Train Sketching

 Last Saturday I decided I needed to go into the city for some sketching. The NYC Urban Sketchers hadn't gone in on the weekend in several weeks and I was craving sketching something other than Long Island. Even though the group wasn't going in, I decided I would go on my own. I took the 8:08 train from Ronkonkoma. I had to switch at Jamaica to go to my final destination of Grand Central.

There are usually people within view for me to sketch. The problem is that Ronkonkoma is the first stop and sometimes there are no other people seated near me. I lucked out and there was a lady in the middle seat with her bag across from her...and nobody else in the way. I find the Long Island Railroad trains to be rather shaky so I usually sketch the scene in pencil first. I added the watercolor and used a watercolor pencil I had in my bag to outline the scene. A lot of the time I outline with pen.

Here is the setup I had in my lap. I have this tiny wooden palette that is maybe 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The top and bottom come completely apart but will stay together because the palette contains tiny magnets. The paint colors are on one piece and the mixing area on the other piece. 

Directly ahead of me I could see a young woman in the space between the seats. She slept most of the way to Jamaica so she was a good model.