gaza protests on the quad

May 26, 2024Leave a comment

As on many campuses, here on the UC Davis Quad a group of students protesting the events in Gaza has set up camp over the past few weeks. It’s a closed off encampment with a big fence around it, unlike the Occupy camp back in 2011. So far it’s remained peaceful, and I hope it stays so. I did a quick sketch of it from the MU; while I sketched, another group set up a long banner in opposition, highlighting the hostages still held after the events on October 7 in Israel. There was a news reporter there, we had helicopters above for a bit. It remained peaceful though, and I hope it stays so, they have a right to protest. Although there have been acts of vandalism across campus, and I’m hoping that it does not attract groups intent on just causing trouble, as we’ve seen elsewhere. Still I had to sketch the camp, documentation of another moment in the campus’s history, it’s all important and there will be more moments. The Whole Earth Festival was scheduled not long after this, that’s usually on the Quad but they decided to move it this year out to Russell Field (not as much shade there).

any old iron

May 25, 2024May 24, 20241 Comment

This backflow preventer is on E Street in downtown Davis. I was starting a new little sketchbook, a pocket sized Moleskine. I like having a smaller book to carry around. It’s been a while since I’ve drawn one of these, though I still draw a hydrant every now and then, rarely in Davis since I’ve kinda sketched them all before. This one looks different depending on the angle. I could draw it from the side, it looks different. Boring conversation anyway. So, there’s going to be a General Election in the UK on July 4th? That was a shock announcement, Rishi Soon-to-be-gone getting soaked outside Number 10, but the first thing I thought is why have it on a national holiday? Wow, I’ve been living out here too long. May we live in interesting times alright. Still I do love a General Election. I like the elections in America, which seem to last years with campaign ads and endless rallies, it’s usually just a few weeks of fun in Britain, and then you wait up late watching Paxman or Dimbleby on Newsnight and the Swingometer with Peter Snow, quickly cutting to the returns on stage at Dunny on the Wold, with the Standing at the Back Dressed Stupidly and Looking Stupid Party (yes I just rewatched that episode of Blackadder, as an attempt to explain the British political system to my son; turns out satirical silliness is not quite as bizarre as current reality), and the results come in that night, and the next morning oof! the PM is booted out of Downing Street, see you later, no waiting a couple of months for them to pack up all their state secrets. And then we give it a couple of years and the PM is ousted and replaced by someone else in the party with no General Election, and then someone else has a go for a laugh, at least that’s how it’s been for the past decade. And don’t get started on the House of Lords. Fun times. When I was a teenager I’d make a chart in the fortnight up to the election showing the opinion polls for each day as they move up and down, and then on election night I’d fill in the seats as they were announced, until I would get bored and say sod it, because it was a Thursday and I had to get up for school next day because GCSEs. I am glad it’s on July 4 this time because now I can stay up late here (we’re eight hours behind so it’s not that late) and miss all the fireworks because I need to see who has won Oldham West and Royton or somewhere. Can’t wait.

Lando’s Papaya Winner

May 24, 2024Leave a comment

I do love the Formula 1. Also love a bit of Lego. This is the latest McLaren Lego set, and I happened to get it on the same weekend that McLaren’s young British driver Lando Norris happened to win his first race. Well done Lando! We like him here, he’s my son’s favourite F1 racer, and it feels so long since we had a McLaren win (that Ricciardo one); when I was growing up they were often the best. These days it’s nearly completely impossible to win a race with that fella Max Verstappen whizzing around in his Red Bull, it’s become a bit of a phenomenon but it has made it a bit boring and predictable, more so even than during the golden period of Lewis in a Mercedes or Schumacher in a Ferrari. So for Lando to win, and to be competitive with McLaren’s upgrade, with his team-mate Piastri also looking competitive (and Max’s team-mate Checo Perez not really getting close), plus Red Bull starting to crack in a big way after a few untouchable years, things are looking up. I sketched the Lego version afterwards of course, although I think my scanner doesn’t quite get the sketch right on screen. I’ve noticed this with a lot of my sketches lately, when comparing to older sketches scanned with my older scanner, and I’ve tried all the settings but it’s just not as crisp. I think I’ll try a new scanner. Like McLaren got, time for a technical upgrade. Anyway, this weekend it’s the Monaco Grand Prix, often a bit of a procession as a race, but I do love it for all the history and glamour. In fact we will go to Monaco this summer, first time in over 20 years. This weekend we’ll be cheering on Lando hoping for another win. They have changed their livery for this weekend from the usual papaya, switching to a Brazilian yellow in honour of Ayrton Senna, who died thirty years ago this month at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola. I remember it so well. I remember being really shocked the day before when Ratzenberger died in Qualifying, and was surprised the race went ahead the next day. When Senna died, at the height of being The Best, it was huge and I was really hit by it, I don’t think I’d seen a super famous sportsman I was a fan of die while in that sport that I loved. Thirty years ago, wow.

