thousands of colours all fade into one

December 2, 2008December 2, 20083 Comments

The Belfry on A street (the street of the indefinite article). The colours of a blooming autumn (or whatever other expletive you wish to use). We are now foggy and grey so these enormous splashes of colour make a world of difference. I have drawn this building before of course, back in March, when the leaves that are now in the autumn or even winter of their lives were barely even buds. And look, I have drawn vehicles; I daresay there were probably vehicles parked here in the original, but I peteshopped them out. At least you can see the building in the original though.

I don’t know if there are any bats in this belfry. I remember when I first moved to Davis, and I read online about the bats of Yolo county, and how rabies was endemic in them. Yeah, that didn’t completely scare me. Funny things, bats. Their leathery wings always, for some reason, remind me of Lovejoy.

back in black

November 29, 20083 Comments

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! Except if you’re in the UK, in which case ‘Happy Last Thursday’. Or Canada, in which case ‘Belated Happy Thanksgiving’. Or everywhere else. Anyway, it’s the most turkey-ful time of the year, and why not. I love thanksgiving, for the food. The autumnal colours are always nice as well.

But the next day is Black Friday. Black, because of the mood after spending hours locked into the consumerist nightmare that is big box america, home of the all-you-can-spend strip-mall. Black Friday sounds rather like a good pirate’s name, “yarrr, Captain Black Friday, shiver me timbers.” In a way though, Black Friday is the captain, that is supposed to steer the ship of the economy back on course (but you wouldn’t trust ‘im, an’ he’s only got one leg, etc etc). Not for me the 4:30 lining up in the freezing darkness outside Best Buy – I did that two years ago as an experiment, and have no need to do so again. I popped down to the action zone later on in the day though, to see for myself the economy rumbling back into gear, and spent hours stuck there in the maelstrom (or the toy department of Target at least), coming away with not a clue and no bargains at all. I did stop to draw Best Buy though. Looks very peaceful, doesn’t it.

Speaking of autumnal colours, the day before Thanksgiving we actually had some rain in Davis. Weather.com said there was a Severe Weather Warning for the Sacramento Valley. Severe weather. Shit. I looked, and they said there would be Some Rain, 30-40% chance. Some rain. Well, I braved the severe weather and got a tiny bit damp, 30 or 40% damp on my jacket at least, dodging brown leaves as they fluttered gently to the puddle-spotted pavement, and drew the picture below. Severe weather, seriously.

By the way, I posted both of these drawings on Urban Sketchers this week. Good reminder for you to go and check that site out; it’s nearly a month old, with hundreds of urban drawings already.

hanging on the telephone

November 27, 2008November 26, 20082 Comments

No, this isn’t the magical forest where things from London just pop up between the trees, it’s the MU bus terminal at UC Davis, which has magpied a few British things to make them feel more like Londoners. Also at this terminal – it’s the only place in California where it rains, there are gangs of tabloid hoodies waiting to scowl at you from a distance, and there’s bloody Boris Johnson with his pointless competition for pointless new routemasters. Authentic. Actually no, you can keep those things, we’ll just take the phonebox, the lamp-post and the bus. Cheers.

Hanging on the Telephone… do you remember when Saddam was executed, and there were those guys filming it on their mobiles? I wonder if that song was running through their minds for a soundtrack?

On that note… Happy Thanksgiving!

father wears his sunday best

November 25, 2008November 24, 20083 Comments

This is not Our House and it’s not in the middle of R Street, it’s the Hunt Boyer House and it’s on the corner of E Street, and 2nd, Davis. There used to be this absolutely whopping tree behind it, and I mean enormous, but they cut it down as it was leaning a bit too far to the right (never a popular thing in this town). Mind you, from the other side it looked like the tree was leaning too far to the left. Oh well, I suppose many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Perhaps instead of cutting it down we should have bailed it out.

and you, you will be queen

November 24, 2008November 24, 20082 Comments

I’ve never been to Dairy Queen, never stopped in for a KitKat Blizzard, but this one is on 5th street in Davis and I’ve passed by it a lot. As you can see, it’s by the railroad tracks. And a fire hydrant. I still love their fire hydrants here. did you know it’s illegal to park in front of one? This could be anywhere in America really. But it’s in Davis. It’s a funny republic, this country. They have a Burger King, a Dairy Queen, but no Taco President or Soda First Lady.

lazy sunday afternoon

November 16, 2008November 16, 20082 Comments

Nice to be home; New York was very busy (I still have more drawings to post, of course). We flew back via a snowstorm in Minneapolis (after rain and sun in the Big Apple), back to the warmer wee hours of Sacramento. Novembers in Davis are bright and sunny, sometimes a bit chilly, sometimes a little rainy, but right now it’s warm and enviable. Lovely weather. Nice long shadows creeping across apartment buildings.

This however is cobweb season; for some reason, Novembers in Davis mean waling down the road avoiding huge long cobwebs that are floating from every lamp-post and tree. I hate getting caught in a floating web. You get that creepy feeling for ages afterwards, like there are things crawling on you.

