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the beat
this is The Beat, in midtown Sacramento, a great record store I love to go to. But going there means going to Sacramento, and braving the spare-change-askers that roam up and down J St in place of real shoppers, who don't exist (because they're all at the mall). I went for another sketching trip there yesterday, and started to get quite irritated at the interruptions, people stopping and giving their mental schpiel before the inevitable request for a buck or two; I must get a sign that says 'leave me alone'. Further downtown, near the capitol, it was worse, but with added bus-loads of sweet old lady tourists with name-tags so they don't get lost, all looking for their bus, "it's on 10th and m and i don't know where that is" (it's a grid system, surely), but again, no normals, no shoppers, no reason to be there, everyone's at the mall, at target, at old navy, meanwhile the centre of california's capital city is a place you don't want to spend your time. Getting on for saturday evening, you would think it would be buzzing, yet it started to feel more like a ghost town (except the ghosts might say 'any spare chains?' instead). Not a comfy saturday. I did the ones below also - the first, a cafe downtown opposite one of the big hotels, in wine coloured copic with badly-chosen watercolour tints, and the second one is of the smiling statue of bishop gallegos. I may be mistaken, but he looks like he's doing the 'gun' mime. Well it is sacramento.
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1.10.07 06:40 |
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goodbye september
this building is on E St, i believe it's an orthodontist's, a dr chin i believe (big fan of jimmy hill); there are a lot of new students around in davis right now, milling about, being unnecessarily loud, and at the point in their academic careers where they are still going everywhere in large groups because they don't know each other well enough to figure out who not to hang out with (it's like reality tv, they'll drop by one every week). After a summer of being able to get a table at a restaurant, it's always a shock to the system. And so, the last day of september. I figured sepia was the right choice. |
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1.10.07 07:00 |
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more dollars than cents, more pounds than pence
three years in america as of last week, and i can't seem to find any time to write about it. that's having two (busy) jobs for you. Still, i did some drawing this week, but not much. above, the pence gallery, did that today. Some leaves re turning autumnal here. but I walked all over town today to find a good smattering of golden arbres to paint, but sans succes, so I drew the pence gallery for the first time. I've never been in there. They hold an exhibition for local artists to submit their work every year, and it's coming up - it may be too late already, but what would i do anyway, submit my sketchbook? And have people's greasy hands maul all over it? I should start doing some actual paintings, perhaps. I love the sketchbook look too much though, and have been more inspired by the brilliant sketchblogs out there than anything. Below, some work with the cobalt blue copic, the bookshelf next to the computer desk, and another picture i did yesterday, one i don't like that much, but (if you follow the link to the flickr page and read the commentary) has much to do with the desire for soup, and the reason so many sketches got done at lunchtime over the summer.
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7.10.07 09:32 |
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"where black is the color and none is the number"
part three (or rather, five and six) of the 'you see davis' series. above, little prague, the czech pub / restaurant on G; below, the richards boulevard underpass / tunnel / whatever, from corner of first and E. I wish the streets were named "E, B, G, D, A and E" streets. so what if there are two Es. It's a common letter. And a common guitar string.
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8.10.07 08:44 |
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mind the gap
on wednesday i went for a hoegaarden on the wooden terrace of sophie's thai kitchen on E st, davis (happy hour, $3, dank u wel) and got the purple micron out (i love that pen), and sketched the hunt-boyer house opposite. Now normally, when there are cars parked on the street, i would either 'peteshop' them out (as my wife calls it), or draw them badly. this time i left a vaguely car-shaped hole there. So you can rint this off and fill in the rest. Spot the car. Prizes to those who guess correctly (I'm not much of a judge, cars all look the same to me these days). Overheard conversations... there were three female PhD students (of some very technical science or other) sat opposite, gossiping (in that incredible non-gossiping way people do): "well, i really like her, but she's so blah blah blah, bitch bitch bitch, blah blah blah, bitch bitch bitch, the bitch. but don't say anything to her, because i really like her." that sort of thing. That, and 'my professors don't know anything' (hmm, i bet they do, you know). On another table, there was a group of students, one of whom had pretty much the most annoying laugh you've ever heard. I don't begrudge people the gift of laughter. But some sort of remote volume control would be nice. I moved tables in the end. So yeah, overheard conversations are overrated. I wish i hadn't lost my mp3 player. I have to hum david devant tunes to myself. Below: today's effort. It rained a lot, i didn't get soup, i went to the silo, i got out the cobalt copic fineliner, and drew for a bit. Nobody around me spoke, all too busy with their laptops and ipods and between-class lunchtime naps.
