Plein Air Sketching (Part 2): Palm Beach Landmarks and Learnings

Summary:
For my second plein air sketching journey, I went north to south from West Palm Beach to Deerfield Beach, exploring eight places along the coast and capturing each in soft pastels. Along the way, unexpected discoveries—from a historic tower and a “Flagler’s Paradise” sign to mirror-like water, changing light, and a curious iguana—reminded me that you never know what you'll find when you slow down and really look. These sketches became more than landscapes; they became timestamps of where I was, what I noticed, and how I felt. Plein air sketching has given me confidence, gotten me outside, and reminded me that so much beauty is hiding in our own backyard.

Key Takeaways:

• Slow down and really look: Familiar places can reveal unexpected beauty when you take the time to observe.
• Let creativity shape the experience: Sketching can make you feel immersed in the place you're drawing.
• Embrace the unexpected: Detours, limitations, and surprises can lead to something better than planned.
• You don't need to go far for inspiration: Your own backyard can offer endless creative possibilities.
• Art doesn't have to be perfect: Each sketch can become a timestamp of a place, moment, and feeling.
• Plein air sketching builds confidence: Getting outside and creating helps you trust your own artistic perspective.
• The best imagination exercises happen in real life: For a little while, you can become part of the picture.

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Plein Air Sketching Journey, Part 2! Eight places, eight sketches, 50 minutes down the South Florida coast, hosted by Jackie Morreale

Plein Air Sketching (Part 2): Palm Beach Landmarks and Learnings
Transcript
Written by Jackie Morreale
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What happens when you take your creativity and your sketchbook and start exploring your own backyard?

For me, it's become one of my favorite ways to see the place where I live, which is Palm Beach County. For this second plein air sketching journey, I decided to go North to South, from West Palm Beach to Deerfield Beach.

It's about fifty minutes along the coast. Eight places, eight sketches, and a lot of little moments that I never would have experienced if I hadn't stopped to look and draw.

For this particular project, I was going for intercoastal views, fountains, historic landmarks, heavily inspired by this Plein Air sketch from part one in the series, of Worth Avenue Clock Tower that I just think turned out so awesome.

So let's take the journey!

Morreale, J. (2026, August 24). Eataly Tower in CityPlace West Palm Beach, FL [Pastels on paper].

CityPlace, West Palm Beach, Florida

We're starting in West Palm Beach at CityPlace. I really wanted to draw the fountain there in CityPlace. It's beautiful. It lights up at nighttime.

But I showed up on a Monday morning and the fountain was turned off. So I couldn't draw what I had intended.

That's one of the things that I love about plain air sketching: You never really know what'll be there until you get there. So instead of the ground, I looked up. I noticed this tower emerging into the sky from the building that used to be a theater that has now been transformed into the Eataly marketplace. That became the drawing.

My eye had gone up because the fountain wasn't available to me. I'm really glad I did, because I ended up with a completely different picture than the one I came looking for.

Morreale, J. (2026, August 24). Flagler's House, view from West Palm Beach, FL [Pastels on paper].

Flagler's House, view from Clematis Street in West Palm Beach, Florida

Heading over to Clematis Street. One of my favorite places is the little pier at the end of the street.

You've got this incredible view of the backside of Flagler's House.

There's also this enormous historic Kapok tree right next to the house. If you're lucky, you can see the Breakers in the distance.

I happened to get that glimpse in this drawing.

The Intercoastal, a beautiful sailboat anchored right in front of me, yachts everywhere. It was incredibly peaceful. No table, just me, my sketchpad, and my pastels.

There's something about sitting in a place with that much history and just taking it all in.

While I'm drawing, I'm thinking about all the people who have stood in that same place before me, looking with wonder out into the intercoastal view.

Morreale, J. (2026, September 3). Lakeside Sunrise in West Palm Beach, FL [Pastels on paper].

Okeeheelee Park, West Palm Beach, Florida

Continuing south, we get to one of my favorite parks in West Palm Beach.

There is this lake that I absolutely love. It's almost like a mirror most days.

There's a little hill and trees on the other side, and the reflection in the lake makes it look like the landscape is repeating itself underneath the water. I called this one my lakeside sunrise. There were grasses coming out of the water.

Green reflected everywhere. Everything felt incredibly serene.

That's the other thing I've noticed about Plein Air sketching: You can go somewhere you've been a hundred times, but when you sit down and try to draw it, you see it completely differently.

Morreale, J. (2026, September 4). Boynton Beach Inlet, FL [Pastels on paper].

Boynton Beach Inlet, Boynton Beach, Florida

Next stop is the Boynton Beach Inlet.

What I love about the inlet is that you can see two completely different personalities of the water. Where the boats are coming through, the water is moving incredibly quickly. There's action, white caps, wind, movement. Then on the other side, where people swim and paddleboard the coral rocks, it's almost completely peaceful... until a boat comes through... then suddenly you get these waves.

