Near the NYPL steps.

I had some free time to hang around at the vicinity of NYPL after my MD appointment this morning.  The view where I was seated was interesting, busy, complicated and challenging so I gave it a try.  I started with the umbrella on the mid upper right, then the chairs, some figures and the distant buildings.  I thought I'd include "Patience", one of the Lions at the steps in front of the New York Public Library.  On the train ride home, I started filling in warm light grey in areas using a brush marker and later, added some light watercolor wash at home.   Here's what came out of it.  

A Dog named "Winston"

Not many commuters today, President's Day, on the 8:22am train to Grand Central Terminal.  At New Rochelle, a guy with a small dog in a canvas tote bag came on board and sat across my row.  It was too good not to sketch this cute dog especially when it poke its head out of the bag.  Past Fordham station, I took out my sketchbook and made a sketch of the dog.  Once I finished, I asked the owner what the dog's name is, took a picture of it, tore the page out of my sketchbook, and handed it his human who was so surprised by what just happened.  Glad I did that because they stepped off at the next station on 125th Street/Harlem station.  It felt good giving it away.  Played with Procreate by adding color to the sketch.

End-of-the-Line

At the train terminus, I observed this track for about 15 minutes on Thursday evening before heading home.  A day later, I came back to the same spot but found a commuter train now on the track thereby altering the view I saw the night before.  Well, I decided to add the train anyway.  Color added at home.

 

MTA Timetables

There used to be plenty of published train timetables in neatly folded paper, stacked and organized by the center information kiosk on the Main Concourse of the Grand Central Terminal.  Now those slots are empty of train schedule.  Its usefulness has been replaced with bigger digital screens displaying the current train time schedule.  Besides, the MTA web schedule is readily available as an app for your mobile phone.  Two weeks ago, while waiting for our next train home, we stood by the information kiosk so what better way to wait out the next train than by sketching the kiosk.  After that initial sketch, I came back to the same spot several more times to add a bit more details.  This evening, I decided to color it with markers.

 

A Commuter Sketch on Car 6127

On the right page, I was trying to get a good likeness of this commuter for about 15 minutes or so but I wasn't quite satisfied with the results.   Then I noticed this sleeping lady across the aisle right after the train departed 125th Street Station for Grand Central Terminal.  She wore this very warm looking fur coat but what got my attention was her black boots.  I quickly tried to get the lines done on the left page of the sketchbook lest she awake when the train reached the terminus.  Tombow Grey markers added at home. 

 

Parking lot sketch

A Sunday sketch from the parking lot behind the Dunkin Coffee shop. To the right is the US Post Office Harrison Branch. I thought it would be fun to sketch this scene with all of those parked mail delivery trucks.

A Day at Muscoot Farm Park

Saturday's warm weather in the mid-50's brought us out to the Muscoot Farm Park in Katonah, NY.  Our original intention was to hike some trails and have a lunch picnic.  We got there past midday but found the general surrounding to be wet and soggy, the trails muddy and icy in most spots.  We cancelled our hiking plans and just enjoyed our picnic.  Other young families come and go to view the farm animals.  Lots of young kids enjoy this mild winter day at the farm.  They gathered by the farm tractor, a popular picture spot.  I trained my observation on this scene and sketched two versions, the second being a return to the graphic big brush style.

A view from the train station

On the far end of the south bound train platform, one can see the parking spaces, the overhead bridge and the brick building on Harrison Avenue.  This sketch was originally done in mid-December while waiting for a train delay.  On days since when I have time to wait for my train, I come back to this sketch and add more to it.  I think there were two other instances I did that.  Yesterday, I added some shading and a bit of color to finish it.

Commuter Sketch: The Bicycle

Tuesday was one of those days I would have been so late at work had I not biked my way to the station.  Found a nice view of the bike next to my train seat.  Since I've been doing a lot of commuter sketches lately, I decided to sketch my bike instead.  This was the morning sketch.

    

Here's the evening sketch on the return home.  Same subject.  Added watercolor on this last sketch.

    

  

Weekend Commuter Sketch

We were to see a show,  American Utopia, a musical by David Byrne at the St. James Theater last Sunday but it got cancelled at the last minute due to power failure issues in the building that Con Edison was trying to address.  On the train to the city, I did my regular commuter sketch.

Here at the long wait line on 44th Street by the St. James Theater.  No wonder the line wasn't moving even though it said the theater would open 45 minutes before the show.

 
 

Emergency Exit (Train Window) Handles

On each train car, there's at least one window panel with two of these emergency grab handles.  On the label, sandwiched between the two red arrows pointing down,  it says "Emergency Exit.  Pull Handle Down.  Remove Rubber".  Last Wednesday evening, I wasn't finding a commuter subject to sketch on Car 9466 so I focused on this one little detail instead. I've noticed them before but only sketched them in detail here this time. Shading and color added later at home.

Commuter Sketch on CAR 9198

The sketch was done in mid-December and I selected this piece to play with the magic pencil.  Not sure what I was going after but it does sure look more interesting with added colors than the plain old ink sketch.  I think I used a Uniball Signo Ultra Micro 207 pen on this one.  See how sharp and precise lines are achieved with this pen.