opposite ends of the day

September 16, 2010September 16, 20102 Comments

Now this is an actual sunset. I love watching the Sun go down behind Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, as i often do when waiting for the Amtrak bus to take me back to Emeryville, and from there back to Davis. I say often, I really only go to SF three or four times a year, but I feel like I know it pretty well now. I like catching the early train to the Bay Area, when the Sun casts long shadows across the Delta and the grass is golden and the hills are brown. Actually I really like it when the Delta is covered in thick early morning fog, but it’s harder to draw things when it’s like that. Anyway, the sketch below (the now common sketch of the Pepsi Max can and train window) was done on the way there, the sketch above was done on the way back.

sunset doesn’t last all evening

September 15, 2010September 15, 20102 Comments

More from the Inner Sunset, San Francisco. Following the ZineFest I did some sketching first in Golden Gate Park and then around 9th and Irvine Streets. I’m really grateful for those newspaper boxes you get in big cities in America, because it’s something to stand against and lean upon, as I did when sketching the middle image of this tryptich. That store, Tutti Frutti, was too colourful not to sketch. They sell lots of interesting little bits and bobs, cards, t-shirts, miscellany. I like drawing in these little segments, running them together, but it’s fun to see how they look on their own as well, so I’ve cropped the middle piece.

Apparently (I’m told by my wife) I have been around here before, when we stopped by for a doughnnut almost five years ago, days after moving to America. That five-years-since-emigration date is approaching fast; I should celebrate. Half a decade in the US… wow. Anyway, if I recall it was a nice doughnut.

I sketched Sutro Tower from the Park in glorious sunshine. It’s such an odd structure, like an invading insectoid alien stuck on a hill. I can imagine lazers popping from his eyes and zapping everyone in the Mission or the Sunset, before being laughed at. This might be a good zine, if anyone wants to write it (I don’t).

The last image was from The Mucky Duck pub on 9th. I liked it in there, it was a good pub to sit and draw things, especially the way the light came in through that slanted window. The only problem wa there were some people playing that annoying dice game people sometimes play in pubs here, do you know the one, where they slam the dice (or whatever) down onto the bar or table making a loud slamming noise every thirty seconds or so, so loud that you can’t concentrate on your drawing, your conversation, your beer, anything. They should really tell them, oi, no! Go and play ‘penny-up’ in the street or something.

So I only stayed for one, before grabbing some food, sprinting down the street to catch the N-Judah, and trekking back to Davis. I have some more sketches from that day to show though, so stay tuned… (hint: it includes fire hydrants)

inner sunset

September 14, 2010Leave a comment

“Inner Sunset”… i like that phrase, like a good way to describe slowly turning to the dark side, or perhaps a piece of you inside of you that is always calm and golden and peaceful. Actually, it’s just a neighbourhood of San Francisco, but an interesting one that I’d never really been to before (and one which has a park side). I was there for the Zine Fest so I took the time to draw some of the area. The above was drawn in the morning, while the Farmer’s Market went on nearby, and a woman played three different tunes on a violin, over and over and over again. When I was done, I went and bought a load of zines.

a change of zinery

September 9, 2010September 9, 20109 Comments

After missing it for the past couple of years, I went on Sunday to the San Francisco Zine Fest. I like zines – I came across some a few years ago in a comic shop in Berkeley and was hooked, but I don’t find them very often. It was at the SF County Hall building, by Golden Gate Park. I arrived early (taking the longtrain journey down from Davis) and did some sketching around the Inner Sunset area, which I’d never explored before. I’ll post those sketches later. In the ZineFest, I took to some people sketching.

This mohican/mohawked zinester just needed sketching. I don’t see mnay of those haircuts these days. There used to be loads in London years ago, now they are just restricted to postcards of Piccadilly Circus. It must take ages to do each morning. What if part of it flops down to one side at some point during the day, do you need to keep checking it in the mirror? These things would be on my mind, that’s why I could never have one (that and the curly hair). I didn’t ask, but thought it would make a great zine. Well, maybe not that great.

As I sketched, another woman starting sketching (she wasn’t sketching the mohican though), so I sketched her. Sketching is contagious.

I spent a lot of time flicking through zines, talking to the zinesters who created them, and eventually avoiding this after I realised I just kept buying zines and my bag was getting heavy. I liked a lot of the stuff which was personal and drawing-based, and funny. Not all of the zine world my cup of tea, of course. Overly wordy zines put me off a little, and some of the anarchist stuff wasn’t really my thing. Some which I thought might be good turned out to be not quite so good, while many others were real gems and revealed some everyday creativity, which inspires me so much.

I have a phrase which I wrote out on a post-it note once and kept on my desk, “Every story is worth telling. But not every story is worth listening to.” and I thought of this often while flicking through the racks of zines. Actually, I prefer to transpose that sentence by saying, “Not every story is worth listening to, but every story is worth telling.” To me that makes more sense, and I like the attitude that even if there are those who aren’t all that interested in your story or picture or what you do, it is your story and if it matters to you then it’s worth it. Make what you like. Maybe someone else will relate to it. That’s why I appreciate zines, as little tangible hold-in-your-hand (and importantly, independent) pieces of someone’s personal story, mode of expression. (Yes, even the anarchist ones where they are describing kicking some BNP guy in the head at the train station.) One of the zines I bought that day was called ’31’ and described 31 things the author (Marissa Falco) liked (in drawing and photocollage), to celebrate her 31st birthday. I think I bought it simply because I related to the idea (and also because one of the ‘likes’ was a uniball vision pen).