at froggy’s corner

May 19, 20242 Comments

It was a Saturday, I needed to do a sketch, I went downtown, yada yada yada. Same old story. I’m quite a boring person, truth be told. Oh well. I headed to G Street, which is still blocked off to traffic since the pandemic, so that it is more of an outdoor eating and drinking space, although a few weeks ago someone who had possibly done a lot of drinking and maybe other stuff decided to take a drive up that street and crashed into a bunch of seating. I would have read more, but I don’t subscribe to the Davis Enterprise so that was all I could really gather from the glimpse I could read before it vanished. Anyway, on this Saturday the was a little market going on, people selling second hand clothing, music was being played, there was some dancing but that might have just been the way they were walking out of the pub, and I got excited to see some old football shirts on one rack; one had a big hole in the front, the other was clearly fake. No thanks guv. I decided to stand on the corner of G and 2nd and sketch Tommy J’s, aka Froggy’s, I have drawn this place before. I used to like coming here, many years ago, and it’s not really changed much. I always loved their chicken burgers especially. They were one of several local food places featured on a TV show recently (one of that Guy Fieri guy’s shows, though thankfully he was barely in it himself) where they were looking for the best dish in Davis. I was surprised to see Sudwerk on there, having eaten there recently with the family and been quite underwhelmed (sorry Sudwerk, I still love your beer), especially when the dish they put on the telly was called fish and chips, but mate, that is not fish and chips. The ones who won it in the end was the Hotdogger, and I agree, they have some pretty great hot dogs, although I only eat the chicken variety (and not very often). Anyway, I was glad to see Tommy J’s on there, because their food always hit the spot. I must go there to eat again sometime. On this day, I sketched from the corner, standing outside the smoke shop. I had my headphones on for the most part, I was feeling a bit grumpy, and I wasn’t really enjoying my sketching. I don’t know why exactly, but I go through this, where I just don’t enjoy the process as much. Like, I love to sketch, and it does help me relax and divert my mind elsewhere, but some days I just feel like I’m chiseling away and just feeling awkward. You would think I’d be over that. I see some people’s works online, and look I don’t go comparing myself or any of that nonsense, but I see such confident lines in some people and get annoyed with myself for not being able to draw circles. I am feeling in need of a reset button, if that makes sense. I will find that again, but sometimes I am just in a funk about it. The one above I started sketching when it was sunny, but it got cloudy, so it looked a bit gloomier by the end. One guy decided to stand in front of the trash bin for a while, I didn’t want to add him in though. Another bloke came over to the little drinking fountain and started filling a large super-soaker type water gun up, but it looked like he was filling it with cranberry juice as well, so I watched him suspiciously. Another guy came up and said something to me I couldn’t hear, I took out my earpods and he was saying “come on you spurs” (I was wearing one of my many Spurs shirts) and holding his hand up for a fist bump; I still didn’t completely understand and was holding my pen, so he said it again and I got it, and was like, oh yeah, right. It was a couple of weeks after we had been thwacked 4-0 by Newcastle, and a day before we were about to lose 3-2 to the other lot down the road. I guess I’m surprised there are still fans out there. It was quite a busy afternoon, a good thing I suppose, but I got as far as I could with my sketch and went over to Froggy’s to sit and have a beer, and draw the inside. The last time I did was, I don’t know, must be over a decade ago. That is ages. I sat and drew with the brown fountain pen, but again, I wasn’t really feeling it. I didn’t eat, because I was having dinner at home shortly after, but I captured what I could. Not really a classic, but it’s me drawing what’s in front of me. I was a bit nervous thinking about Spurs v Arsenal the next day. We ended up going 3-0 down before fighting back at bit, and losing only 3-2. As I write the season just finished, and it got a bit worse for us, but then we still managed fifth, and the other lot didn’t win the league. Speaking of football, on the wall of the bar there is a mirror advertising Newcastle Brown Ale, with the famous blue star, which as you may know is the best sponsor of any football shirt in history.

another from the old north

May 16, 2024May 16, 2024Leave a comment

I love the old houses in Old North Davis, that historic neighbourhood just above 5th Street that I cycle through on my way home. This little on on D Street is so pretty with all the colourful flowers around it. I like to refer to the brilliant John Lofland book “Old North Davis” where he details the history of most of the buildings in these few blocks. If I’m right, this one is at 516 D (p.121 of his book) and was built in 1920, and the book shows a picture of original residents the Vansell family outside with a much-less developed neighbourhood behind. I think this is the one anyway. There’s a For Sale sign outside; I actually saw this house on Zillow too, and it is going for the price of just over a million bucks! It’s not as small as it looks from out here, but a million smackeroos, whew. Who knew D Street is the new Bishop’s Avenue. That’s inflation for you. For example, looking at the chart on Zillow, it was worth less than half of that at the same time I bought my own house in north Davis. What a pretty place though, and historic. The neighbours around there generally keep the places looking nice. I know from my own small weed-strewn back yard how hard that can be sometimes. I think I’d want a garage for a million big ones though. And a butler too, and a giraffe. At least we have the carport here, to keep the car shaded from this Davis sunshine (and the trees dropping massive pine cones down) (and the occasional tree as well). I wonder sometimes, if I’m here long enough, will I sketch everywhere that is in Lofland’s book? Maybe.

