it’s a kind of magic

Recently we went down to Disneyland, the original, in Anaheim, southern California. I love Disneyland, it really is a fun place, and everyone is so happy, probably because they are taking great big pots of your money. I first came eleven years ago, on my first trip to the US, but this time was my young son’s first visit, as a treat for his fifth birthday. The weather was warm, a lovely 80 degrees, and it wasn’t too busy. I hadn’t intended on doing much sketching, but, er, I never intend on doing much sketching. I really wanted to draw Sleeping Beauty’s Castle though, and an iconic building it is too, dating from the 1950s when Disneyland first opened its turnstiles. This was on our second day, and I had some sketching time while my very tired son went back to the hotel for a nap with his also tired mom. My feet were very tired too, so I sat on a bench to sketch the view.I wasn’t the only one. Right beside me was another fellow sketcher, a girl drawing a big and highly detailed pencil version. Always nice to see other sketchers. A little while before I had seen another guy with his Cotman watercolours sketching at the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree. People wandered by, as did Goofy and co, eating ice creams and churros and those big colourful lollipops. After a while I went into the castle gates to Fantasyland, where I sketched some interesting rooftops. My actual fantasy!

The main reason we were so tired was because we had spent the previous day in the theme park adjacent to Disneyland itself, Disney California Adventure. More specifically, we had spent most of our time at the spectacular Radiator Springs, in Cars Land. My son is Cars crazy, as are quite a few kids his age. Which pretty much means we are too. This place, therefore, was HEAVEN. To say they recreated the town from the movie is an understatement. The attention to detail was staggering, the whole experience wonderful. We spent most of the morning there, gettin’ cozy at the cones, and apart from anything else it is a sketcher’s paradise. Of course there was little time to sketch, as I was always pretty occupied with my son, spinning around on tractors and such forth. It was actually when he went for a little quiet time nap on the other side of the park, I went back to Radiator Springs and did a quick sketch of Mater at the Cozy Cone Motel.  Later as the sun went down and the neons went on, we spent much of the evening there, and much of the next evening too. If I could, I would go back again tomorrow.

“Well dad-gum!” as Mater might say.

ピート・スカリー