Tag: Subway drawings

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Drawing People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Sleeping Subway Cyclist

Subway sleeper

Micron Pigma Ink in small Moleskine sketchbook
(To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”)

This morning on BART I saw this lovely man as soon as I got on and purposely picked a seat one row past him. I was lucky that nobody sat between us until halfway through the ride. My ride to work is only 13 minutes and he slept the whole way, only changing his left arm slightly. When people sat in the seat in front of me I had to keep scrunching around, trying look over their shoulders or in the aisle–but then my viewpoint changed so that wasn’t too helpful. The guy sitting next to me reading didn’t pay any attention to all my gyrating, nor did anyone else.

One thing I noticed about my process was that before I started drawing I sort of drew the picture mentally first, moving the pen above the paper, picturing how I’d place the image. Then I was ready to start drawing but had this rebellious moment where I decided to start with the hand that was closest to me (which doesn’t appear in the drawing because it was the only thing he moved) even though I had a feeling it was not the “right” place to start. It worked out ok anyway. I just kept my pen moving and the ride was over before I had time to overwork it. I considered adding some colored pencil when I got home, but decided to just leave it alone.

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Drawing People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings

Subway-Drawings-Sept-06

Pen & Ink in small Moleskine notebook (click image & select “All Sizes” to enlarge)

Here’s a little collection of fellow riders on our subway known as BART this week. The bicyclist with his clip-on rearview mirror (bottom right) was sitting just a few feet from me and never noticed me drawing him. Ditto with the woman at the top left who replaced him when he got off–she stared straight ahead and didn’t notice me either, even though I was facing her two seats away.

The lady with the amazing hat at the bottom left was further away and sleeping, although she did wake up and see me staring right at her once. The guy at the top right never woke up. I was sitting in the seat across the aisle and turned to face him, which would have been rude if he were awake but he was clearly out for the long haul.

My BART ride twice a day is exactly 13 minutes so I don’t have a lot of time to capture people. It’s also bumpy, jiggly and jerky which can make it tricky when drawing things like noses.

Feline Resolution: After too many sleep-poor nights, I resolve that I am not going to not sleep with my cats anymore. Night after night they keep me awake. They lay down with me when I go to bed and as soon as I fall asleep they want to play, dropping toys on my head for me to throw (I have the only two cats in the world who play fetch, bringing me plastic squiggle toys (Fiona) or felt mousies (Busby), which I’m to throw and which they promptly fetch and return for another throw). They attack me and each other. Eventually I half sleep through their romping and chasing each other back and forth through the house. I guess they eventually go to sleep, but at 6:00 a.m. they’re attacking me again, ready for more play. Starting tonight, it’s exile for these two naughty kitties. I’m tired of being tired!

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Drawing Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Commuters, Geese & Working Conditions

People on Bart

Today’s morning and evening commuters sketched on BART. I’m starting to work on simplifying my lines, trying to identify the essence of the person or thing I’m drawing and exaggerating those characteristics a bit. I was able to do that on some of the people–especially the two standing at top right.

Geese in Snow Park

During my lunch break today I sketched for a few minutes in Oakland’s Snow Park, land of the wall-to-wall goose-poop lawn. The homeless guy in the background was taking turns eating bread and throwing it to the geese. Then he took all of his belongings out of his giant bin, which looked like the sort of thing they use in commercial laundries to move tons of linens around.

I know about commercial laundries because I worked in one for a day as a high school girl in San Diego, moving diapers in and out of the washer and dryer. After about 3 hours in the over 100 degree heat, I fainted. The kind, very pregnant Mexican lady I was working with somehow carried me to the bosses office where I woke up was promptly fired for not being strong enough.

My next attempt at a summer job was working in a pharmacy. My duties were to wipe the words “SAMPLE, NOT for sale” off of pills using a Q-tip dipped in acetone and then put them back into bottles, and to dust shelves. I quit after a couple of weeks–the work was horrible but even worse was the 100% white synthetic uniform I had to wear that felt like a sauna suit in the non-air-conditioned store in a hot San Diego summer.

Now I have a quiet, roomy office on the 27th floor (hope there’s no earthquakes) with a view of Lake Merritt and Fairland Park, building engineers to call if it’s too warm or cool, a fully equipped kitchen, great equipment, and a group of the most ethical, brilliant, funny, kind, dedicated women to work with. And I only go there 3 days a week, telecomuting another half day from home, with the rest of the time for art and other stuff. I am so grateful!

Brown Micron Pigma pen in little Moleskine sketchbook

Categories
Drawing Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

People with hats on BART

People on BART with hats

Some sketches in ink drawn on BART during my morning commute. Above: This morning’s commuters seemed to all be wearing hats. The woman in the middle’s cap was pink and her head of white hair was shaved almost completely. Below: Random people from yesterday and today.
I’m a words and pictures sort of person and today at work was all about numbers. I know that numbers can be our friends. With numbers there is a right answer and a wrong answer, unlike so much else in life. Today there were too many wrong answers or simply no answers. But now it’s my weekend and I can forget about numbers for a few days.