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13.10.07 09:59 |
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old words, like old rain
a couple more from the set. of conversations not any in particular. perhaps it's a bit french, i call it the 'new vague'. "hey i met that rand mcnally, and he couldn't tell me where america was on a map. dear oh dear. ok, it was a map of new zealand, but nevertheless."
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19.10.07 07:29 |
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non-sports fans, turn away now (and sports fans too) I'm officially disappointed with sport. I blame Mystic Pete, naturally, for jinxing everything. Tottenham, what the hell is going on?? what the hell? And letting Arsenal go top? I apologize on behalf of Mystic Pete (who is unavailable to comment, of course). And the Rugby...yes, they did remarkably well, but this week isn't England's. Mystic Pete to his credit said they'd probably lose, but was still disappointed. I bet there were a lot of four-year olds called Jonny who weren't too happy, either. Quite a time if your name's McLaren, too. I'm sure the England footy manager was crucified, I'm in no doubt of that. Now they're very unlikely to go to euro 2008, and play in Bern's Wankdorf stadium (they'll just be Pissdorf at home). And Scotland, conquerors of France, they go and lose to Georgia, or Alabama or whoever it was. Now they have to beat Italy, world champions. As for my two Irelands, well my beloved Republic were just awful, but the North, my granddad's land, were amazing, and mathematically (i only in fantasy world) they can still qualify... Lewis, you did bloody well for your first year in Formula 1, and at least your pouting team-mate didn't pip it from you. but I knew that would happen, I've used those same tactics in the final race of Super Mario Kart against my brother, leave a green shell here, a banana skin there, win all the points at the end. And Celtic, losing to 3-0 to Rangers, despite having beaten mighty Milan (whose goalkeeper Dida coincidentally studied his at DIDA, the Dirty Institute of Dramatic Art). Grrr. One consolation to all of this - I live in America, which is blissfully unaware of any of these events. "Rugby World Cup? rugby has a world cup? Formula 1, that's a type of toothpaste isn't it? Steve McLaren? Oh yeah, that guy should not be in charge of the england soccer team..." |
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23.10.07 05:56 |
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in wine country with the last page of the sketchbook I finished the Moleskine watercolour sketchbook at the weekend, and these are the last pages. I love a completed sketchbook, but now I have to decide whether to get another one, or go with something else. See I 've really enjoyed painting on the paper, though I think i prefer penwork on different paper, though it may be my imagination. I'll give it a few days' thought, and get down to some reading, and perchance some actual writing (hello, like, writing, remember that? ). Sonoma. Old town, I love it there, went there on my first ever visit to the US, it's gorgeous. And they have a glowing autumn there already, deep orange and red trees (I for some reason chose to paint the green ones), and rolling hills covered in vinyards, at the harvets time of the season...the colours spring to life, gold, burgundy, orange, dark green, crisp browns, wine reds, purples...the best i could capture, on the little square at the bottom right hand side of my last page, was the incredible view from domaine carneros (which is actually in napa). Hey, I went there last year, a bit earlier, and drew almost the same things, see here and here...
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23.10.07 06:30 |
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not another new dawn at white hart lane So, another new dawn at Spurs. I was sad to see Jol pushed out, I think the board undermined him early on in the season going behind his back, and that has a lot to do with the situation we're in. Now Tottenham are spending squillions on this Ramos guy who speaks no English. And I notice his CV is loooong...he's managed 10 clubs in 14 years! Blimey. But I suppose that makes him perfect for Spurs: we've had about that many managers in the past 14 years. He'll fit right in. On a funnier footy-related note, check out these youtube clips, the first of a Spurs ball-boy who became an instant hero of the Shelf during a UEFA cup match, and the second (my absolute favourite football-reated clip of all time, this week) of a cheeky six-year-old Chelsea mascot playing a joke on Liverpool's Steven Gerrard before a match. As the England midfielder walked down the tunnel with his team, the kid, with an absolute deadpan earnest face, held out his hand as if to shake Gerrard's, but pulled it away and cocked a snook at him instead. Check it out here. Hilarious stuff! |
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28.10.07 08:17 |
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nearly the end of october Walked and walked today, in the sunshine with a nice slight breeze, went up to the library by community park, got a book about celtic myths (the peoples, not the football club), and painted in my large watercolour pad (too big for the regular bag, i carried the rucksack instead), and finally captured (or tried to) some of the incredible colours that are starting to blaze on some of the trees now. This is the corner of 14th and F, in case you wondered. |
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28.10.07 08:34 |
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