bay windows

September 1, 2009September 1, 20091 Comment

We spent the weekend in San Francisco, staying in a suite at the enormous Hyatt beside the Ferry Building. The view from our enormous wide-screen window was incredible, the Bay Bridge and Embarcadero, and we had blazing hot sunshine on Saturday morning. We even saw Robin Williams at the Farmer’s Market. Naturally I chose to draw just a small segment of this view, looking out at the Bridge (above). Sunday morning saw fog roll in and add the familiar cool summer grey to the City, so I drew again, looking down at the perspective lines racing up at me.

Below is a photo I took on the sunny Saturday morning, the best part of the view (I never had time to sketch it), with the Bay Bridge rising above a light blanket of mist. What a stunning city.

P1030101 small

careful now

August 24, 2009August 25, 200913 Comments

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The Jaws that bite, the claws that catch.
Beware the jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious bandersnatch.

Been a while since I drew an Illustration Friday, so here is one, on the theme of ‘Caution‘. I was in the office during lunchtime, because I didn’t want to go outside (it wasn’t too hot, in fact it was very nice, I was just feeling agoraphobic, which isn’t good for an urban sketcher), I was listening to the BBC world service, and decided to draw the little contraption I use to remove staples, the destapler (I don’t care if that’s not what it’s really called). To me, it is the single-most scary item in the office. Yes, the automatic shredder may do more devestating damage, and I never touch the insidious ink toner if I can avoid it. But this little thing bares its big sharp teeth, like a little metal piranha, or a futuristic nano-crocodile. It could just be posturing, trying to mark its territory. Either way, you should treat such frumious bandersnatches with caution. And that’s my illustration.

restlessness has siezed me now it’s true

August 17, 2009August 17, 20091 Comment

I finished the Villefranche-sur-Mer picture by adding a minimal amount of colour. I think I like it minimal, any more may have taken away from it. If you’re wondering where the Mer is in Villefranche, well it is behind me in this shot. I may draw the other side as well, because that was a lovely view downhill to the harbour.

who ate all the pi’s

August 11, 2009Leave a comment

I’ve mentioned the Davis frat houses before, and I will mention them again, because I drew another one (or rather, a different part of one I’ve drawn before). There are lots of them, lining the streets just outside campus. they are currently pretty quiet, but give it a month or two and these places will be rocking out to the new academic year. Rushes, hazing, all of that fun stuff that comes with these strange greek-lettered clubs. Some frats are old, really old, while others cater to certain fields, such as law, or ethnic groups. The one below, Theta Xi, is presumably the frat-house of apprentice cab-drivers. However I still can’t find the house of the boating fraternity (Rho Rho Rho)…

If I had gone to university in America, I would not have been a frat boy. I would have gone to the parties though, for sure. I can’t help wondering if those greek letters are just an old form of textspeak, like Omicron Mu Gamma, Beta Phi Phi, or, from the society of proctologist comedians, Lamda Mu Alpha Omicron.

czech out

August 7, 20091 Comment

I cycled downtown last night, while the air was cool, and looked for the latest World Soccer magazine (not to be found), looked through countless books written for year-and-a-half-year-olds (didn’t end up getting one; I’ll let the one-and-a-half-year-old choose for himself, he knows best), and stopped off for a beer in the Czech-style pub, Little Prague, always an excuse of course to do a drawing. Bar-sketching is tricky for me, as there are always a lot of bottles, plus the light is never that great, and my eyesight isn’t either (I think I need a new prescription on my glasses). But this pub has lots of interesting things to draw, at least. Up there, Fox 40 News, the mouthpiece of the dreaded Murdoch (but even so they were kind enough to show one of my drawings on TV a couple of months back). I noticed that they had the closed captioning on, and that it was lagging a little behind, so they would talk about one story, eg Steven Tyler falling off stage, while the pictures would show an elderly woman and a shop fire; I did wonder at first, Tyler has really let himself go. I focused on the details. The pub’s music wasn’t very good. A couple were dancing. There was a Russian wrestler sat to my left who complimented me on my drawing.

Ten years ago this month, my friend Tel and I took a trip to Prague, Big Prague, spending almost two weeks there. Oh, there are stories alright, memories, it was a fun trip but so long ago now. I’m less hectic now. I’d love to go back to Big Prague, but I imagine the beer is more expensive there now. In Little Prague, I drank Krusovice. It’s a nice beer. I’m pleased with how this turned out. It’s the height of summer, and it’s pretty cool.

have i got moos for you

August 7, 2009August 7, 20092 Comments

They call us Cowtown. I don’t know who ‘they’ are, and I’m only presuming they mean cows of the bovine nature, but it is apparently a nickname for Davis. Yet in all the time I’ve been drawing here, I have never once drawn a cow. Until now.

