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.

The Vanderbilt Place exit doors

Countless times I've entered and exited through these Grand Central doors by the Vanderbilt Place but I hadn't pay attention to the beauty of its design, until last week. The metal frames and rivets adorning those exits suddenly came into view. I had to sketch it before catching my train home one evening. Two days later, I was back at it for some more lines before finishing it with some light watercolor wash at home. But something was missing. It needed some figures of commuters passing along these doors. Last night, using a magic color pencil, I added some figures based on that fleeting moment I saw them pass through these doors.

Near the Grand Central Market

Friday sketch. Found these two young men by the Grand Central Market and escalator to the Dining Concourse. They stayed long enough that I got their gestures right but left just before I took this picture. Added a bit of shading at home.

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No smoking on the train!

"STAY AMAZING" was the tag line on this poster ad found on Car 9157, 8:07am train to GCT. A lady sat ahead of my row. Her head covering attracted my attention. What a nice "model" to include in my sketch. I was so absorbed into my sketch activity that I didn't noticed what was going on until a conductor came and said to the man seated one row up across, "Do not smoke. No smoking on the train!" The guy was a bum! No wonder it smelled like cigarettes in the car. At that point, just like the other passenger on my row, I got up and walked toward the next car up.

At the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown, NY

On Sunday, we went to see a show at the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown, NY featuring the Stephen Guerra Quintet.  The crowd was small and in a sense, it's nice.  They played nice music that we enjoyed all evening.  During the pre-show I sketched the stage in ink.  Once they started playing, I chose a water soluble sepia pencil to capture the gestures of the musicians.  Toward the end of the show, I sketched another version in ink that I used for obtaining the names in Stephen's band.