Magee Marsh is a great place to see migrant warblers in the spring. Our family tries to go there in the spring, but we also try to avoid the “Biggest Week of Birding” that overcrowds the place.
I’m so behind on posting art! This sketch is from photos I took at Magee in the spring 0f 2018. I drew it while on an airplane heading back from the Everglades in February of this year (2019). Now you see just how backlogged I am. I’m creating a lot of art, but most of it has been medical work that pays the bills. I’m still painting but not posting. Something had to be sacrificed.
Sketching on airplanes is a great way to make use of “dead” time. There are a few drawbacks. Turbulence can definitely be an issue. If it starts getting bumpy, I’ll take a break. While doing this sketch I experienced one of the other hazards of airplane drawing. On my right was my son Timmy, who took up only 2/3 of his seat and was occupied mostly with staring out the window and enjoying the thrill of that view. It was one of his first times in a plane. On my left side was a guy I’ll refer to as “Eustace Elbows.” Eustace was apparently an attorney from Ohio… at least that is what I gathered from an embroidered patch on his shirt, a matching bag saying Ohio State Bar Association as well as a binder, pens and anything else that could bear an image. Subtle. He may also have had a tattoo of the same logo somewhere, but I wasn’t going to look for it. Eustace was a “type.” In his early early 60’s, he had an overly-manicured beard and an under-manicured attitude. He was tall and not necessarily overweight, but his poundage was distributed unevenly. He may or may not have DNA with Gummi Bear. After taking over an entire overhead with his massively oversized carry-on and winter coat, he slammed its door shut to claim it as his own. At least he didn’t scent mark it while I was watching. Afterwards, Eustace slithered into the aisle seat and gave Timmy and I a dismissive look. I was thinking about the inevitable arm rest war to come.
I’m by nature not someone who wants a fight, so I figure I’d let Eustace take the armrest. Now I’ve been seated next to some large passengers over the years, and sometimes they spill over into your personal space. There isn’t a heck of a lot they can do about that in the period of a flight, so you live with it. This is an advantage of not being very big or tall. Now Eustace wasn’t that large, but he almost immediately went beyond the arm rest and spent the rest of the flight with his elbow rubbing against me. Eustace was not only an attorney, he was a Space Invader. Drawing was going be a bit difficult with him pressing on me. After about an hour of this, I noticed that I had slid over about four inches in my seat to compensate for his greed of personal space, and yet he still was grinding his elbow into my arm. Possibly he didn’t get enough physical contact while he was a child?
My back was starting to bother me from leaning over, so at an opportune moment I straightened up to normal stature, reclaiming at least a small portion of my personal space. Although he made no outward notice, still way past the armrest, he now was rubbing against my arm even more. When I’d move my arm, his elbow literally was in my ribs. There were definitely some social skills lacking there. I thought about ways to get a little space back. Most I shouldn’t mention here. So, yeah… as a drawing space, an airplane seat isn’t always the ideal studio.
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