as free as the wind blows

February 5, 2014Leave a comment

This is Freeborn Hall, UC Davis. It’s a big building near the Memorial Union, and from what I understand, this will be its last year, at least in its present form. There are many on campus who will mourn its loss, so I thought I’d better add it to the roster of things I have sketched in this town. To be honest I’ve never really liked this building much, and that is partly because it’s a bugger to sketch – those trees in front normally block any decent view when they are leafy, and it’s so long and sloping that you need to do a panorama to catch it all. So I did a panorama, to catch it all. Click on the image for a larger view. This was drawn on location furiously over one extended lunchtime and colored in later on at home.

Yeah, I’ve never been a big Freeborn fan, since I went to see an Art Brut gig here about four years ago or so, late 2009 I think it was. I don’t know why Art Brut, a band I followed back in the early days in London and have seen in San Francisco, chose this particular venue as it was completely the wrong place for a band like them: a cavernous empty arena with about fifty or so fans huddled in front of the long stage for warmth. The band were excellent, playing many of my favourite tracks at full belt, but by their nature they are best in more intimate spaces with more people packed in (that said, first time I saw them was at the Tate playing alongside David Devant in a spatially weird but utterly compelling gig). Getting inside Freeborn was a hassle too, with the slightly paranoid security checking every part of every person coming in, more thorough pat-downs than I’ve had even at an airport, not even allowing things such as coins or dollar bills to remain in pockets (I was told to put my money on a table where it was blowing around in the strong wind while they searched my jacket for illicit objects). I understand they have their security, but it felt well over the top for any gig I have ever been to, especially as it was such a small crowd (put it this way, I’m pretty sure they don’t search the attendees at the Whole Earth Festival like that). Inside, there was nowhere to get a drink; not that I am looking for a full bar, like, but I couldn’t even find a vending machine for a diet Coke, just a small water-fountain. So yes, not a place I’d enjoy going to a gig again, but Art Brut of course were great that night, and the novelty of them being in Davis is still funny to me (hey by the way, Art Brut released their 10-year anniversary album last April, “Top of the Pops”, and if you download the free app that accompanies the album – search on iTunes – you will find an original comic drawn for every single song, and two of them were drawn by me! Part of Classic Rock’n’Roll history, mate.)

I’ve been to other events at Freeborn as part of work, a seminar here, an event there. Freeborn though is well known as the location of beloved Davis radio station KDVS, and you gotta love them. Hopefully I will get to go and sketch their immense record collection sometime before Freeborn is redeveloped.

on a street where a tall man poses

January 29, 20141 Comment

This panorama is from a week or so ago, drawn while sitting down on 1st Street on Martin Luther King Jr Day. I sat there sketching for nearly three hours, and still had to finish off the rest of the colour when I got home! It’s those trees, I am trying to look at all the branches, it’s maddening. But great fun, huh! I listened to some podcasts (history, football) and some music (spot the David Devant reference in this post’s title). This scene, latest in my ‘panoramarathon’, shows a row of fraternity houses (all part of Theta Xi, which as I’ve said before is probably the frat house for trainee cab drivers), ending up on the right with the John Natsoulas gallery. This is a whole block between D and E Streets. If you have never been to davis before, well looking through my sketchbook these days is getting to be a hand-drawn Streetview. On the far right (geographically not politically) you can see a large sculpture of a colourful looking figure, a tall man posing, with a head that looks like an old diving suit helmet. It glows up at night like a sentry guarding the entrance to downtown. I don’t know what aliens arriving here would think, but to be fair they would probably not be coming in off of I-80, they’d probably land their saucers in the Quad or beam into Central Park or something. I can’t speak for aliens (although in American terminology I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien, I’m an Englishman in Davis, though I suppose I prefer ‘Briton’ or ‘Londoner’) (ok fine I’m a Martian I admit it).