I went to a couple of the workshops, one very interesting one on zine-style bookbinding (I am getting more interested in the idea of binding zines, and sketchbooks, as many of my fellow sketchers already do so nicely). Another of the workshops was a presentation by some fellow Brits, a group of zinesters who are touring the US zine events with their work under the title ‘Zines on Toast’. They are involved in the organizing of the London Zine Symposium, which looks great, and were recently in Portland (snap!) which as I discovered is like a mecca of zinery (Reading Frenzy being a highlight).

One zinester I was particularly hoping to come across was Joey Sayers, whose zine/comic “I’m Gonna Rip Yer Face Off” is what got me interested in zines in the first place, picked up at Comic Relief in Berkeley several years ago. Unfortunately I gave it away to my nephew and then forgot who wrote it. I was pleased to come across Joey selling her latest work, and I could only buy one (her latest collection of ‘Thingpart’ called “I wish you were dead”) as I’d spent most of my money on other zines. Her comics are ridiculously funny, after skimming one page I was cracking up where I stood. Without a doubt the best thing I got that day and I’ll be getting more; you should check out her site.

Will I finally come out with zines of my own? Yes it’s in the pipeline, I’ve long been thinking about converting my already-made little drawn serials into zines, and also writing others, zine-format specific. I’ve had a few ideas. Post-Portland I’m more serious about getting this done and out there. If I do, next year I might bring them with me.

sc27: epilogue

May 19, 20101 Comment

After the Sketchcrawl, I popped down to 2nd and Minna to a place I like to visit each time I go to the city: Eddie Rickenbacker’s, a cool pub which has many antique motorbikes hanging from the wall. They also have an enormous cat called Mr. Higgins. Last time I was there, I played several games of chess against my friend Simon,while he discovered that shots of whiskey in California are much bigger than in England! Coming in to warm up and relax, I just had to get one more sketch in, and drew one of the bikes on the ceiling above the bar. It was a 1919 Triumph.

I like the Sketchcrawls. The next one will be at the end of July, when I will be at the Urban Sketching Symposium in Portland. Anyway, here is a map of where I drew last Saturday.

And to see everyone else’s results from San Francisco, visit the Sketchcrawl Forum! There are some really cool sketches there. It was a great creative mixer.

sc27: joined in the race to the rainbow’s end

May 19, 20104 Comments

Keep on ‘crawling.the meeting end-point was at Union Square, but that was many blocks away from the Financial District where I was. I really had to draw some newspaper boxes. Being from the UK these boxes seem so ‘America’ to me. I don’t mean the ones where you get the free paper, like the ones in London that stock all those Aussie magazines like TNT (do they even still have them?), but the ones where you put in your money and take a single newspaper (even though any thief could just nick the lot). I think of Superman, with Clark Kent getting his tie caught. But with newspapers closing nationwide, these things could very well be a historical relic (like the phonebox…)

Something else you don’t see much in American cities these days are streetcar cables, hanging over the traffic. San Francisco still has lots of them; I drew some on the corner of Post and Kearny. These cables remind me of Europe, but not London, where we haven’t had them for donkey’s years (incidentally, if you ever buy a donkey calendar they are incredibly good value because donkey’s years are very long. Never, ever buy a dog calendar though.)

Fire hydrants however will never go out of fashion (at least I don’t think so). I love them, another reminder of ‘America’ (and possibly a Superman film again). We don’t have them like this in the UK. Did you know it’s illegal (or at the very least a bad idea) to park in front of one? If you do, fireman can smash your windows to run the hose through it, I am told. Seems like a bit of an effort, while rushing to put out a fire, threading the hose through the car, squeezing over the seat, meanwhile buildings are burning down. Think about that before parking there next time.

And so the final meet-up in Union Square. I ambled in, saw the sketchers plotted about in clusters, didn’t see anyone I recognized, so sat and drew Union Square’s palm trees. Eventually sketchbooks were passed around and I spoke to some other sketchers, including Enrico Casarosa (Sketchcrawl’s founder), and met fellow Urban Sketchers correspondents Gary Amaro and Marc Taro Holmes, among other very interesting artists. It’s always a big learning experience to meet other sketchers all with very individual styles.

It got cold, as the fog was rolling in, and so after a little while I called it a day. Well nearly a day, still had just a little more sketching to do before going home. More to come…

sketchcrawl 27: down by the bay

May 16, 2010May 27, 20104 Comments

I took the Amtrak down to San Francisco to join the popular SF crawl. It was an early start for me, the 7:55 Amtrak that I’ve taken many times before. Naturally I just had to draw a quick sketch on the train, while reading the excellent graphic novel Preacher. I wonder if there’s a Saint of Sketchers?

