Tag: davis

davis hillel house

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davis hillel house (temporary)

Opposite Toomey Field on the edge of UC Davis, on the corner of A & 4th, this is the Davis Hillel house. Actually, it is the temporary one; the real one is being redeveloped next door. Hillel offers community support for Jewish students, including 100% kosher food; I know this, because I worked on a number of occasions in the kitchen at the Hillel house in central London, as a waiter for a very amiable Jewish caterer called Ron. I liked the look of this particular building; many of he buildings in this quarter of Davis have a lot of character. their new building will be two storey, and perhaps I will go and sketch the progress. However, just this week the allergens returned, and the sneezing and sniffling season has begun. Oh well. This was sketched at lunchtime yesterday, with colour added later.

first tee-ball game!

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first tee-ball game!
Yesterday my son played his first ever tee-ball game, and has now entered the big world of baseball. His team, the Orioles, played the Pirates on a lovely March early evening; my Luke, wearing the number 1 (how cool!), made a couple of nice hits and while fielding made a great throw to get someone at first base. Sport at this age is so cute. They don’t keep score in tee-ball, and nobody is really out, everyone gets a chance to run the bases and hit the ball, and it’s all a lot of fun for them. Both teams therefore win (they won’t ever call it a draw!), and they all get snow-cones afterwards. My boy’s growing up; we’re very proud parents!

first tee-ball game!
first tee-ball game!

let’s draw the arboretum!

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bridge in the arboretum
Yesterday was our latest “Let’s Draw Davis!” sketchcrawl, this time at the UC Davis Arboretum. Eleven of us met at Wyatt Deck, which turned out to be a great place to meet for a sketchcrawl. I think I chatted more than I sketched, so I was slow starting (pretty typical on Davis sketchcrawls for me), but it was good sketching conversation, and I learned a lot from speaking with others. I sketched in my Stillman and Birn (gamma) sketchbook).
wyatt deck
davis sketchersarboretum thumbnails

redbuds

And the redbuds are blooming right now, so whole stretches of the Arboretum are bathed in deep pink. This is different from the pink blossom on many trees (though my sketch doesn’t really show that distinction!). The last sketch I did was the one at the top. I enjoyed that one the most.

The next Let’s Draw Davis will be on April 14th (a week before the Worldwide Sketchcrawl, which is the same day as Picnic Day), and will be on G Street. More ‘urban’ than here! But I must say I always enjoy the Arboretum Sketchcrawls, it is such a pleasant spot to sketch.

bridge over the creek

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arboretum bridge

It’s so windy here in Davis! This morning I was getting blown off my bike, so I gave up. Yesterday was even worse, but I really wanted to sketch at lunchtime, so I popped into the Arboretum and did a quick one of this bridge, using that calligraphy pen. It was so windy I thought I’d end up in the Creek! I’ve decided I really don’t like the wind.

Hey speaking of the Arboretum…don’t forget, this Sunday, sketchcrawl in the Arboretum, meet at 11am at Wyatt Deck. Let’s sketch some greenery! And the redbuds are blooming now…

the forgotten pump house

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grain silo south davis

Down by the Putah Creek bike path in south Davis sits an old pump house (or perhaps it is a barn for really tall horses), which in six and a half years of living here (wow! that long?) I have never drawn. Until now. It reminds me a little bit of the Shrieking Shack. I needed some fresh air after spending all day in with a sore throat, and the weather outside was warm and spring-like. This is nearby where I live. It is a peaceful spot, a nice place for a Sunday stroll. Next to here is the Woodbridge nature area, home to all sorts of birds and bats and bugs. There are a lot of bugs out right now, biting away. This was drawn in my gamma Stillman & Birn book, with the brown-black uniball signo pen.

at the corner of third and e

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3rd and E, Davis

The trees are starting to bud already, so to draw the buildings in Davis while you can actually see them, you gotta be quick. This builidng, on the corner of 3rd and E Streets in Davis, is home to several things (Davis Chamber of Commerce, a family dentist’s, a bicycling clothes store), in the heart of the downtown. It sits directly opposite that other house at 3rd & E which I drew before. I was commissioned to draw it by the owners of the building (I hope they like it!). I started it last Saturday, the day after my talk at the bookstore, and there were a fair few people who stopped to say hello while I drew, sat on my little sketching stool by the lamp-post. The sun was getting in my eyes though (I didn’t bring my hat), so aftre doing a great deal of the linework (including those pesky trees) I gave up and took it home to finish, which I finally got around to doing a couple of days ago.

Let me tell you, the weather we are having these days feels more like May or June than February or March. That is, May or June where I’m from, not the century-hitting ones you get here. It’s warm and very pleasant, more so than usual for the time of year. Nice for being outside drawing…though beware, Davis sketchers, for pollen is in the air, and the season of the sneezing is soon to be upon us…

you make me dizzy miss lizzy

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old car, davis, 3rd st

I really needed a haircut. You know how it is, your hair is fine, just the right length, then one day all of a sudden it’s way too long, and you’re like Yahoo Serious or someone. I’m someone who needs his hair short. So I finally made it to the barber’s downtown, and there were about five people ahead of me, so I took that opportunity to go and sketch something. There was an interesting old car parked out on 3rd Street, so obviously that’s where I went. I stood in the shade outside the former Blockbuster Video and drew in my Stillman & Birn gamma series book. I was about halfway through, when the driver came and drove it away.I finished it off at home.  I didn’t even get to see what make of car it is; can you guess for me?

Let’s Draw the Arboretum! Sunday, March 11

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let's draw davis, march 11, 2012

It’s time for another sketchcrawl in the lovely city of Davis. This time around we will sketch at the UC Davis Arboretum, which I must say is lovely at this time of year. Might be a good idea to bring a packed lunch though. We’ll start at 11 at the Wyatt Deck, on the east bank of Lake Spafford (or is it the south bank? The one on the freeway side…), and sketch as you wish around the Arboretum, before reconvening at 3:00pm back at Wyatt Deck to check out each other’s sketchbooks.

DATE: Sunday, March 11, 2012

START:11:00am, Wyatt Deck (east bank of Lake Spafford)

FINISH:3:00pm, Wyatt Deck

As always the sketchcrawl is free an open to everybody who has an interest in drawing. All you need is something to draw with and something to draw on. There is parking nearby at the UC Davis Mondavi Center for those with cars. For a nice pdf map of the Arboretum, please go to: http://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/documents/visitor_map.pdf

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/239244632836918/

Hope to see you there! If you need any information please let me know by commenting below.

base of the enterprise

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davis enterprise building

This is the Davis Enterprise building on G Street. The Enterprise is our local newspaper. I heard a dicky bird say that this building was going to be knocked down; whether that’s the case or not, I figured it was time to sketch it. I took myself down there on my lunchtime a couple of days ago and started scratching away with a pen which was trying to tell me, “I don’t like this paper!” but I was like, “you’ll like it and do as you’re told,” but the pen knew best. It knew that after the fairly simple buildings to the left and middle, I’d have to somehow tackle the one on the right, which I have avoided for years because of the horrible repeated concrete pattern of those blocks. Maybe I should draw a close up. This sketch says enough though.