Here is a closer view, for those without built-in Martian zoom-vision. There were a lot of red vehicles parked out on the street that day, I didn’t just paint them that way to break up the beige and white monotony.

And this dry weather continues. Some trees are already starting to blossom. Temperatures have been in the high 70s all week.

More panoramas to come, but boy they eat up your time (or my time rather). I’ll have this book finished by the end of the month.

sketching to music

January 26, 20142 Comments

(Click on the image for a bigger view) Saturday evening last week I was invited to a double-birthday party for a local musician, David Hafter, and his son Noah, also a musician. It was at a place called Third Space, on Olive Drive in Davis, and I sketched the above panorama because panoramas are what I’m sketching! But I also did a couple more; below left, a sketch of Noah playing his set (I gave the sketch to him), and one of Neon Lights (bottom right), many of the members of whom also play in David Hafter’s band Wealth of Nations (above). Regular visitors may remember that I sketched this band before on a couple of occasions in the Fall. The music was very nice, and I always sketch more quickly when listening to music – it’s the rhythm I think! Anyway, it was a nice evening, and many thanks to David for the invite.

all these places have their moments

January 21, 2014Leave a comment

This is a scene found at UC Davis, the rear of Walker Hall. It is a view that has changed considerably over the years since I’ve worked there, well I say considerably, there used to be a wall and more cactus where the brown earthy space is now. A lot has been done to improve this whole corridor, make it more open and accessible, especially with the shiny Student Community Center next door (which I sketched last year). It is interesting to see how the campus changes over the years. This building however appears not to have changed itself, and I like that old-school look it still has. Its near-neighbour Hart Hall is still a beloved campus icon, but the similarly-coloured and tiled Boiler Building is now gone. During a very busy week I have struggled to keep it all together, but I found that I would have more focus if I got out to sketch furiously at lunchtime. I have had a mild cold too, so stepping out into the warm weather with that bit of sunshine made me feel pretty good. I did all of the ink in one lunchtime for this one (it’s not that detailed) but coloured it in later. See the lamp-post banner to the right, these have popped up across campus lately showcasing the hardworking people who make UCD what it is (I doubt I would get one though!) Been extremely busy lately though; busy is good. So it’s important to balance busy with creative, and the Panoramarathon continues. Click on the image for a larger view.

By the way, thought you might like to know I just read “The Fifth Beatle: the Brian Epstein Story“, an absolutely excellent graphic novel by Vivek Tiwary, with art by Andrew C. Robinson. Best thing I have read in ages, an astonishing piece of work, and an excellent example of how well a story is best told in graphic novel format. Some things only drawn images can really convey. It’s utterly beautiful, and Brian himself is encapsulating in his enthusiasm, but most beguiling of all was his assistant Moxie, from start to finish. By the end of the story I was almost tearful (yes you read that right). I’ll be re-reading this one for a long time.

in the long dry winter

January 19, 2014January 20, 20147 Comments

The sunshine continues. We have a bit of an emergency here in California, with the whole not raining thing. They may even end up rationing water. Let’s have a little bit of rain, please! I remember a few years ago we had a similar situation and then a huge weekend of rain refilled everything and we were like, ok never mind. This time we’ll need a bit more I reckon. Some snow in the mountains, water in our reservoirs, and occasionally a cloud in the sky perhaps. However while it is sunny I will still draw those shadows against those buildings. I got out one lunchtime for another panorama, and with this one I packed a hello of a lot of inkwork into my hour, helped by listening to the second Beady Eye album (which I must say I am really enjoying). I added some of the detailings and the the paint later at home. This is First Street, Davis, the block closest to campus, opposite the parking lot. A very common sight for many UCD employees on their way to work. I have sketched the big white building on the left (with the ‘Dutch Colonial’ roof) on a couple of occasions, but not the Delta-Delta-Delta frat house (it’s actually a sorority) and the building next to it. It’s funny, the panoramas much warmer on the right, with warmer colours and leaves on the trees, while to the left the scene is colder, leafless, much less colour.Like going from Winter to Spring. Winter, haha. Davis didn’t have a ‘Winter’ this year.
Here are a couple of closer views.

