|
great-uncle pete
As of just hours ago I am a great-uncle! My eldest nephew became the father of a baby girl (congratulations mate!), my great-niece, and I cannot wait to go back to the UK to see her. Well chuffed. Great-uncle pete, eh. I need to sit in a big comfy armchair now with slippers and old books. Hmm, I do that already. Maybe a long beard and permanent scowl. No, did that in my early 20s. Well I knew my nephew would bring great-ness to the family (we're all great-uncles, great-aunts, great-grandmothers etc now...) congratulations patrick and nicola! |
|
|
17.3.07 07:29 |
|
|
sketchcrawl 13 in berkeley
On this very hot Saturday in March, I went down to cooler Berkeley (cooler, but I still got quite sunburnt) to take part in Sketchcrawl 13 (see here: http://www.sketchcrawl.com/ - it took place in many cities over the world simultaneously). It started at 11 with an 'is this the sketchrawl?' 'yes', followed by a dispersal of sketchbook-enabled people either shy (that's me) or not (that's not me) across the nooks of UC Berkeley.
I don't mind the sketching, it's the crawling I can't handle. The funny thing is, when I sketch I'm a solitary beast, completely unsociable, and I could just tell that there were some others there exactly like that (but because of our natures, we never spoke). I would spot people here and there sketching away. I got hungry though, and went for lunch at a little but lively Brazilian kiosk on University Ave. I got a huge chicken sandwich; it dropped from my hand, but I caught it with my foot, knocked it onto my knee, up onto my chest and blasted it into the top left corner. Not really, but I imagined it could happen.
I didn't know what tri-tip was, but apparently they do a good one (it's steak, so I'm told). There were a lot of people out in green today. However, finding the collar on my Ireland top a bit tight, I wore the white of Spurs (meanwhile, Paul Robinson - the tottenham goalie, not the guy who was Jim's son in Neighbours - actually scored a goal today! would you adam-and-eve it). Happy St.Patrick's Day. More sketches to follow... |
|
|
18.3.07 06:08 |
|
|
berkeley crawled sketches (continued)
After my Brazil sandwich, the Bay fog started to really clear, and it was warm in the sunshine - but quite nippy in the shade. I found a spot on the steps of a great hall of knowledge where I could sit in both shade and sun, and sketched the spectacular view ahead of me, the campanile and the East Bay hills. There's a lot of very clever people in Berkeley. But thanks to this huge clock that can be seen from all over, you never have to worry about remembering your watch.
The sketchcrawlers met up there as a halfway point, and took a photo, and some even showed what they'd done, and then vanished once more into the trees, bricks and sunshine. I got myself a diet coke and sketched the Sather Gate, below. Nearby, students prattled on about ridiculously unacademic stuff, sounding more like Middlesex than Berkeley.
part 3 to come (but don't get too excited)... |
|
|
19.3.07 06:15 |
|
|
part 3, end of the crawl (and a green beer)
And so the day wore on, and the sun was a lot stronger than it looked (my arms are so red that I can hold them up and stop traffic). I sketched the big house, the very big house above, and really really needed a wee while I was doing it. I was hopping a bit by the end let me tell you. We're near the top of the hill now, close to the stadium that looks like a small version of the old Wembley. I didn't have time to draw that.
And there was a bike, chained to a bus-stop. So I sat on the kerb and drew that too.
And the day drew to a close, and it was time to go and find a load of people I didn't know at a cafe I could't remember the name or location of... but I was meeting my wife elsewhere for a beer (a very sunny St.Patrick's day after all), so had to dash. but at the end I got a few quick sketches of the big tower in, for good measure.
And that very evening I had a green beer. A green hefe-weizen at the pyramid brewery. It tasted exactly like a normal hefe-weizen, but it was green. I explained my surprise at seeing pillar-boxes (post-boxes to you) in Ireland as a kid, painted green, not red like the ones in London. The shock of the familiar in a different colour. It looked like kryptonite. and I thought, those super-villains should just paint kryptonite red. Superman'll never know - he'll just go, oh look at this nice red stone, and then suddenly, he's falling in the swimming pool. And on that note, thus ends my little exposition of my contribution to sketchcrawl 13. Now I'm looking forward to etch-a-sketchcrawl... |
|
|
20.3.07 04:38 |
|
|
years ago in venice
watercolour, pencil, a couple of nights ago, from a photo i took from a vaporetto on the canale grande, venice. This was february 2002, i believe, freezing cold, foggy, full of carnevale and masked revellers. I'd just taken a dreadful night bus from aix-en-provence. But venice is great, i've been there three times (i got engaged the last time i was there), and I think it appears in just about every book about learning to paint with watercolours. So here's my take.
|
|
|
22.3.07 03:01 |
|
|
duck tales
We went for a cycle around the UC Davis Arboretum today, along the Putah Creek path. While it is the realm of the trees, in truth this is the Kingdom of the Ducks. they are everywhere right now, waddling obstinately across the street, grumpily picking at the ground for little bugs or whatever they eat, wild bread or whatever. Now I know this sounds bad, but seeing all those cute little ducks everywhere made me really hungry. I love a nice roast duck, yet I don't really see it on the menu much here as much as in Europe. So we went to Little Prague for a quick post-bike-ride Czech beer (and to get in the mood for a planned short trip to Prague), and in their happy-hour snack menu they had, wait for it, Duck CzNuggets. Yes, that really is pronounced 'czechnuggets', like 'mcnuggets'. They were breaded (appropriately; maybe that's how they lured them into the kitchen). They were tasty though. I'm going to Disneyland for a conference in May; you'd better watch out, Donald... |
|
|
26.3.07 08:35 |
|
|
we are sailing, we are sailing...
This whole Iran and the British seamen thing is bonkers. From what I can gather, Iran is basically holding these sailors hostage, but not actually placing any actual demands. Oh, unless you count the whole tv message from the female sailor asking that Britain remove its troops from Iraq. Please. And going on tv saying, "oh these lovely people, and yes we were trespassing, and these happy lovely soldiers pointed their guns at us and gave us flowers and chocloates and champagne, and all is well and wonderful, yes we were breaking their law, no doubts at all." Yes, nothing fishy there. It's a fair kop, guv. Do me a lemon. I can't help thinking that the Iranian government has got these soldiers in captivity, but hasn't decided how to bargain for them, and is now left clutching a hot potato. They can't afford to back down over this one without losing the respect of the hardliners (quite a lot like the Bushistas who won't admit that they've fucked up enormously in Iraq, they just want to be seen to be victorious). What a circus, what a ridiculous media circus, and these guys and that girl stuck in the middle of it all. I just hope this doesn't escalate - it's these types of events that those who are looking to start or provoke wars are usually waiting for.
|
|
|
30.3.07 09:00 |
|
[first page] [previous page]
powered by
20six.co.uk
