boing!

Davis, CA: That is not an aeroplane, that is the sound of Spring happening right now, all around us. My TV tells us that much of the rest of the country is living in pre-Lucy Narnia, but in drought-threatened California we are giddy with the joys of Spring. Blossom all over the trees, birds chirruping, sunshine shining, stores full of Cadbury’s Creme Eggs. It has come early for us this year, which no doubt means the dreaded allergies will very soon hit me and force me back into my annual retreat from outside lunchtime sketching. After my panorama-filled January I am already doing less than usual, but I have started a new sketchbook (one of those nice panoramic Stillman and Birn ‘Alpha’ books) and so I sketched the corner of 3rd and University, taking a couple of lunchtimes to do it. The last time I sketched this spot (see below’s sketch from October 2011) there was just one pair of shoes hanging from the telegraph line. Now there are plenty more. What a waste of shoes! 

by Pete Scully