penny farthings at the picnic day parade

May 15, 2024May 14, 2024Leave a comment

Last month was the annual UC Davis Picnic Day, the largest university open house event in America, and a tradition that’s been going on since 1909. It’s also a day that usually fills me with a bit of dread, with so many people coming to campus, I usually try to find a way to get out of town. It can be pretty busy, not to mention all the parties going on. Still it can be fun, and we always like the parade. So this year we went down and found a spot by the Quad to watch the Picnic Day Parade go past. It was a good one this year, and I tried to get a quick sketch of it all, though it’s not easy to draw things marching past. I sketched the crowd and the trees before the parade arrived, and while I’d thought I might sketch the marching band or maybe even the fleet of DeLoreans, it was the Penny Farthings I ended up sketching, the symbol of the city of Davis. After the parade, we walked about a bit, my wife and mother in law got some plants from the Plant Science dept, we all got an expensive round of smoothies, then we decided to ditch campus and walk downtown to the Farmers Market.

Here’s a lot more information about Picnic Day: https://picnicday.ucdavis.edu/history

May the Porsche be with you

May 14, 2024Leave a comment

I saw this beauty down on 2nd Street in Davis, opposite the Varsity. Lovely Porsche. I don’t know the model, I assumed it was a Carrera, a 911 maybe. I should be like an expert on these things, but having not studied them whatsoever I think that disqualifies me from being an expert. I just love how they look. It reminds me of my favourite Autobot from the Transformers, Jazz, who was a Porsche. Beautiful shape this one. I stood outside the Avid Reader Active and sketched this (adding the colour later), it’s always nice to have a classic car in your sketchbook. I saw another silver Porsche parked around the corner, and an even shinier Auston Healy a couple of blocks away. I wish I could have sketched them all! It’s been a while since I went to one of those classic car events.

the downtown aprils

May 11, 2024May 11, 2024Leave a comment

Here are a few downtown sketches from recently, I have more but why drop them all at once, this isn’t Netflix. Still you get four here, so that feels like dropping a mini-series and then dropping part two later. Maybe it’s more like a Disney+ series in that it’s got no real story and goes ultimately nowhere. Or it’s just a few more sketches of this place I’ve been living for the past eighteen and a half years. Right, above, that’s the side of the Natsoulas Gallery, and that big dog made of records and cat made of pottery, I’ve drawn them before. I know I should tell new stories to go along with these sketches, but I’m not going to, I’m just plodding on.

I think I have not drawn this building before, on F Street up by 5th. I mean, I’ve not had much reason to. This time, I quite liked the shadow I guess. There’s an eyebrow shop there, which reminds me of Ebenezer Blackadder’s moustache shop (in our favourite Christmas TV show). I saw an eyebrow shop in Riverside called “Eyebrows-R-Us” which made me look twice. I was going to pop in, hoping someone would ask me if I’m looking for anything particular, and I would say “No, I just came in for a browse,” but that would have been pretty a weak gag. Next door is the place that does these ‘Hump Bikes’, which are shaped a bit liked mopeds, but electric and silent, and apparently totally allowed in the bike lane, where they move much more quickly than regular bikes and appear suddenly beside me. They give me the hump. I drew this on a day when I was really risking things by being outside, because the allergens have been particularly strong lately. Sure enough, I ended up sneezing over and over, as per usual.

Here’s a place I have sketched before, on the corner of B and 3rd. I think it’s Sam’s Falafel Hut now, I remember it used to be Ciocolat. Things move around in Davis. I stood in the shade of the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame to draw this. I’ve never been in there either. I ride a bike around all the time, but I suppose I’ve never been that interested in seeing the Hall of Fame for riding a bike. There was one time during the pandemic that I rode from downtown to home to pick up a key and then down to campus in the fastest time possible, because one of our visiting faculty had locked themself out of their office and needed to start their online class, and I was out for lunch while working from home. It was a legendary ride. Maybe it should go in the Hall of Fame, is that how that works? I don’t know. I watch the Tour de France on TV sometimes, it’s probably more stuff like that. I think the main reason I’ve never gone in is because I don’t really like drawing bikes. I’m a bit rubbish at circles. Don’t start looking at my car wheels now though, thank you.

