SKETCHBOOK: "Pirates at the Station"

I had a lot of fun today!  I attended my first "sketch-crawl" with a group I belong to on Facebook..."Urban Sketchers: Midwest".  They meet up once a month in various places...the group is lead by artist/author Cathy "Kate" Johnson.  This time around the destination was UNION STATION in Kansas City.  There is an exhibit on display called "Real Pirates".  I didn't feel like paying the $19 to sketch in the exhibit hall...so I just wandered inside the beautiful historic station.

The model above was a fiberglass sculpture near the ticket booth.  I had to laugh...this pirate must have been very bad...his fate is worse than having to walk the plank...he's the "Photo-Op Pirate". If I heard it once, I heard it about 50 times in an hour and a half while sketching, "Okay...everybody say AAARRRRRRR!!!"  The kids were hilarious...they either climbed all over this guy...or were so scared they wouldn't come within ten feet of him!

After sketching the pirate in my usual, slow, detailed manner...I decided to FORCE myself to do looser, quicker "light studies" in the station.  Not sure I like them as much, but I think it might be a good exercise to do again.  Many of my favorite artists in the sketch groups on FB are very loose and free.  I tend to deep-dive into the details.

 After eating a late lunch with my fellow sketchers at "Harvey's" in Union Station (and sharing our sketchbooks around the table...fun!),  I headed home.  Well...I thought that's where I was headed.  On the way to the garage, I saw this awesome 80-year-old fire truck.  Had to draw it, of course!