A finished Sketcbook!

It took me two months to fill this sketchbook with daily train commute sketches and other doodles of figures and gestures.  So happy to work on a new sketchbook!

Commuter Sketch on Car 6129

Yes, you see that right.  Car 6129.  A number NOT in the 9000 series cars I've sketched before.  It felt nostalgic to ride on one because the interior design was dated.  These cars were built in the mid 1990's and the diesel locomotive was probably built in the mid 1980's.  They're still running these on the Metro North New Haven Line.  The handle bar and the front wheel of the folded motorized scooter seen off-centered here. 

 

Commuter Sketch on Car 9301

I can't wait to use up all the pages in this sketchbook.  A more recent entry was this morning commuter sketch done on November 22, 2021.  The mid-section seats offer this nice view of the train commuters.  Except for the lady to my right and the one across the aisle, no one else knows I was sketching them.

A Food Cart Vendor at Grand Central Terminal

I made a quick sketch of a food cart vendor near the Vanderbilt Avenue entrance to the Grand Central Terminal over a week ago.  Once I got home, I added some watercolor wash to it.  This evening, I saw the same food cart vendor and couldn't resist showing the sketch to him.  Basically, I wanted to add a name to the food cart vendor in my sketch.  He was amazed and asked if he could have it.  "I don't tear out a page of my sketchbook" was my reply to Moustafa but I did let him take a picture of it instead.

Commuter sketch on 8:20am train

I missed the previous train by a couple of minutes.  For this sketch, I added the bold random marks to make it more interesting since I don't know what will come out from the sketch.  Except that it would be something I have observed on the train.

Commuter Sketch on Car 9296

Friday evening on the return home, there was an incident on the tracks near the Harlem 125th Street Station in resulting in suspended train activity.  We were stopped on track at the station for about 1.5 hours total before the train got moving again.  Apparently, a trespasser was lying on the track and the police had to get that person off the rails.  Suffice it to say, it was a confusing and chaotic period of time for passengers especially the ones with children in tow.  The train crew opened some car doors and let the passengers get off the platform to have some air.  Some passengers decided it was best to hire a car ride instead. I wasn't going anywhere and I find it a good time to continue with my window reflection sketch.

Subway commuter sketches

Last Sunday, I was enticed to join the sketch outing in Central Park by the Belvedere Castle upon seeing a live feed of the NYC USk group.  Got there late because of the train delays due to the NYC Marathon Day event.  Lots of people in the city and the subway.  I didn't mind the wait because I was doing the subway commuter sketches.

 

Commuter Sketch on Car 9534

Sketching is my end-of-day meditation and relaxation activity while on the train.  Here I sketched the window reflection of a newsprint reader.   Not very many of them newsprint reader these days.  Just a hand and a bit of the newspaper indicate a passenger was behind this seat directly in front of me.   The coat jacket hanging on the fold out coat hook was what attracted me first to this scene.

East 41st Street and Madison Avenue scene

I walked past some construction workers in front of a Deli yesterday morning on the way to work.  Above this deli store is a fortune teller shop.  Out front, the street ad sign says "PSYCHIC - $10 Special".  I wonder what that "$10 Special" means.   I was attracted to the orange barriers so I had to sketch it.  It's this kind of city scene that makes it so interesting.