One thing you may notice on the sorority house is that it got tp’d – toilet paper thrown over it. You get that here occasionally. You’d think they’d wipe that practice out.

Panoramarathon “rolls” on…

in restless dreams i walked alone

January 14, 20146 Comments

My spare time is spent sketching the streets of Davis, over and over again. Last Saturday it was actually a little bit cloudy (that is basically our winter, right there) and so in the afternoon I biked down to E Street to continue the Panoramarathon. Yes, the panoramarathon that’s my word, I try to say it a lot, with different stresses every time, I keep wanting to say Panathinaikos or Parasaurolophus, but I’m getting the hang of it. I stood opposite De Vere’s Irish Pub (you’ve seen the inside of that on my sketchblog before) and Bizarro World comics. There are two places I am glad are right next to each other. I love to go to the comic shop, maybe pick something up and pop into De Vere’s for a pint to read it. This time I just picked up a 2014 Marvel Comics calendar. This year I have decided to read a lot more comics, in both paper form and digitally; I have downloaded a couple of good graphic novels on sale on Comixology, and I am considering a subscription to Marvel Unlimited to catch up on years of old comics in digital form. I have been buying more paper comics too, they are works of art and it’s nice to buy stuff at comic shops, I’m grateful they exist. A comics education to come for me this year.

Here are a couple of closer views from each side of the panorama:

I sketched with my headphones on, listening to a history podcast (“In Our Time” with Melvyn Bragg – if you want to hear Mr. Bragg rushing historians through their subjects and getting annoyed with them because they’re not saying exactly how many Vikings fought at Stamford Bridge and then chiding them for taking too long, this is your podcast). As I sketched, a young man with a guitar on his back came up to me, and gestured as if to say something. I took off my headphones and he said, “Are you pretending to be an artist?”

You what? “Are you pretending to be funny?” I replied straight away, and he walked off. What the hell? Strange thing to come up and say to someone. Anyway next day I was in Newsbeat, buying a Snickers bar, when someone behind me said, “Oh wow Snickers, that is good shit that, I survived up the top of a mountain eating only Snickers.” I examined the chocolate bar and said, “yeah, I’ve never heard of Snickers before, thanks.” Then I realised, I think it was the same guy, perhaps he goes around downtown Davis saying stupid things? Like I go round drawing stuff, maybe that’s his thing, a ‘say-stupid-things-crawl’? Or maybe it was two different people, or I imagined it and just need to get more sleep. All things are possible.

So this right here is in the very heart of downtown Davis, E St between 2nd and 3rd. The next panorama I will post is on the other side of this block and mirrors it in some ways. Panoramarathon (or ‘Panoramasnickers’ as it will soon be known) continues…

panoramarathon: olson and sproul

January 14, 20144 Comments

I love this new word, “Panoramarathon”. I have invented it, so there. It’s what I am using t describe my current burst of energy, I’ve done six in a row in my Seawhite book now (finally using it for what I actually bought it for, page after page of full-on panoramas) and will just keep going, especially while this weather continues (the Polar Vortex – a word I didn’t invent but whoever did is probably enjoying this one – didn’t get to California so we’re having balmy days in the high 60s and low 70s). This above was a lunchtime sketch (inked on site and coloured at home) of Olson Hall and Sproul Hall, two big UC Davis buildings. I need to draw more campus so I am going to do that, even those big white repetitive buildings I don’t like much. This is number 4 of the panoramarathon. Click on the image for a larger view.

