Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Morning at the airport

Our daughter who went to Dubai returned today (hooray!) and the plane was delayed. Since rediscovering sketchbooking, almost an occasion for jubilation - a chance to observe and sketch from life... I had to wait a while for a seat, and then of course had mostly back views, except for people staring up at the arrivals screen, who soon turned away again. I started with the man to the right of middle, very shakily, then became surer as I went along.


By the time I got to these figures on the right, I was beginning to enjoy myself trying to capture the essence of each individual, then someone came to watch over my shoulder and I got all flustered and started chatting to her instead (an art teacher from Vereeniging), then the plane and lovely daughter arrived, then we went home and had some tea.

9 comments:

Gillian said...

Oh hello DMG! Welcome home, sweet girl!!

These are wonderful, Cath. And fun seeing your confidence and comfort level grow in the figures. Makes me want to sit at Jo'burg Airport too! Well done.

Jeanette Jobson said...

Aren't airports great for sketching? I just love drawing people there.

Cathy Gatland said...

They are great - and makes the time fly when planes are late!

Helen Percy Lystra said...

Wonderful figure work....

Vivienne said...

Welcome home darling DMG! I am sure you are enjoying fine cooking and much cossetting, and that you'll appear on these pages soon too (sit still for long enough, OK?)
Wonderful airport characters. So often I look at people like this and think "Oh I wish Cathy were here to sketch them for me!"
JBP is en route to Zambia and then Zim(!) via Jhbg, but with a short night there at airline's expense. I hope he phones you anyway. XX

Barbara Pask said...

Your sketches are wonderful, people watching is one of my favorite things. I chase people down to photograph them, lol.

Anonymous said...

i love your people sketches! I've just started this week doing small people sketches..gesture/action sketches, which can be used to put into paintings. How I wish my little figures could look like yours! but I'll just have to practice more!
ronell

Anonymous said...

I love the sketches -- so expressive, and I enjoyed the story as well. Sketching is such a great way to pass waiting time, especially when there are such interesting characters to draw. I know what you mean about starting shakily and then getting engaged and doing better as you go. My friend who's a children's book illustrator told me she'd learned never to start the illustrations for a book at the beginning but rather to start in the middle and work forwards and backwards or you that same process shows up in the book illustrations.

Making A Mark said...

Lovely sketching Cathy! I love it when I come across a good queue!