I flew to Chicago yesterday and had the opportunity to sketch in the airport and on the plane. I took a tiny plastic earplugs case and added 3 swipes of watercolor paint– Ultramarine blue, Alizarin Crimson, and New Gamboge. I decided to use only these primary colors because I wanted a small paint kit to fit in my purse. My first sketch was around 5 a.m. at the gate. A small child was sleeping in the seat across from me and her beautiful skin and precious angel face captured me. I worked quickly and used my paints and water brush, which worked OK.
My pencil sketches below were done in the quasi-darkness of a plane cabin on the way to Chicago. The shades were drawn and I had no overhead light on. Suddenly in the aisle across from me, I noticed a sunrise. The flight attendant had sat in the empty seat and opened the shade, and I saw a slice of pink. I got out my sketchbook and in the darkness, sketched her profile and the sliver of sunrise out the plane window. I added in the seats and profiles of passengers in front of her. Once the sun rose a little, there was more light, so I sketched my sleeping son next to me.
The other pencil sketch was done in literally a few minutes. While waiting for my flight home, I noticed the luggage that a mother and small son had piled haphazardly on the cart. I sketched furiously at all the shapes and sizes and finished the wheels when they got up and left!
It was nice to be able to sketch and I hope to do more travel sketches in the future!
