June, more like a London June. Still, summer is on the way; I even played some football at our annual picnic, but got tired quick; I felt so old! (Fortunately, old in a Stanley Matthews way). I did some drawing too; I got out today at lunchtime and sketched a building near my work, Cottonwood Cottage, at the HQ of the UC Davis Arboretum. I decided not to add colour, as I like it the way it was. You can guess the colours anyway. Print it out and use crayons. I like these wooden buildings on campus. There are so many of them; they look similar but have a lot of character.

the bridges of yolo county

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arboretum bridge

Putah Creek, running through the long UC Davis Arboretum, has a lot of bridges. Well, it has to, otherwise getting to the other side would be a very long walk. Some bridges ar wooden, like the one in the background, and even covered in foliage like some Monet painting, while others a big and concrete, which might not sound too picturesque but in this case I quite like it. I’ve drawn this bridge before.

It’s April in Davis, California. Tomorrow, the annual Picnic Day takes place, the largest university open house event in the country. It’s Davis’s day to show off. There will be thousands of people there. This year I might even do some drawing.

give trees a chance

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So rested he by the tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.

the arboretum

I’ve been a little uninspired by drawing in Davis lately. Oh the Davisites will not like me for saying so, but I’ve just not wanted to draw the place much, prefering little shoes. Hey, I have drawn a lot of Davis. I have just been craving a little more urban; I like trees and bikes and all but some barbed wire and brickwork could be fun too. A couple of summers ago, I would draw here in the UC Davis Arboretum on most lunchtimes, but it all got very samey. Plus (and more importantly) I would go through my green paints like there was no tomorrow. After some days of near-agoraphobia, I felt the need to go outside today – I actually wanted to draw some of the construction vehicles opposite work, but they seemed to be all off on their own lunchbreak – so ended up back down here in the tree world by the creek. It’s nice here, you can hear the insects and the birds and the ducks, and the traffic and the joggers and the lunchtime gossipers; bring your mp3 player to blot out this din. Still, it was pleasant to draw there. Maybe I’ll do it again tomorrow. Or maybe I’ll draw another shoe.

cross over the river, where they feel safe and sound

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in the arboretumA sketch by Putah Creek, in the UC Davis Arboretum. I braved the heat and the allergy-inducing winds to sit and sketch this. Putah Creek is a great place to come in Summer if you want to catch West Nile Virus, from all the mosquitoes that hang out here. Speaking of hanging out, the bridges such as this one are home (or sign the sign says) to many bats, (who eat the mosquitoes). If you fancy catching rabies, I read somewhere it’s endemic in local bats. And then there’s the black widows. Don’t get me started.

Dangerous place, is Davis.  And it’s going to hit a hundred degrees this weekend.

and now i’m mrak, from outer space

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mrak hall

We moved apartments this week, hence lack of activity in the pete sketchbook front; however I had to get lunchtime sketching at some point, and yesterday took my little stool down to an old chestnut of a sketching spot, the view of mrak hall from putah creek (drew it last year too). The creek is actually made of green pea soup; it’s always St.Patrick’s Day in the arboretum. You may notice that the two very small hills formerly in this view with the eggheads on top have now vanished, to be replaced with mud and construction, the groundwork for the extension to the law school, because apparently what this country needs is more lawyers. This means this view will not last much longer.

The weather is cooling off here, at last – yesterday I wore a jumper for the first time in absolutely ages (that’s a sweater to you). And a couple of days ago I even got – if it can be believed – several spots of rain on me!! That’s literally all there were. From the cloud that had obviously gotten lost. It’s the first rain since about February I think. Or since the 1890s, or I don’t know, it feels like such a long time. Most of my son’s life. His Irish genes must be confused (though he was born in a torrential central valley rainstorm). Still, he has his own room now so is as happy as larry. Anyway, those seven or eight spots of rain were probably just a teaser trailer for the winter. “Winter”. That’s a misnomer. California’s winters are like our British summers.

Here are some more views of Mrak.

100 degrees in davismrak, seen from the creeksee no evil back in mrak

come on, turn up the sun

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When it gets hot in Davis, it gets very very hot. It hit over a hundred degrees today, and we haven’t had rain since oh before you were born. I am not looking forward to July; that’s when the Central Valley simply redefines hot. It is not a fun place to be.

greenhouse effects

And so I went out in it to draw. There was a breeze, albeit a hot breeze. I had promised myself it would be a drawing day, and so lunchtime I went to the arboretum, found a shady spot, and drew the greenhouse. I’m sure I want to say somehing about the greenhouse effect, but I won’t, I’m too hot.

In other news: I was sad to hear that Celtic legend Tommy Burns had died aged only 51. Gordon Strachan’s tribute was sad too. This a day after their rivals Rangers lost in the UEFA Cup Final. Not a happy time for Scottish football.