Station Points

TheJames Gurney finds plenty to draw and paint while waiting for his flight

airport can be a fascinating place to draw or paint. If you like sketching people, you’ll find passengers waiting in various poses. There are poignant moments of human drama: families heading off on adventures, and lovers parting. Most people are preoccupied with their phones, so they probably won’t even notice you sketching them. If they do, just smile and show them what you’re doing. If you’re interested in capturing the gleaming surfaces of the airliners, you can sit in front of the picture windows as they’re being serviced. Here’s a tip: the international terminals have bigger wide-body aircraft, and therefore larger waiting areas. The planes also come and go less frequently, which allows you a longer time to study them.

I sketch this man in a TSA uniform while bouncing along on the airport shuttle from long-term parking to the terminal. A water brush filled with clear water dissolves the watercolor pencil. Some other water brushes filled with black, brown, or dark blue ink give me other options. Normally you need a boarding pass to get beyond the ticketing and check-in area. A few airports offer “airside access” for people who want to explore the shops and terminals. For example, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has the “mypitpass” that gives you access to the terminal and gates. You still have to pass through TSA like anyone else. People get into all sorts of interesting poses as they are putting themselves back together after going through the TSA checkpoint. At Chicago O’hare airport, I sit at the entrance to the E/F gates of Terminal 2. There’s a Starbucks perfectly positioned with cafe tables that has a good view in that direction.

On a sleepless night in a London airport, I capture some quick notes in sympathy with people who are stuck in transit on their return journeys. It’s not easy to get some sleep if you have to spend the night in the departure lounge. The benches are designed with rigid arms to prevent people from stretching out, so it takes some ingenuity to get comfortable. There is a little community of sleepers sneaking glances at each other to see how their neighbors solved the problem. Some have made beds out of their luggage carts or their suitcases. Even though strangers don’t say a word to each other, there is an unspoken bond between us as we triumph together over the little trials of our humanity.

I have an hour before boarding, time enough for a quick study of this airliner as it pauses before its next flight. My palette consists of yellow ochre (watercolor), transparent red oxide (watercolor), Pyrrol red (watercolor), Prussian blue (gouache) and titanium white (gouache). Since the aircraft is shiny and metallic, it has a more specular reflectivity. Therefore the shadow side of it picks up the warm patches of illuminated apron.

United Flight 87, watercolor, 4 x 7" (10 x 18 cm)

O’hare Airport, colored pencil and water brush, 4 x 6" (10 x 15 cm)

Cell Phone Call, pen and water brush, 5 x 7" (13 x 18 cm) I don’t mean to be a busybody, but there is no way I can avoid overhearing this guy’s side of the conversation. He is shouting it to the entire airport café. I pause from sketching to note a few of the lines he says. What he says is the epitome of corporate clichés.

TSA Guy, Medium, watercolor pencils and water brushes, 5 x 5" (13 x 13 cm)

Continental, pencil, 4 x 5" (10 x 13 cm) When drawing with pencil, it often helps to have a soft blender to capture the smooth curves and the gradual transitions. Use your very sharp pencil (1H or harder) for the sharp details.

Madrid Airport, pencil, 4 x 5" (10 x 13 cm) Even in a small pencil drawing, you can achieve an impression of scale by alternating big shapes against tiny, delicate ones.

How to Sleep in Airports, pencil, 4 x 5" (10 x 13 cm)

Boeing 757, watercolor and gouache, 5 x 8" (13 x 20 cm)

Cast shadows laid in, top surfaces of the fuselage reflect the blue sky.

Pencil drawing to map out the perspective and the main shapes.

Dark shapes on the far buildings, the jet bridge, and the bottom of the fuselage.

Overall transparent wash, leaving just two highlights on the fuselage.