Hey why not join in? Ok folks here it is, “Panoramarathon 2014” see how many consecutive two-page panoramas you can do. Ok, ready…GO!

when the half light makes for a clearer view

January 13, 20143 Comments

Sophia’s Bar, Davis. Click on the image to see a larger version. 2014 has started as a very busy little year so far, with not enough time to sketch. Not enough time..? Well, make time. I’ve been feeling a little headless-chicken-esque, so one Wednesday evening I decided I needed to go and pour myself into another bar panorama, this time at Sophia’s, a bar which I have sketched before, but I had not included the fishtank before. The fishtank was going in this time, for sure. My friend Tel, who I grew up with but now lives in Korea for some reason, would like that fishtank. Years ago he used to make me go with him after school all the way to a shop in Colindale called Vibratanks to see the tropical fish in their bright tanks, his nose pressed against the glass staring at the tetras and guppies and swordtails. To get him back, I would make him come to WH Smith in Brent Cross where I’d spend ages looking at pens, travel guides and adventure gamebooks. In a twist of irony he now sells books, while I am sketching fishtanks. Anyway, I sat with an amber beer and covered the pages in paint before going in with the pen. I was spotted by the owner Kenneth who remembered my previous sketch, it was nice to meet him. After sketching the wider view I went to sit at the bar to get a better view of the bottles, and spent a good deal of time chatting to people, many from all over the world, while scribbling away continually. I am on a bit of a roll with these panoramas now, and have done a few more since then (yet to post; I am calling it the ‘panoramarathon’) but still 2014 continues to be busy, busy, busy. I’ve just remembered that when I am so so busy, and so so stressed, it’s always best to balance it with some art. No time for it? Make time for it. You’ll be glad you did.

final stretch of the year

January 3, 2014Leave a comment

This was the very last bit of urban sketching I did in 2013. I went down to C Street and sketched this frat house, with the Davis Community Church on the corner of 4th St, in the very clear blue sky weather. Well, I say weather. This is the Land that Weather Forgot. The first New Year’s Eve I ever spent here, there was a massive rainstorm, and whole swathes of the local area were flooded. I remember cycling to the edge of town on New Year’s Day to look at what were effectively new lakes where fields used to be. I was so new to town I just expected it to always be like that. Well, it isn’t. It didn’t rain very much in 2013, barely at all. Lately the weather has just been well, nothing. Not even cloudy. It’s not like I want ice storms and tornadoes or anything, but it feels like whoever is in charge of weather here left it on one setting and then went missing. Anyway… 2013 is over, and here’s the last panorama. This frat house is new, built only recently. It replaces a very similar looking frat house, one much older that was demolished last year. That building was well known among former Davis students, a fairly grotty place by many accounts, but much loved and one of the oldest (perhaps the oldest) building in town. Well this one i here now, overlooking Central Park, and it catches the afternoon shadows in the same way so finally it’s in a Scully sketchbook. I like a panorama. Below are the two halves of it, larger so you can see them better.

rows of houses all bearing down on me

January 2, 20143 Comments

Happy New Year! I hope 2014 is at least one year better than 2013 was. Here is a panoramic sketch I did a few days ago in downtown Davis, on the stretch of 3rd Street in between C and D. We’ve had some pretty mild weather here lately, sunny, not that cold. Quite dull in fact. Good weather for standing in the street sketching, but not the sort of weather you expect around the end of the year. While sketching this I listened to a couple of podcasts, one about history (the Black Death) and one about language (the Old English alphabet). Gettin’ medieval on yo’ ass, as they say. The small building in the middle with the crazy coloured patterns on it, that is an old building I’d wanted to sketch for a few years simply because it was so old and ramshackle, and then they went and gave it that psychedelic paint job. This is the way in Davis nowadays, every blank surface downtown has to have some colourful mural emblazoned on it, some very good, some not quite as good. This particular one works quite well I think. Currently being painted on the side of the building on the far right of the sketch is a very colourful abstract piece, though in this case I don’t know that a bright mural along the edge of a house like that really adds to the overall look, but it’s a matter of taste. Curb appeal.