Being from Ireland and living in England, I periodically take a flight back to my home country to spend time with family and friends. I always pack a kit of art supplies, with the intention of doing lots of sketching. This usually includes a small 13.5cm x 13.5cm sketchbook, fine liner pens in a variety of thicknesses, a calligraphy pen, some watercolour pans, a few water brush pens, and a number of colouring pencils. The kit fits into a zip lock bag, which I can easily pull out of my rucksack when I am ready to start.
When I go home, my days are usually so jam-packed with socialising, that I rarely return with lots of art-filled sketchbook pages. However, I have developed the habit of getting to the airport early, so I can grab a coffee and fit some drawing in before boarding.
After parking up and going through security, I can fill my brush pens with water and pick a place to settle down for some drawing. At Bristol airport, for example, there is a seating area with a panoramic window at the top of the escalator before the turn towards the restaurants. I have sat here a few times to draw the aeroplanes out on the tarmac. Here are some examples:
There have been times when I reached the airport a little later and had to put off my sketching until I was closer to the boarding area. One time, I rushed to the gate only for the flight to be delayed, so I drew my luggage while I waited. I had loads of time to add texture and render my drawing using colouring pencils.
Another time I arrived at the airport so early that my bag drop wasn’t open for another two hours. This was the time that Bristol airport supposedly had 5 hour-long queues after post-pandemic travel had opened up again. The airport was actually fairly empty when I got there, despite the sensational news channel pictures. I entertained myself by drawing people in their bag drop waiting lines. The tricky thing about drawing people (who are not posing as models), is that they move and turn, pick up their bags and walk off. Bearing that in mind, these were very quick sketches, and some of them I finished with the memory of the pose still fresh in my head. I rendered them randomly using three biro pens, which gave the pages some interesting pops of colour.
When I fly, I always choose a window seat to look at the passing patchwork of topography and the infinite clusters of clouds. I’ve been so lucky to see circular rainbows from above, a shooting star, sunrises and sunsets from the windows of planes. If the seat beside me is not occupied, I invariably draw, but in this one, the flight was packed. I hesitated to take out my materials, but then decided to draw what I could see of myself. I noticed the guy sat beside me glancing at what I was doing now and again. It can still make me feel uncomfortable when strangers look at my drawing while I’m doing it, but I was enjoying it so much that I kept with it for the duration of the flight. Chances were I’d never see him again anyway.
Drawing in public can feel awkward, but the more I do it, I remember that no one has ever said anything bad about it, and people might cast an interested glace now and again, if at all. Most people don’t even notice. Doing the drawing and filling a sketchbook page is more important than not, plus it improves my skillset. I recommend trying it next time you travel!