Mostly drawn with Lamy Safari and Noodlers Ink in Moleskine sketchbook. The ink just wouldn’t dry this morning so I blotted it with Kleenex so I could close the book without leaving little blobs on the other side.
Bart3

Click to enlarge.

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Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Hot Seat Quick Draw

Quick draw

These are some of the people riding BART with me this week. The guy above was great–he stayed in one position for several stops so I had the chance to draw more than just a face.

The sketches below from the previous day were a practice in drawing quickly. The flashing sign on the elevated, outdoor BART platform said “San Francisco Train in 3 Minutes” when I arrived. For fun, I did a quick contour drawing of two nearby trees and then began to fill in some of the tree’s interior shapes. The train came before I could finish.

I got on the train, looked around, and picked my first subject (I was going to say “victim”), a Latino man in a seat by the door. I captured his face but two minutes later he got off at the next stop and an Indian man got on and took his seat. I drew that guy, but he too got off at the next stop two minutes later. Next in the hot seat was an elderly, grizzled, African-American man. I drew his face and hair and same story, off at the next stop. He was replaced by a nice, apple pie sort of lady….who got off at the next stop. And so did I. It was time to start the work day and I was in a good mood and feeling perky after a fun session of 2-Minute Hot Seat Quick Draw.
Hot Seat

Everything was drawn with a Lamy Safari fountain pen and Noodlers Ink. The top sketch was in a Moleskine sketchbook, the bottom in a Strathmore Drawing sketchbook. I seem to have five or six sketchbooks going at once these days.

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Drawing Every Day Matters Life in general Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

BART Commuters & Matisse

BART riders
Here’s the sketches I did on my 13 minute commute this morning and yesterday. I’m discovering that if I draw really slowly, even though the train car jiggles a lot, I’m able to do a better job of capturing a likeness.

Yesterday on the trip home, a young African-American man, slightly scented with marijuana, sat down facing me, our knees nearly touching. He had tightly braided cornrows and large, gentle but glassy eyes which he promptly soothed with eye drops. I really wanted to draw him and asked his permission–there was no way I could do it unnoticed. He slowly shook his head from side to side.

Then he reached over and took my Moleskine sketchbook from my hand, opened it to the first page, and carefully studied every page. A minute before we reached my stop he handed it back, still shaking his head slowly, saying “My life is all bad and….no, no….not drawing me…no.” (I couldn’t hear everything he said because of the rumble of the train). I don’t think he heard me either when I tried to say something encouraging. He was so young and already felt so hopeless about his life.

On a more positive note, when I opened my new biography of Matisse the first thing I saw was this drawing (click on it to enlarge):
Matisse
With the tilted head and closed eyes, I thought “sleepy commuter!” and was excited becase it is so much like the kind of drawing I’m enjoying doing right now. I’m only on the second chapter of the first huge volume and I’m already captivated.
Matisse2
As a young man Matisse worked as a clerk in a law office and “treated the job as no more than a minor inconvenience, enrolling without his father’s knowledge in classes at the free art school installed a two minutes’ walk away in the attics of the ancient, crumbling Palais de Fervaques. Classes were held before and after work, from 6 to 8 in the morning and 7:30 to 10 at night.” He made the above sketch 50 years later of that law office’s front door. It reminded me of Danny Gregory’s drawings. I bet there are no art schools offering classes from 6 to 8 in the morning any more, and certainly no free ones!

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Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings Watercolor

Palm by Lake Merritt

Palm

I took a walk along Lake Merritt to the Oakland Public Library at lunch today to return some books and walked under this huge palm tree on the way. I snapped a quick picture and after dinner tonight, when I felt like plopping in front of the TV, I printed out the photo and did the drawing with a Pigma Brush Pen and then painted with watercolor. I had fun doing it while listening to a digital book from Audible.com. I’m glad I made the commitment to posting a drawing a day because this was a lot more fun than TV!

bart1
I also did these little sketches in less than 10 minutes on this morning’s commute to work. The guy sitting next to me on BART (SF version of subway) was watching me draw and halfway through said, “These are amazing!” as he saw the guy standing near the door take shape on my page. Usually nobody says anything when they see me drawing and I try to ignore them so I don’t get self-conscious. Since he spoke up, I asked if he drew or painted and he said no, but he does stained glass as a hobby. He said he was in the military and traveled a lot and liked that he could easily bring his stained glass work with him, which suprised me, as I’d think it’s fragile and heavy and would be hard to drag around. But then I was at my stop so I didn’t find out anything more.