The crawl officially began at around 10:30 by the Ferry Building. Enrico, the Sketchcrawl founder, came by to say the end spot would be Union Square, not Vesuvio – a good decision as there was quite a crowd. (I wished I had an iphone to update the forum, in case latecomers went there). It was a grey and foggy morning; no need for the colourful paints just yet!

There were a few familiar faces there, and I sketched while munching a chocolate walnut brownie bought from the Farmer’s Market (oh man they’re good). An annoying clarinetist provided ‘entertainment’, but seemed unable to ever get past the first bar or so of ‘old macdonald’ before calling out to passing tourists. He was incredibly irritating.

sc27: at ferry building
As sketchcrawlers started to disperse, I headed off, accompanied by fellow sketchers Jana Bouc and Sonia. I wanted to go into the Hyatt and go up to look out of one of the high-up windows. We cheekily managed to get to the members-only top floor regency club, where the staff very nicely allowed us to sketch from their 360-degree window. The view was incredible, and the sun was burning the fog and bringing out the colour.

More to come!

worldwide sketchcrawl 27

May 12, 2010May 27, 20106 Comments

This Saturday is the 27th Worldwide Sketchcrawl, a global sketching event taking place simultaneously in cities and towns and villages etc across the planet. The Sketchcrawl event was founded by Enrico Casarosa just over five years ago and quickly caught on. I will be sketching in San Francisco; if you’d like to join in, we’ll be starting at about 10:30/11 at the Ferry Building, and finishing at about 4:30, most likely at Vesuvio’s on Columbus. For details, please visit the Sketchcrawl Forum (links to the SF crawl section).

I’ve done a few Sketchcrawls over the past few years. Some of them I have done alone (sketching being a very personal activity after all), on others I have met up at the start and end but wandered my own path in between. The end is often the best bit (other than the actual sketching itself), when you get to compare everyone’s sketchbooks and see how they drew and interpreted the same things you drew. Then we all go home and scan and post on the forum, and take a look at what other people did in their cities around the world. Here are some posts of sketchcrawls (or at least, official sketchcrawl days) I’ve participated in in the past:

San Francisco Sketchcrawl, Saturday May 15, 2010:

Start: @10:30, outside Peet’s Coffee, Ferry Building (Embarcadero)

End: @4:30, Vesuvio’s, Columbus St (North Beach/Financial District) to be confirmed!

the stars of track and field

March 2, 2010March 2, 20103 Comments

The Capitol Corridor Amtrak train ride between the Bay Area and Davis is one of my favourite train journeys, not least because the big Amtrak trains are remarkable to travel in. I used to like the Eurostar, years ago, when I used to zip between Waterloo and Bruxelles Midi, but the last time I did it I was amazed at how uncomfortable and cramped I felt, compared to these big American Amtraks. It’s always nicer when you have a table though, so you can spread out your drawing materials. In these cases, it’s obligatory to draw. I usually draw some of the quick moving bird-filled Delta landscape, capture some of the shimmering reflection of the sky in the San Pablo Bay with its lonely shacks and forgotten piers, and the colourful factories and refineries that dot the shoreline around Martinez, Benicia, Richmond. Or I just draw the empty seats in fron of me, which is nice too. I had grabbed a bunch of Amtrak timetables at Emeryville station, ones for the long cross-country routes such as the Zephyr, which goes across the Rockies and over the Plains from here to Chicago, the Coast Starlight, climbing up the Pacific states from LA to Seattle, and the Sunset Limited, running along the hot southern US from California to New Orleans. I look at them romantically, longingly, having once before travelled around Europe on the railway tracks, with the Thomas Cook European Timetable as my Bible; it’s always been a dream to see America from the sides rather than from above.

That was how I ended that brief jaunt to San Francisco, with my visiting friend from England. One last sketch to share, from that morning at Fisherman’s Wharf, while the skies were falling in big wet buckets outside, I was indoors at the Musee Mecanique, one of my favourite places in the city. I’ve sketchblogged about this place before, a year ago in fact (note the Amtrak train drawing also at the top of that eerily mirrored post), but it’s always worth showing again. Remember these arm-wrestling things you used to get at fairgrounds? I always hated them personally, but couldn’t resist drawing this one.

with never a whisper in the sea

February 27, 20108 Comments

I got up early on Sunday morning, to see what San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf looks like without all the slow-walking touristy people milling about. It looked better. I thought of how much more I like it, being near the sea. But it was very foggy, and then it started raining. It was ‘mizzly’. I went back to the hotel for a bit, and drew the view from the window, looking out towards Coit Tower (below). I went back out, when the sourdough-bread-and-sealion-photographing masses had emerged, and I drew a boat (above), while tucked away under some shelter. I like drawing boats these days; if it hadn’t been so rainy, and if I’d had more time, I’d have drawn boats all day long.

Telegraph Hill reminds me of a Provençal hill town, such as Gordes or Lourmarin, in this drawing.

Incidentally, the Pier 39 sealions appear to have gone. I’d heard that they had moved on from their home, which they have occupied since the 1989 earthquake. A few remain, honking for the cameras, but the rest have swum away.