from here to fraternity

February 4, 2010February 6, 20102 Comments

One of the many fraternity houses that line Russell Blvd, on the edge of the UC Davis campus. This was drawn over a couple of lunchtimes; I had to cycle back up today to finish off the drawing and add the colour. It was however grey today, so I kept in the fluffy clouds and blue skies from yesterday. And wow, that was some gnarled up tree! This is the Chi Phi frat house. Chi Phi is an old national frat, founded in 1824, but the UC Davis chapter’s been here since 1969. Ok, enough facts. If you’re interested in how it looked after the first lunchtime, the work in progress is on the right there.

And here is the whole spread. Also posted at Urban Sketchers.

the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face

February 1, 2010February 1, 20101 Comment

The last day of January; it was a long, busy month, wasn’t it? Long, cold and dark, with not as much drawing as normal. Well the Sun came out and so did I, with the sketchbook.

The last day of January; it was a long, busy month, wasn’t it? Long, cold and dark, with not as much drawing as normal. Well the Sun came out and so did I, with the sketchbook. Wandered town looking for something to draw; I was not inspired by anything new, so went somewhere old. It’s the time of year when trees are like bare spindly bones, just asking to be sketched. Of course drawing them out in the open takes time and patience. I may have to photograph a few while they’re still leafless and draw some complicated pictures of branches at home in the warm (like I did here and here and here, a couple of years ago). No branch left behind. Doing them outside is fun too (like here and here) but going for branch accuracy in chilly weather can be a struggle on the old fineliners. Still, in yesterday’s cold sunshine I gave it a shot.

I’m making a habit of revisiting old spots. I last sat and sketched this corner, 5th and E Streets in Davis, about two and a half years ago. Here’s how it looked back then, on a hot July day (in moleskine #1, when for some reason I didn’t want to draw powerlines):

and the seasons they go round and round

January 29, 20104 Comments

I draw this scene every six months, once in winter, once in summer. Each scene looks slightly different, and for more than just the changing seasons. This more than any other Davis scene is my ‘Mont St. Victoire’. (Incidentally I’ve actually climbed Mont St. Victoire, twice) I started drawing it one lunchtime a couple of weeks back, but ran out of time; then it rained solidly for a fortnight. So yesterday we had a day of sunshine, cold cold sunshine, and I got back out to finish it off. You’ll see it again in six months or so.

Anyway, here are the other ones. I can’t help myself:

Summer 2007:

Winter 2008:

Summer 2008:

Winter 2009:

Summer 2009:

mail on friday

January 24, 20102 Comments

Another rainy lunchtime, another envelope sketch, this time of my busy busy desk. I had been outside in the rain to find food, so only had fifteen minutes or so to get a drawing in. These are some big big storms California is getting.

osh-kosh shoe

January 13, 2010Leave a comment

#13 in the ever-expanding series. These are the Osh-Kosh shoes, hand-me-downs from a friend’s older child, which are in fact my son’s first lace-ups (not that he can tie his laces or anything yet, of course, though I wouldn’t put it past him).

Copic 0.1 in a Moleskine cahier.

bye bye tree

January 6, 20104 Comments

It’s January 6th, so time to take down the tree, and put away the decorations! This is our little tree we got for our first Xmas in America, and we still have it. The ornaments, mostly my wife’s, go back years; some are older than I am, I think. The corner will look so bare without the tree, even though only half the lights were working on it (I never got around to changing them!). Oh well, it really is a new year now.

usa shoe (side)

January 1, 2010June 1, 20104 Comments

I had to draw this shoe again from a different angle. This is the twelfth entry in the book called ‘Luke’s Shoes’, in which I draw all of my son’s shoes (in case you didn’t know already).

This is my first drawing of 2010! My art goal for this year – draw more people, especially faces, and from life too. Also draw even more shoes. I do have New Year’s Resolutions (such as 600 dpi) but I’m not telling you what they are.

usa shoe

December 31, 20092 Comments

Another of my son’s shoes, and he still wears them. Not a baby any more, he’s very much a toddler now. These are his navy blue ‘USA’ shoes, made by Pipsqueakers – though they have been ‘desqueaked’. You can order them with special squeaks, you see, but daddy said ‘no squeaks!’ and so the shoes are squeak-free.

If you’re interested, this was drawn in copic multiliner 0.1 in a small moleskine cahier and took just over an hour to draw.

Oh, and Happy New Year 2010!

grey old navy shoe

December 30, 2009January 10, 20101 Comment

#10 in an ongoing series, in which I draw all of my son’s shoes. This is one of the beige grey (I’ve been corrected, and I was wrong, they aren’t beige at all) shoes from Old Navy, which he has already grown out of. If he keeps growing like this, I’m gonna need a bigger book.

in the city there’s a thousand things

November 24, 2009November 26, 20096 Comments

I added colour and some more pen to the drawing that I started the other day. I’m pleased with the result. This is a really cool and colourful corner of a cool and colourful city; the view from City Lights, in San Francisco’s North Beach, down Columbus, towards the Sentinel Building, the Trans-Am Pyramid, and the Financial District. I love it down there. This was drawn partly from a photo and partly from a similar drawing (so you wont see this on urban sketchers), both from a trip made last March, when it rained a little. I had just had a doughnut for breakfast. It was very good. I might give this away. Not to you, unfortunately; sorry. To someone else. I am however likely to be making prints at some point (my famous words, ‘at some point’). But I think with this picture I will, because I want one. Know any good print makers?

This was drawn with Copic pen on Canson watercolour paper.