Summer Travel: Toronto - Airport Sketches

Air travel means there is always a chance to draw people! But airplanes are not designed for a good view - at least I haven't mastered a way to capture something more than an "ear view". Waiting time is another thing! 

Summer Travel: Toronto. Small sketches and notes.

While in Toronto, I walked every day and fell in love with the city that I saw. I took some photos, and drew some things with a tiny set of tools that fits in my waist pack together with other essentials (see photo at the bottom of this post). 

My favorite things:
- little parks, many on little hills
- streets that curve so that you do not see the other end
- apples and sunflowers in the middle of the city
- an amazing cemetery that is actually a huge park
- so many Ukrainian flags
- almost in every window - Canadian flag - and how many versions! Large and small, stickers, made out of flowers, with lights, kids' drawings etc.

Summer Travel: Toronto: Urban Sketching Breaks!

I visited Toronto for almost a week, and on some of the days, I got to paint this beautiful city. I was super lucky with the weather and enjoyed the company of the kind people of Toronto a lot! 

The first three sketches were done with ink, and then I added color with my gouache and watercolor palette. In the first sketch, I was afraid that it might rain, and in both the second and third sketches, I was not sure how much time I had, so I wanted to capture the scene with ink before deciding on adding paint and details. 

The last sketch - of one of the many library branches I had more time and painted it without using lines or ink - directly with the watercolor and gouache paint in my horizontal fabriano watercolor sketchbook. It was a wonderful day to be outside and after sketching I got a soft serve from an ice cream truck and did a little people watching by the tennis court (hands were busy holding sketchbook and eating ice cream so no sketches from the match but it was entertaining!).