I was still on “holiday” right after Independence Day, so it was a rare opportunity for me to ride SunRail. I lived in Japan for three years, and I miss the JR and riding trains daily. I still don’t understand why SunRail can’t have more evening or weekend hours. I’d love to use it on weekends to spend a day downtown and avoid having to take I-4 (a hot mess) and find parking (also a nightmare). I also don’t understand why they only built a North-South line and no other lines, but I digress.
The first place I stopped to draw was Lake Eola. It’s not my strongest composition since I was too focused on getting everything to look exactly how I saw it…so I didn’t really think about how awkward the cut-off tree would look or how the fountain should be closer to the center. Which is a pity, because I think I did a great job painting the fountain.
Date: 7/5/18
Time spent: 2 hours
As I was walking down S. Orange Ave, I found a little table outside a Dunkin Donuts. I figured this was as good a place as any to sketch. However, I learned pretty quickly that busy street views were a bit too challenging for me at this time. There was so much to squeeze into one drawing, and once I was an hour into the sketch and no where near being ready to ink or paint, I decided to try something different. I kept the pencil sketch and used my Tombow brush pens to create some much needed value contrast and definition. I rather like the look I achieved with this one, and it’s easily my favorite sketch from the day. This sketch looks energetic and full of motion.
Time spent: 1.5 hours
Once I arrived at the Church Street Sunrail station, I had an extra 40 minutes to kill before boarding my train, so I found something quick and easy to sketch. Well, relatively quick and easy; still not a fan of drawing stairs. As I inked the sketch and prepared it for watercolor, I used Tombow brush pens to draw in the railing. This was a mistake. I had forgotten that the brush pen ink was water soluble, so when I began adding the watercolor wash, the brush pen ink bled everywhere.
Since then, I’ve been a LOT more careful about waiting until the very end to use the brush pens. Give me another few months, and I’m sure I’ll make the same mistake again. Feel free to make bets on when that will be.
Time spent: 35 min.