The picture: notice the big black blob on the left side, that’s where my usually trusty micron pen exploded, suddenly, leaving a large black globule of ink I do not want to get on the furniture or clothes all over the page. The perils of drawing!

it’s all part of my autumn almanac

November 6, 2008November 6, 20084 Comments

The afternoons are getting a little darker and a little cooler – I love this time of year, in any country. It makes me remember the various autumns in other years of my life – windy autumn days blowing up Highgate Hill, crisp October evenings waiting for a bus in High Barnet, massive purple skies and fireworks in Burnt Oak, mild golden mornings in Aix, pissing down grey afternoons in Belgium. And here in Davis, where until just last week summer was still going on, cool air starts coming into the Valley, rain begins to pour, my beloved jumpers/sweaters start to come out. I might even wear a scarf.

We’ve been living in Davis three years this week. This is the Fast Mart convenience store on the corner of B St and 2nd (sketched on the way to getting my haircut).

the day after the revolution

November 6, 2008November 6, 20081 Comment

My new post on urban sketchers – that is turning into a great and very productive website.

Today is Guy Fawkes Night in Britain, but not here (and who would want to be seen to be associating with – palling around? – terrorists who target their own country, like Guy Fawkes, anyway..?). No, today is the day after the most important US election in recent memory. Oh yes, we happy, we happy! Can’t quite describe it. Best decision not only for America, but for the world.

But I’m very unhappy about California voting Yes on Prop 8 – the proposition that bans gay marriages in the state constitution by ensuring that it can only be between a man and a woman. The way that campaign was run, as if by having gay marriage your kids were somehow in danger, was offensive beyond belief, and was heavily supported and funded by the Mormon church in Utah, out of the state (dudes, come on, not the ones to lecture californians about marriage). I fail to see how two gay people being married hurts anybody else, or damages the sanctity of marriage, nor how it threatens the building blocks of society (it only really threatens the blockheads of society) – do they wish then to ban divorce? ‘Protect marriage’ they say – hey guess what folks, men can still marry women if gay marriage exists! Are they hoping then that children will not know about gay people at all now that they officially can’t get married? Are they hoping that by keeping homosexuals as second class citizens that children who may have grown up gay might now be saved? Are they hoping that gay people will now simply go away? Bigotry and discrimination. Why not go further and ban gay people from voting, in case their pro-gay votes damage the electoral system (please, no swing-state jokes)? Perhaps they are worried that if two men can marry each other, the system of marriage and its inherent tax and legal status benefits will be exploited to the point where it becomes a mockery. So, then, such scam or sham marriages never happen between a man and a woman? Complete lunacy.

And while out of state religious groups funded the Yes vote, it was not really about religion, or schools. A great many religious organizations opposed Prop 8, as did the California Teacher’s Association. Oh well, vote lost, now for the legal battles and appeals.

Maybe one day we’ll have a gay president. Hah, you know, I wouldn’t be surprised if we already have had one, at some point in history. Personally, I’d like to see an atheist president one day too. It’s funny, but in the system which cherishes separation of church and state, that option seems the most unlikely.

Anyway…the drawing, today, at the new shiny Silo bus terminal. That Sepia micron 05 again. I quite like it. Wonder how long it will last.

leafy mysteries

November 1, 2008November 6, 20082 Comments

Until they think warm days will never cease
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells

(John Keats, To Autumn)

Drew this house – before the rains came, obviously – in Old North Davis, and it’s my first entry on the brand new Urban Sketchers website which officially launches today. Check it out! And, I am so honoured, the banner flag on the site for launch day is a photo of my own sketchbook, in SF.

Historic North Davis… a couple of blocks just north of 5th street, downtown, where the houses are old and the streets lined with trees and old america. It’s a historic area because it’s old, not because of any great historical event. Unless you count the 2000-01 tree stand-off against PG&E, where some residents, er, stood off against PG&E cutting down trees. Hey, fair play to them. PG&E don’t live there. Don’t mess with Davis. And if they cut down the trees, I’d have nothing to put in the foreground of my drawings, would I.

I think it was Ali G who said, “you may take our trees, but you will never take our freedom!”

the old man is snoring

October 31, 2008October 31, 20082 Comments

When it rains it pours. No, this isn’t pouring, it’s bucketing, and do we need it. It rained overnight a few weeks ago, and that was the first rain in many many months, but this is the first proper rain for me – the first rain I actually get to see in the daytime. And I like it. And so do the weathermen (no that’s not a reference to bill ayers, I’m not a mccain robocaller). Now mark finan and dave bender can wheel out their fancy doppler and vipir radars, put on their best ties, and sink their teeth into some storms. California’s poor weathermen, there’s never really much for them to do.

Last time I drew from this window (in the silo, where sometimes i eat lunch), they were building that new bus terminal which is now open across the street. Back in those days, it was a lot hotter, and the dollar was really weak against the pound.