These cows live in a field not far from where I work. I suppose they are research cows. I am told that some cows here have special windows in their stomachs so you can see what is going on. Again, no jokes about the windows having beef curtains, please. Anyway, I didn’t see any belly-windows. I imagine it would be a pane anyhow. I have been meaning to draw the cows for quite some time, but have avoided it because there’s never anywhere to site (remedied by bringing a chair this time), and there’s no shade so it’s always too hot and sunny (so I wore a hat and put on sunscreen). I didn’t mind the smell, though I don’t eat red meat, but the additional insect activity annoyed me, predictably. So a half-hour sit-down later, and I had drawn the cows. they kept moving about. Some tried to get on top of other cows (not like acrobats, though that would be fun to draw), and there was a lot of mooing, though they were kind of rubbish moos, more like squeals. I like a good proper moo, myself. something like Bully the dart-playing bull used to do on Jim Bowen’s Bullseye. Let’s have a look at what you could have won. Moooo….

see you on the other side

July 31, 2009July 31, 2009Leave a comment

Having just drawn Mrak from the other side of Putah Creek, and noted over the past few years its vanishing appearance, I chose to draw from the front side (or it may be the back; like Buckingham Palace, the front is really the back and vice versa).

And naturally, I have drawn it before, and therefore you get to see how the view is slowly vanishing even on this side, as a forest grows at its very toes. Well, not exactly, more that the last time I drew it was late Fall or early Winter (whichever it is called here), and the trees did not have many leaves. But it illustrates the recurring theme. That drawing was way back at the start of Moleskine #2; I am now more than halfway through Moleskine #4.

the slowly vanishing mrak hall

July 27, 2009July 27, 2009Leave a comment

I’ve drawn this view three summers in a row now. Each year, the creek has been a green pea soup, the tree on the left has been an orangey brown, and the weather has been a hot hundred degrees. Well, near enough. It was certainly over a hundred today.

Mrak Hall, the university powerhouse, stays ever the same in the background. In 2007, however, there were two grassy hillocks, with two of Robert Arneson’s Eggheads on them. Probably the highest ground in Davis? They were razed to the ground, for the new law school extension. When I drew it again in 2008, the hillocks were gone, replaced with some wire-fencing, a load of mud and a construction truck. Now in 2009, the shell of the law school is now there, King Hall, blocking the view. I’m glad I drew it. I’ll draw it again next year, with the finished law school, if they finish it.

the delta breeze cometh

July 20, 20093 Comments

After six days of 100-plus weather, it finally felt a bit cooler tonight (though it was mid-90s today). I cycled down to the edge of Davis, to that spot by the levee I sketched a couple of Mondays back (it’s always when the Bachelorette is on TV that I head down here). That sketch is here. The sunset, if you’re wondering, is in the other direction, this mass of colour in the sky is likely from the terrible hazy air we have here in the Valley, it just hangs there above Sacramento, especially in heatwaves. The Delta Breeze is in tonight though, cooling everything down.
There’s my bike again. It’s standing up now, because I had a kickstand added to it. In the distance, West Sacramento. I heard on the news yesterday that a mountain lion had been spotted in West Sac. The mountains are behind that haze in the distance; perhaps it is just lost. I kept my eyes open.

true it’s a dream, mixed with nostalgia

July 17, 2009July 18, 20092 Comments

After the sketchcrawlery of last Saturday, I rested my pens for a few days before taking up another version of the houses at Hampstead Ponds, which I’ve drawn several times now. It’s therapeutic, drawing all of those windows, from the comfort of my living room. The older versions drawn last year can be seen here and here. I’ve mentioned before, it would be my dream to live here, the Hampstead Village of Keats. We used to live not far from here, in Highgate, it’s just the perfect part of London. I do prefer Highgate, on the other side of the Heath, but Hampstead would be more convenient for getting to family in Burnt Oak and to the pubs in Camden (and I wouldn’t have to look down on Arsenal’s admittedly nice looking stadium). It’s damper there though, than here; in Davis this week we’ve had five days where it’s been about 100-105 F, and dry. The pubs are better here, but I prefer the beer in the Pacific US.

Anyway… if you are interested in seeing the steps of how this was done, the graphic (well, animated gif) below shows you how, though each step is but a second long.

hampstead-animation

On another note, I am thinking of starting an Etsy shop to make some originals and some prints available to buy; I might be listing this, so I’ll keep you posted. It’s 5″x7″, if you’re interested. In the meantime, if you should find yourself in Hampstead, pop over to the Heath and check this view out. It’s a lovely place.