The last one is from D Street or somewhere. I think they do hair or nails or moustaches or something here. I just like the shape of the triangular roof. I have drawn a lot of D Street lately. I draw a lot in general. I was going to do a sketchcrawl last week, another Let’s Draw Davis, on May the 4th. I made it Star Wars themed. It absolutely bucketed down that day. Normally I wouldn’t mind sketching int he rain, and I could go inside and sketch anyway, but it was one of those days, I wasn’t feeling that great, so I stayed in and stayed comfortable. That evening though we did go downtown to the Varsity Theatre to watch the rereleased showing of The Phantom Menace. Great stuff! More Davis sketches to come.

a block of second street

May 9, 2024Leave a comment

After Spring Break, the Spring Quarter began, another busy time but at least it wasn’t Winter Quarter. In my Quest To Draw Every Inch of Davis (not a real quest) I decided to go down to 2nd Street to sketch Logos Books, the little second-hand bookshop on the corner of the row, and Soccer and Lifestyle next door, the soccer themed shop that I first went into back in 2005 when we drove over to Davis for the day, and I wandered downtown while my wife interviewed at this university called UC Davis that I had never heard of until a few days before. I’m football shirt crazy, and I love a good book, so I’ve spent a bit of time in here over the years (admittedly quite a lot more time in Soccer and Lifestyle, I am really really obsessed with football shirts, I mean ‘soccer jerseys’), so a sketch of this block is long overdue. I came back a couple of days alter to draw the rest of the block, the part where Philz Coffee is located. I’ve never been in there, I don’t drink coffee (it’s not my cup of tea, literally) but I should pop in sometimes. Ach, I’ve really spent a lot of my time in this town. This used to be where De Luna jewellers was (that is what it was called isn’t it? The memory is going as the years get further away). I drew that once on a rainy day in about 2008, if memory serves (I usually remember drawings well enough). I stood outside the now-empty closed-since-covid Uncle Vito’s to draw this.

24 hours in Vegas

May 8, 2024May 9, 2024Leave a comment

At the end of the Utah trip, we spent the night in Las Vegas. We stayed at the Venetian – well, the Palazzo, the equally fancy and lavish massive hotel next door that’s an extension of the Venetian. It was very very nice. Our room was on the 45th floor, the hotels in Vegas can be pretty enormous. Our window overlooked one of Vegas’s newest curios, The Sphere, an absolutely massive ball covered in a wraparound LED screen, displaying all sorts of animations and advertisements. There’s a big concert venue inside, I know U2 were playing there last year. I had to draw it. There was a giant animated emoji that would come up, that was easier to sketch than the goldfish bowl. Sometimes it would turn into a big basketball. Honestly, it’s really made to be turned into a Death Star isn’t it. There’s a lot of Vegas behind it, with an airplane landing way below us. Strange being so high up. It’s been a little while since I was last in Vegas, actually I think it was the layover I had in 2019, when I stayed at the seriously aging Luxor. It’s twenty years this year since my wife and I got married in Las Vegas! Before our wedding we stayed at the Luxor, and for the wedding itself we were at the Rio. For our honeymoon, we went to the Venetian, which was our favourite of the big themed resorts. It’s brilliant. That shop Michael Jackson used to buy his tacky junk in is still there. Back then in 2004 we had a nice dinner at a restaurant called the Canaletto, on the indoor St Marks Square; we went back all these years later for a lovely meal. This time was our son’s first trip to Vegas, and we were going to see the Beatles ‘Love’ show by Cirque du Soleil at the Mirage. My wife and I last saw that show in 2011! It’s a brilliant performance, and my son loved it. And a few weeks later, we learned after 16 years the show is closing. What a shame! I’m glad I got to see it (twice). Anyway, before the show we walked down the Strip a bit, and it was pretty packed, bit too busy for me. After our Utah trip and the long journey across the desert, and dinner and shops and the show, we slept well that night. Of course, I was a little nervous about scorpions; I’d heard that a man last year had been stung on his (ahems) in his bed at the Venetian by a scorpion in his sheets. I triple-checked the sheets that night!

When I got up I went out sketching on the Strip, which was a little less busy than the night before, but not without the lads carrying around those long plastic margarita containers and those ladies dressed as showgirls getting people to take photos with them for tips. I stood in the shade underneath the bridge next to the traffic and sketched the Strip, until I got a bit bored of standing there, and left it at that. We didn’t do too much more in Vegas, except we drove down the Strip towards the older downtown, looking for the place we got married, Cupid’s Wedding Chapel. It’s a little rougher down there, and one block just off the Strip was cordoned off by the cops. We looked for the chapel, with its distinctive red heart-shaped sign, but unfortunately, it’s gone. That was a shame! Nothing sits still for too long in Vegas…