A couple dozen sharpened Prisma Color pencils, Tara Rosa, my favorite. Two Utrecht sketchbooks with a plywood board to rest on the steering wheel serve as my drawing board. A Diet Coke in the cup holder and a 25 lb bag of peanuts in the shell to feed the squirrels and ducks that came to my van begging. 8 AM was my starting time. Getting a good parking spot is most important. I like the shady spots where I can get a view of the bike path and the climbing tree (a tree that grows sideways). Kids are always giving their climbing skills a test with the tree, even a few adults occasionally give it a go.
First to arrive at the park on Mondays is the golfer in his old land yacht of a car. He always backs his yacht of a car into a parking space at the far end of the lot. With a basket of golf balls he sets about driving them over the trees into the river. I want to ask him where he got all his golf balls from, but sketching him was good enough. A rough sketch of the golfer is my warm up. Driving off, he glanced my way. I stay in my van dropping peanuts out the window, waiting for my next subject. Ducks waddle up from the river, racing to get the peanuts. A favorite squirrel fills his cheeks with nuts and scampers up the tree in front of me.
Joggers fill a few pages and a failed attempt at a bicyclist, a couple more pages. Ten o'clock and a track team comes charging across the footbridge. All bare chested, all lean as can be, too fast for sketching but I try anyway. Good gesture sketches. Following behind the track team comes a lady jogger struggling along, giving me a bit more time to draw her. Two tan Mercedes show up, one a family car, the other a sporty type. A young, shapely blond gets out of the sporty one and joins the elderly man in the other one. Serious hugs take place there. Always something keeping me interested. When a friend's sister shows up with a mailman, and he isn't her husband, its time for me to move…
A new spot offers new subjects. A couple old friends sharing stories while keeping an eye on the grandchildren. I switch to a half sheet of watercolor paper when a young girl catches me drawing her and takes to walking on a fallen telephone pole , walking it over and over. She knows I am drawing her and so I switch to watercolor paper with the idea I will fill in the color back in the studio. Sketching in the parks is how I begin my days, filling sketchbooks with possible ideas for future paintings.