I wanted to capture some of that movement in the drawing.

I kept the structure fairly simple. The inlet walls. Those little moments of movement that make this place what it is.

Morreale, J. (2026, September 4). Ocean Ridge beach park, FL [Pastels on paper].

Ocean Ridge Public Beach, Ocean Ridge, Florida

About two miles farther south is Ocean Ridge Public Beach. There's a white fence all around the area, and this incredibly clean, white, sandy beach. I found a table close to the sand, although not quite close enough to really see the waves.

But I had this beautiful view of the lifeguard hut, trees and calusias behind the fence. The light was just beautiful. White puffy clouds, the sun coming through the leaves.

One of those things that I really liked was the wooden boardwalk that meets the fence. You don't see that everywhere here in Florida. It just had this really clean, peaceful, almost timeless feeling. So that's what I tried to capture. Not necessarily the whole beach, just this particular little view of it.

Morreale, J. (2026, August 21). Atlantic Avenue beach park in Delray Beach, FL [Pastels on paper].

Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach, Florida

Continuing south, we get to Delray Beach.

​Atlantic Avenue is one of my favorite places because there is always something happening. People running, people biking, people walking their dogs.

Right across from the beach, there's a table where I can sit and look past the park to the street and the dune fence toward the ocean. That's what I decided to draw on that very hot August day. As I worked my way forward through the layers, I eventually got to this big Calusia tree and the wooden dune fence.

Then I ran out of black. So I had to adapt. Instead of fighting it, I leaned into other colors. I used the greens and the browns and the highlights from the sunlight hitting the branches. I really like how it turned out, especially the pathway leading toward the beach. It feels like the drawing is inviting you to walk through it.

Morreale, J. (2026, August 21). Mizner Park, Boca Raton, FL [Pastels on paper].

Mizner Park, Boca Raton, Florida

One of the most iconic places in this series is Mizner Park in Boca Raton.

The fountain sits right in the center of the promenade. There's almost always somebody taking a selfie in front of it.

There's a bench right about here where I was sitting, and the whole place is incredibly designed. The palm trees line up beautifully. The coral colors, the green and blue gazebos. Everything feels very South Florida.

I sat down with my sketchbook and started drawing. I got to watch Mizner Park come alive while I was capturing it.

Morreale, J. (2026, August 25). Iguana in Deerfield Beach, FL [Pastels on paper].

Deerfield Beach, Florida

Finally, we cross into Broward County and arrived in Deerfield Beach.

I wanted to draw the Deerfield Beach Pier. It's iconic. But I couldn't find a good place to sit and draw it. So once again, I adapted. I went a little farther off the boardwalk toward where more of the locals hang out, work out, and found a table overlooking the water. There was some foliage framing the view. I sat down.

I stayed there long enough, I suppose, for a very unexpected visitor to show up. This enormous Godzilla-looking lizard.

My new favorite iguana.

He just kept coming back.

He'd look at me. I'd look at him. He'd run away. And then he'd come right back.

Eventually he went directly into the foliage where I was drawing.

And I thought, 'You're going into the picture.' This one might be my favorite of the whole series, because it captures the experience.

Plein Air Sketching Project Part 2, Eight pastel landscapes from West Palm Beach to Deerfield Beach, Florida, pastel on paper by Jackie Morreale, August - September 2026

Learnings

So, what is going from CityPlace in West Palm Beach to Deerfield Beach taught me, eight drawings later? More confidence, more comfort drawing outside, and a supreme appreciation for my surroundings. Every place has given me an experience.

Some unexpected interaction or something that catches my eye that I never would have noticed if I just drew from a reference and I hadn't sat down and tried to draw something outside. That makes me think about the bigger journey I've been on.

A little over a year ago, I left a 20-year career in marketing to do my own thing. I started podcasting, interviewing people, and now I'm leaning more and more into my art, into creating things, into visual storytelling.

And if you would have told me a year and a half ago, 'You're going to quit your job so you can go draw in parks...' I probably would have thought you were crazy. But now, I honestly don't know what else I could be doing that would make me happier.

Mary Poppins (1964) scene, photo credit: Disney

Imagination Exercise

There's a scene in Mary Poppins that I keep thinking about.

Dick Van Dyke's chimney sweep character draws this fantastical scene in pastel, and suddenly, Mary Poppins, the children and he step right into it. They become part of the picture.

Part of the story, and that is what plein air sketching feels like to me. It's the best possible imagination exercise. You go somewhere, you look around.

And you try to capture it.

And for that hour, you're completely enveloped in the beauty of the place that you're in.

Deerfield beach Pier, April 2026. Photo by Jackie Morreale.

Conclusion

These drawings aren't meant to be perfect representations. They're timestamps, a record of where I was, what I noticed, how I felt in that moment.

One journey, a whole lot of beauty.

Thanks for coming along.

My kids playing at the fountain in Mizner Park, Boca Raton, FL.