Tag: watercolour

to market, to market

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farmers market, davis

The last page of Moleskine #4. I might draw something in the back cover though. This is the Davis Farmers Market in Central Park (not that one), a popular market, to which I rarely go. However we as a family decided to head down there yesterday, to sample fruit, eat chocolate croissant, and (in the case of my son) run about in the crunchy brown leaves. It was a lot of fun. I stuck around after my son went home for his nap, and drew the market itself.

I have the next watercolour Moley waiting patiently in the wings. Click on the pictures below to see all of the drawings from each of the four watercolour Moleys from the past two and a half years.

sketchcrawl 23 pages 1 and 2 Moleskine 4 (Feb 2009 – Oct 2009)
seeing triple Moleskine 3 (July 08 – Feb 09)
in the sunshine Moleskine 2 (Nov 2007 – July 2008)
pete's sketching kit Moleskine 1 (June 2007 – Oct 2007)

froggie’s

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froggies

Froggies, on 2nd and G in Davis. Hadn’t been here in quite some time, so came here on Thursday night for a quick beer and a long sketch. Actually I took my time drinking the beer and drew faster instead. Froggies is alright; the serving staff are friendly, and the beer is good and not expensive. They do really nice food too. But I’m generally not a regular; the acoustics are bad in here, it’s a little too sports-bar in it’s character, I don’t know; can’t quite explain it. It gets a bit packed with young students on the nights when there are DJs, and can be a bit uncomfortable. I like it a lot more than the Grad (Davis’s big sports bar), though, and even the G Street Pub (which is certainly more pub-like, but appears to have been modelled directly on the worst possible late-80s Camden Town dive, particularly in the toilets). Froggies is better than those places. I prefer Little Prague though. Ah, the bars of Davis. So anyway, I fancied popping in here to do a slightly less brown pub drawing. And look, I even drew some people. 

My oldest friend Tel, who now lives in Korea, loves this place. He last came here in 2006.

agony and eggstasy

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yin and yang

Another of Robert Arneson’s Eggheads series; it’s outside Turner Wright Hall, and is called ‘Yin and Yang’. God knows which is meant to be which though.  I’ve drawn it before in fact, a couple of years ago, from a different angle:

eggsecution 

Also posted at Urban Sketchers. By the way, that super-blog extraordinaire is nearly a year old…

keeping an eye on things

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'eye on mrak' egghead

“Eye on Mrak“, one the Egghead sculptures made by the late Robert Arneson, former UC Davis art professor. This one is outside Mrak Hall, and has a large eye that looks up at proceedings within (perhaps it has eggs-ray vision, I don’t know). Oh come on, this is petescully.com, you must have known a silly egg-based pun would come along at some point. Anyway I sketched this dude at lunchtime today.

To learn more about the UC Davis Eggheads (if you absolutely have to), please see: eggheads.ucdavis.edu.

silent is the house

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davis cemetery

I cycled around Davis today. It was cool outside, the autumn is upon us and I lost myself in streets and cycle paths I had never been to. I ended up at Davis Cemetery; I have never looked around it before. It isn’t very big. This surprised me, but then I suppose Davis isn’t as old as Highgate, where I used to live. It was peaceful, sad and peaceful. Maybe I’ll draw Highgate Cemetery when I’m back in London again next month. 
Completely coincidentally: I just looked on Twitter and saw an update from Davis Forever about Art in the Cemetery, an exhibition of art in Davis Cemetery that I guess was going on in that very building as I was drawing it, and I knew nothing about it. I do recall thinking that people didn’t look all that funereal coming out of there.

stout hearted

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stout brothers, santa rosa

For one reason or other, not been easy for me to sketch lately, but I found myself in downtown Santa Rosa on Saturday afternoon, doing a little shopping, a little reading, and I stopped into the Stout Brothers pub to do a little writing, and perhaps a little drawing. I had a couple of beers and a big glass of water (I’m trying to drink more water these days), and drew the bar. I really did need a wee, but didn’t want anyone to nick my seat, and lose me my vantagepoint. So I held on until I finished. I’m sure you don’t need to know that, but hey, these are the realities of being a modern urban sketcher.

assumed by arts unknown

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back to the pens

I’ve been having a little sketching break – I don’t know if I meant to or not, but my mind has been under important things – but managed to draw on tuesday lunchtime. It’s not a good drawing, and is just of the Silo once again, but even during these periods it is important to at least exercise the fingers (in fact I brought two end-of-life micron 01s to a shuddering end with this particular sketch). I feel as though this drawing is like a few words spoken in the middle of the night, before going back to sleep. I’ll be back drawing again, I know it.

I like October, the month of changes. I don’t know if I like this October in particular much, but at least the air is cooler, crisp and inviting.

to L and back

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Waiting for a bus on L St Sacramento

Been on a little drawing hiatus this past week: the sketchbook will be open again soon! All need a break during stressful times. Meanwhile, did this quick sketch while changing buses in Sacramento, waiting to go to the airport to meet my wife and son. That’s the Capitol Park on L street, as the sun sets.

second thoughts

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now wait a second

Second Street, Davis; the Varsity Theater. Today was hot and bright; I sat and drew this in the shade of a tree. The Fall quarter began this week, and there are lots of new students milling about in packs, impressing each other. It’s new year’s day in a college town. 

I remembered that exactly ten years ago I moved over to Belgium for my year abroad, and it rained constantly for the first couple of weeks that I was there. A million miles from here, with nigh-on 100 degree weather. And another thought: it is exactly four years since I emigrated from the UK to live in America. The first job I got here was in the bookstore on this very street, directly opposite the Varsity. I don’t think I imagined we’d still be here now. Funny how the years go by. I got myself a strawberry lemonade smoothie, and went home.