30 April 26
Neighborhood Iris
There is an alleyway east of our house that runs for a block and has lots of good plants growing on its edges. Today I sketched this iris using Derwent drawing pencils, watercolor wash, and black ink linework.
29 April 26
On the Loudness of Americans
On the first night of my recent trip I arrived in Copenhagen (a long, long day: a train ride, a BART ride, a transatlantic flight, a second flight within Europe, a long line at Danish passport control, another train ride into the city: you get the idea). I was exhausted, wanting nothing more than to fall into bed in a hotel room which was way too hot. So I opened the window.
An American couple was having a very loud argument. Were they in their own hotel room, or in the courtyard? I couldn’t tell, but after a few minutes of this I was very tempted to stick my head out the window and yell “don’t you think they hate us enough already?” — I didn’t, but it did occur to me that I’ve always thought of Americans abroad as loud, brash, uncultured, and basically stereotypically and obliviously throwing their weight around the world in the same way we do politically. Of course not ALL Americans behave this way, the same way that not all men are harrassers or rapists, but it just takes one loud encounter to reinforce the stereotype. And it left a sour taste in my mouth.
Curious about the actual decibel level of American speech I chanced upon this recent article from the Santa Barbara Independent by Julianne Tai which looks at the phenomenon. It’s really a question of perception. I think a better way to approach the question is really to educate young Americans about the perception of Americans in other countries and look at ways to gently thwart it… which requires that they travel (already a tall order) and then that they travel respectfully.
28 April 26
Yellow Onion
This onion is from our grocery run this morning, and is sketched with Derwent drawing pencils, watercolor wash, and a bit of extremely fine black ink linework.
27 April 26
Colored Pencil Afternoon
I’ve been wanting to do a long colored pencil drawing for a while. I got back from Europe a week ago and the pomegranate tree is now in full bloom. It’s a tricky color to replicate: a very warm red which is almost off-gamut.
I did this drawing in two stages: first, with Caran d’Ache watercolor pencils, which I wet after several layers; second, additional multiple layers of Prismacolor. I’m not sure I know what I’m doing — but it’s a very meditative process and I’m glad I had a go.
26 April 26
By The Railroad Tracks
For my urban sketch today I went over towards the Davis Food Coop and admired the railroad cars along the tracks just east of the coop. I think railroad cars are interesting both to photograph and to draw. This was sketched with Derwent drawing pencils, fineliner black pens, and watercolor wash.
25 April 26
European Birds
I was able to take a pair of Numenius’ binoculars (Pentax Papilio) with me on my trip. This was very much not a birding trip, though my friends Jennifer and Harald organized a day of birding in a large wetland south of Copenhagen, where I actually saw my life Barnacle Goose (a whole field of them, actually).
When your birding is done mostly from train or bus windows, your list is going to skew very much to the larger birds. I did see some old friends, including Black Redstart, Wheatear and Dunnock. I am almost certain I saw a Lesser Spotted Eagle growing up in Spain but I did confirm it on the bus ride to Freiburg.
For not being a birding trip, I think I got a pretty respectable list.
25 April 26
The Tyranny of The Work
Western classical music is a really strange thing when one takes a broad enough view of it. There is no other musical tradition that I am aware of that insists upon fidelity to a strict written score, and eschews improvisation in the whole. A couple days I ran across an English musicologist named Daniel Leech-Wilkinson who has battled the implications of this strangeness. He has recently put together an open-access ebook entitled Challenging Performance that lays out his contentions. To quote from him
Why is it so important now to start to perform classical scores differently? In sum:
Because to believe that there is broadly one correct way to perform a classical score is mistaken ethically, historically, and factually.
Because the policing of conformity by gatekeepers that is required to enforce this mistake—to prevent it being noticed, exposed and challenged—denies performers full credit for their arguably equal contribution (with composers) and a just financial reward for their contribution; and denies them the right and ability to be innovative or even significantly creative.
Leech-Wilkinson has a background in studying medieval music, where one by necessity has to be creative with interpretations — there is extremely little information to rely upon in the musical notations we do have from the medieval period. I noticed that he wrote a book published in 2002 entitled The Modern Invention of Medieval Music: Scholarship, Ideology, Performance and immediately wanted to read it. Happily, I have access to an efficient interlibrary loan service and a copy of the book arrived for me via ILL late this afternoon!
23 April 26
Sant Jordi
April 23rd is St. George’s Day, which in Catalunya is the occasion of a massive festival centering on the giving of books and the giving of a rose. Sant Jordi has evolved into a massive street fair in Barcelona.
Numenius and I celebrated by going out to lunch and then going to our local independent bookstore and buying each other a book. He got a copy of The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer; my pick was Christian Cooper’s Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World. A couple of friends came over later in the day and more books and flowers were passed around.
I am feeling more and more immersed in my Davis life after my trip; tomorrow I’ll finish unpacking and tidying up the kitchen table which looks like a bomb hit it.
22 April 26
Earth Day At 56
Pica had a catch-up conversation with her sister this morning, who mentioned that both she and her son separately went out to pick up trash at a couple of events for Earth Day. This brings to mind my memory of the very first Earth Day in 1970. I was 7 at the time. The event drew the attention of our elementary school teachers, and at a break in the schoolday we went out and picked up trash on the wooded slope between the upper and lower playgrounds of the school. I’m glad this is still a tradition.
22 April 26
A Tale of Two Kites
I was sitting outside my hotel near Heathrow Airport yesterday morning. A pair of red kites was soaring overhead in the flight path of landing planes. Seventeen hours later I spotted a white-tailed kite hunting next to San Pablo Bay from the train.
A lot of hours sitting around. Glad to be home and glad to see some good rain here!